by So you are 22 years old. You have always enjoyed watching American football and have received an offer to go to Florida to evaluate your potential to make it in the mega-bucks NFL. There are no guarantees but there is a lot of money available if you can crack the code. Do you say: “Yes, please”? Or do you say: “No, sorry, we’re playing Castres in the Challenge Cup on Friday”?
Put yourself in the swift shoes of Louis Rees-Zammit and, in the darkest of January, you can immediately see why the American dream would be so attractive: if I’m good enough, sweet; if not, at least I tried it in my athletic debut. As LRZ made clear in his hastily written goodbye note, this kind of life-changing opportunity doesn’t come around every day.
Related: Louis Rees-Zammit quits rugby in shock bid to pursue NFL career dreams
On the one hand, good luck to him. On the other hand, he has trashed the hopes of thousands of British fans. Especially those who would see out of his right hand to represent their country once in the Six Nations at a full Principality Stadium. So much for the green grass, the green of the town and the stirring lingle of the pre-match songs. It’s all about your personal brand these days, small bois.
Perhaps it is naive or hopelessly school-aged to be sad about the most exciting Welsh back of his era being so quick to give up on something so special – by all accounts the call did not come from the State only last Sunday night, so he did not spend a week agonizing over it. Perhaps someone, somewhere could have informed him that the tight timing and lack of notice does him little favors. If it doesn’t work out on the state side, universal forgiveness may not be available immediately.
Then again, Rees-Zammit has never been one to sit around and wait for things to happen. “Rees-Lightning” has scored 14 tries in his 32 tests for Wales and his talent is very real. So is his self-confidence. As he told the Guardian at the end of 2021, he backs himself up against almost anyone. “The way I look at it, the more the man is against it, the less he will move.”
It will require all of his sharp speed and ease to make an NFL club roster. It could be argued that Christian Wade was even faster off the mark but ultimately his ambitions were dashed. It’s all well and good to want to be a wide receiver or a kick return specialist but thousands of sprinters in the States already have an innate edge. The NFL International Player Pathway program that awaits Rees-Zammit in Florida is just the first of many hurdles, and the odds are stacked against him.
Some will argue that even the sight of him asking for shoulder pads is good news for the global profile of rugby in a nation that will stage the first and only World Cup in 2031. Others will reiterate that the everyone’s right. to make whatever decision they see fit. It’s not like Welsh rugby is now flush with money or has a great team. Rees-Zammit may have looked around and decided that this particular Welsh Six Nations campaign might not be the end of the world.
Above all, however, it is a sign of the times, in rugby and society in general. For all the recent hearty praise for JPR Williams, rugby does not hold the same magnetic pull in Wales as it once did. It’s also a sport that requires a huge commitment for relatively little pay by American football standards. Commercially, rugby is woefully behind the NFL and, from Gen Z’s point of view, there are sexier sports out there.
So why wouldn’t athletes in their early 20s want to taste life outside Kingsholm or Cardiff Arms Park? Property developer Rees-Zammit’s father, Joe, is a lifelong American football fan, and it’s a big world out there. If he comes back to rugby wiser for the experience, no shortage of teams in Britain, France and Japan will be more than happy to offer a