Latest news with #MajorLeagueRugby
RTÉ News
16-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
France captain Antoine Dupont joins RFCLA ownership in boost for US game
France captain Antoine Dupont, widely regarded as the best rugby player of his generation, has taken an ownership stake in Rugby Football Club Los Angeles, the Major League Rugby franchise said. The 28-year-old scrum-half joins RFCLA's ownership group alongside his company, Ouest Coast. The move marks a significant milestone for rugby in the United States ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and before the men's and women's Rugby World Cups in 2031 and 2033 respectively. Dupont, who has been named World Rugby Player of the Year and captained club and country to major titles in 15-a-side and Sevens competitions, said he was drawn by the opportunity to help grow the sport's profile in the US. "Rugby is more than just a sport; it's a community with strong values," Dupont said in a statement.
Straits Times
16-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
France captain Dupont joins RFCLA ownership in boost for U.S. game
PARIS - France captain Antoine Dupont, widely regarded as the best rugby player of his generation, has taken an ownership stake in Rugby Football Club Los Angeles, the Major League Rugby franchise said on Thursday. The 28-year-old scrumhalf joins RFCLA's ownership group alongside his company, Ouest Coast. The move marks a significant milestone for rugby in the United States ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and before the men's and women's Rugby World Cups in 2031 and 2033 respectively. Dupont, who has been named World Rugby Player of the Year and captained club and country to major titles in 15-a-side and sevens competitions, said he was drawn by the opportunity to help grow the sport's profile in the U.S. "Rugby is more than just a sport; it's a community with strong values," Dupont said in a statement. "I'm excited by the opportunity to grow rugby's popularity in the States and establish an energetic hub of rugby culture that attracts players, fans, teams, and partners from around the world." The move is a coup for RFCLA, currently in its second season in MLR, a fast-growing league founded in 2017 as the first professional rugby competition in North America. The franchise sees Dupont's involvement as a catalyst for its ambitions in high-performance rugby and commercial development. "We feel very privileged that Antoine has chosen RFCLA as the pathway to inspire new rugby players and fans," said RFCLA CEO Pete Sickle. "His vision for integrating the athleticism and core values of rugby will prove invaluable to building a bright future for the sport in LA and across the U.S." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
France 24
16-05-2025
- Sport
- France 24
France star Dupont invests in American rugby
The 2021 World Player of the Year has bought into US rugby as the country prepares to host the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles as well as the men's and women's Rugby World Cups in 2031 and 2033 respectively. "It is a pivotal moment, a unique opportunity to take part in something big," said Dupont in a statement released by the club. The 28-year-old, who has been away from the pitch since rupturing cruciate ligaments in his right knee in Ireland in March, spent a few days holidaying in Los Angeles at the end of last summer, after winning the French Rugby Sevens title at the Paris Olympics. "I discovered an energy, an ambition and a love of sport that touched me deeply," he said. "Beyond competitive success on the pitch for RFCLA, I am excited by the opportunity to grow rugby's popularity in the States and establish an energetic hub of rugby culture that attracts players, fans, teams, and partners from around the world." Founded in 2018 in Atlanta but based in Los Angeles since 2024, RFCLA are currently fourth in the five-team Western Conference of Major League Rugby, the main league in a country where the sport remains largely unknown. "Dupont will leverage his unparalleled success on the pitch and extensive marketing experience to guide RFCLA's enduring success in high performance, branding, and commercial development," said the Californian club.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Paralyzed to Powerful: how college rugby star Robert Paylor fought back from a broken neck
Robert Paylor poses with the Cal game jersey that was cut off him when he broke his neck, and a copy of his new book. Robert Paylor poses with the Cal game jersey that was cut off him when he broke his neck, and a copy of his new book. Photograph: Provided by Robert Paylor In another world, Robert Paylor might have been playing in Major League Rugby, in his prime at 28, preparing for a US Eagles summer including England in Washington and World Cup qualification. 'When I was an athlete, that was my purpose in life,' he says. 'I wanted to be the best rugby player I could be. And in a lot of ways, those dreams were really happening: I was a sophomore competing for Cal's team, which is not a common thing to do, and I had all those hopes: being an All-American, maybe play professionally, maybe represent the United States. That was my goal. And then in one moment, because of something I couldn't control, it was gone.' Advertisement On 6 May 2017, Paylor started in the second row of the scrum for Cal Berkeley against Arkansas State in the Varsity Cup final. In the first minutes, Cal formed a maul, driving the ball towards the Arkansas line. In his new book, which was published eight years later to the day, Paylor describes what happened next. TV 'images clearly showed a player from Arkansas State wrapping his arm around my neck, putting me in a headlock, and driving my skull into the ground' – a clearly illegal move. Paylor's neck was broken. His book is called Paralyzed to Powerful: Lessons from a Quadriplegic's Journey. 'It was cathartic,' he says, to revisit that terrible moment. 'It wasn't easy. I cried many times, going through it. That's such a hard moment. I had to really create that mental image again so I could describe it for a reader and put them in that moment with me. Advertisement 'In terms of the injury itself, it was very fast. I think this maul formed and collapsed in around five seconds. Laying on that turf, I was completely paralyzed from the neck down, numb and motionless, but I never lost consciousness for a second. I was completely aware. I was terrified because the referee didn't stop play. Oh my gosh, I don't know why. Thank goodness nothing happened, but there were multiple phases of play and if someone were to have fallen on me, I certainly would have had a more severe injury. I might not even be here today.' For Paylor, the anniversary of his injury 'always brings back those moments. I look at the clock in the morning, and I think of myself getting dressed for the last time so easily. And I look at noon, which was when we kicked off, and I think of standing for the national anthem. I think of sprinting down that field, how that's the last time I ever sprinted, after that kick-off. And I really wanted to share those moments in great detail and really try to share that emotion that was behind it. Really, that was important.' ••• Paylor was in a place few could ever imagine. Stricken in a hospital bed. Told by doctors he would not walk again, might not regain use of his hands. Electing to undergo surgery he might not survive. And yet rugby humor, dark by definition, runs through his book like a vein. He describes what it is like to have a feeding tube rammed up a nose broken too many times by his sport. In short: it's not pleasant. Less funny: how he contracted pneumonia, how medics and loved ones helped him fight off a threat that might have drowned him there in his bed. Advertisement He survived. Then he set out to fight back. He would walk again. 'I've always been an optimistic guy, but I knew from moment one I was never going to play rugby again,' he says, smiling broadly, wearing a Cal polo, sitting in front of a framed Cal jersey. 'So I needed something to replace that.' With notable help from Tom Billups, the Harlequins and Eagles hooker turned Cal assistant coach, Paylor fought it out. Inch by inch, using a frame, he got back on his feet. In August 2021, he walked to receive his diploma. Cheers rang on and on. 'I continue to progress,' he says. 'I walked 500 yards on Monday. That's a new PB, up from 400. But I go back to Cal and I tell the story of my teammates helping me get around campus. I wouldn't have graduated if it weren't for them.' Advertisement Early on, Paylor noticed something. 'As you can imagine, breaking your neck is not a good financial decision. We needed a lot of help. So I started out with a GoFundMe through Jennifer Douglas, the mom of Tyler Douglas, my best friend on the team. That was huge … but also I started seeing that sharing my story was impacting others. People would confide what they were going through, some of it extremely significant. Stage-four cancer, suicidal ideations, loss of a son or daughter. Incredibly difficult things, and how, through my perseverance and my positivity, I was helping them. 'I started to see this gift kind of matriculating out of this injury, where it took a lot away but it gave me one thing, and that's a story and tools I can share, that can help people. So I started getting into speaking. At first, it was just, 'Robert, you've got this amazing story. You tell it really well. Will you think of sharing your story with my class, with my team?' I started doing that, fell in love with it, and then decided I want to do this for the rest of my life. I want to be a speaker.' True to that aim, each chapter of Paylor's book offers lessons to be learned from events discussed. He started writing under Covid, wanting to 'really dive deeper'. His co-author, sportswriter Jason Cole, helped him over the line. Advertisement ••• By far the most successful program in college rugby, Cal recently won a 29th national XVs title, beating Life, from Georgia. 'Go Bears,' Paylor repeats, with a laugh. He cannot speak highly enough of Billups, head coach Jack Clark and the culture they've built. In his book, he declares his love for Karsen Welle, his wife, describing in detail their courtship, which began in 2019. He cites a higher authority still: his Catholic faith. It took him to Lourdes, seeking a cure, and it has fueled everything since his injury: rehab in Colorado, weights work at Cal, becoming a public speaker, TED talk included. Faith provided solace too, not least through a difficult official investigation of his injury. Of the Arkansas player who caused his injury, who he does not name, he says: 'I absolutely forgive this person. I totally wish him well. Advertisement 'Nothing about this [book] was like a passive aggressive attempt at revenge. I tried to state that early on. But trust me, I was filled with so much anger back then, over everything I was going through: can't breathe, can't eat, can't itch my nose, all because of the actions of another person who has not reached out to me. That was probably the most difficult mental challenge I've had to overcome. 'But it's so important, because I think everybody has someone they need to forgive, and we have to forgive ourselves. Sometimes that's not easy, and there's times when we just feel the universe is against us. It's so important to realize forgiveness is not just a feeling of peace that comes with letting go of a situation. It's a decision to make over and over again, especially when we don't feel like it. 'As it comes to USA Rugby, I thought that was equally important to write about. For whatever reason, national governing bodies don't always do the right thing. USA Rugby is not alone in that. Go look at women's gymnastics, with sexual abuse scandals. Go look at the NFL, with brain trauma cover-ups. 'When I was going through all the drama of the investigation, I was also just trying to get my life back. I was trying to be able to pick up a water bottle. I'm putting marbles into jars. So it frustrated me at the time that there was kind of this sweeping under the rug with what clearly was a red card on the field [though no card was shown for the incident in which Paylor was injured]. What really hurt me was that this could happen to someone else. Never in rugby should it be permissible to wrench someone down by their head and render them a quadriplegic. That just frustrated me, because I love this sport.' Advertisement Eventually, Paylor and Cal 'got what we hoped for': the investigation was widely condemned, USA Rugby apologized, 'and they have learned from the situation, and rugby is better off.' ••• Paylor's optimism is striking. Sometimes startling. On the page, he describes his first steps as a speaker, at Cal's business school: 'I paused for a moment … it was so quiet that if a pin had dropped, it would have sounded like a cymbal. Sitting in front of my peers at that moment, power coursed through my body. It filled me with something more profound than the ability to walk, run, or win a big game. That's when I first realized that through all of this pain and suffering, I had been given a gift. In the process of losing so much of my previous identity, I gained a new ability that I could share with others. 'And I wouldn't trade that by wishing my injury had never happened.' Advertisement People who hear that line 'probably think I'm either a liar or a lunatic', Paylor writes. Close friends have 'advised me that I shouldn't say that. It's hard to imagine anyone would truly not wish away an injury like mine … '[But] nobody has experienced every second of my life as I have … Yes, I want to regain my ability to walk and have my full independence back. I work at that in my rehab every day. What I don't want is to wish this injury had never happened in the first place. Changing what happened to me would mean wishing away … an ability to help others through adversity at a level I don't think I would've gained without this injury. I love my life, and I'm proud of where I am today. If my past is the road I had to take to inspire people in this way, then I'm grateful for it.' In conversation, Paylor shows the same cheerful refusal to be cowed by fate. 'People ask me all the time, 'Do you regret playing rugby?' My answer is, 'Absolutely not.' If I woke up tomorrow and I was able-bodied, I'd be looking for someone to hit. I just love the game. Advertisement 'My best friendships were made in rugby, and I haven't found a way to replace it. Just that focus on the moment, where nothing else matters, that bond you have with your teammates, really in a sacrificial way. It's difficult. It requires pain, and you take that on not just for yourself but for your team and for the alumni, your coaches. Gosh, it's just such a great game. 'It's the game they play in heaven. I'm confident of it. I still have dreams about playing.'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ilona Maher mania helps US women's rugby set attendance records
Promoters for Saturday's men's and women's rugby double-header in Los Angeles are offering 'VIP Courtside' seats, hailed as a chance to 'feel the heart-pounding action like never before'. 'With courtside seats,' the blurb goes, 'you're not just watching the game – you're in the middle of the intensity. Every … moment of pure adrenaline is right in front of you.' Advertisement Rugby is played on a pitch or a field. It has courts, but they are more usually staged on tour, rituals used to foster team unity. Nonetheless, the WNBA-esque adjacent language of the LA hard-sell is appropriate for the occasion at hand, not just because of the intimate surrounds of Wallis Annenberg Stadium, on the UCLA campus, but also given the Caitlin Clark adjacent star power of its main attraction. Ilona Maher, the stratospheric star of the women's game, reality TV, swimwear shoots, social media and podcasts, is in the US squad to face Japan in the second match of the day, after the men of Rugby FC Los Angeles and the San Diego Legion play a Major League Rugby fixture. The Eagles have a nucleus of seriously experienced star players – led by Kate Zackary, who plays No8 for Ealing in England, and Alev Kelter, a center for the Loughborough Lightning – but when it comes to ticket sales, Maher works wonders. In January, she helped Bristol set a record for Premiership Women's Rugby. Back home, she has helped set such a mark for any women's game in the US, for the second game on the Eagles' spring schedule, against Canada in Kansas City next week. 'This is a landmark moment for women's rugby in the US,' said Bill Goren, chief executive of USA Rugby, announcing a sales success seen in Kansas City at least as a sign that World Cup games could land in Missouri in 2031 (men) and 2033 (women). Advertisement 'The excitement … shows that the sport is reaching new heights, and we're thrilled that the Women's Eagles' journey to the Rugby World Cup [in England in August] will kick-off in front of such a massive crowd.' All things are relative, massiveness included. USA Rugby said more than 7,500 tickets had been sold for the Canada game, which will be played at CPKC Stadium, which holds 11,500. The previous best crowd for a women's game in the US is closer to the capacity at the Wallis Annenberg: 2,145. On the other hand, the Kansas City record will not last long, as the Maher factor is driving another double-header – US men v England and US women v Fiji at Audi Field in Washington DC on 19 July – rapidly towards a 20,000 full house. It's possible most of those fans have booked for a chance to see England coach Steve Borthwick in the tracksuited, taciturn flesh. It's probable they are out for a chance to see Maher. This being rugby, a sport subject to excruciating politics and logistical challenges wherever it is played, the women's Eagles schedule is not without points of contention. Advertisement On 3-4 May, as the 15-a-side team faces Canada in Kansas City, their sevens counterparts will compete back west in LA in the final event on the HSBC world sevens circuit. Maher had made her name – and plenty of other players had made their mark – before she and the Eagles won Olympic bronze in Paris last summer but that sevens success supercharged the sense of possibility that now surrounds the women's game. Having the sevens and 15s Eagles playing at the same time on different sides of the country is therefore frustrating to many. Come to that, the weekends of 25-26 April and 3-4 May also see games in Women's Elite Rugby, the semi-professional 15s league now halfway through its inaugural season, making the New York Times, and home to Eagles talent. This weekend, the women's 15s game against Japan in Los Angeles also coincides with 64 women's sevens teams (and 80 men's teams) descending on Boyds, Maryland, for the Collegiate Rugby Championships, a three-day extravaganza in its 15th year, billed as the biggest college rugby tournament anywhere in the oval world. Call it glorious profusion. Wade Smith, chief operating officer of National Collegiate Rugby, which runs the CRCs, said that though it was 'difficult to quantify' the effect of Maher mania, 'there's a lot of anecdotal evidence that suggests that we're getting a really big surge in interest within women's college rugby'. Heralding CRC guest appearances from Olympic sevens stars Naya Tapper, Perry Baker and Kevon Williams, and a Hall of Fame intake including stars of past women's champions from Life in Georgia and Lindenwood in Missouri, Smith added: 'There will be future men's and women's Eagles playing on Saturday and Sunday.' Advertisement Identifying such new talent, and channeling it to the national teams, remains the great challenge for all US rugby. Maher herself has discussed the need to find more stars. 'Right now it seems like just Ilona Maher, we need to get her in this and this,' she said in January, after her debut for Bristol. 'That is where I would love to bring these teammates up … I've seen the power of people connecting with the individual and then going to a sport. People connect with Caitlin Clark and go see a [WNBA] game and that brings more fans in. 'So if we could have more people connect with [leading women's players], that brings them in. That is my goal. I love being a superstar, people call me the superstar of rugby but that's not enough for the sport. We can't just have one superstar.' • Martin Pengelly writes on Substack at The National Maul, on rugby in the US
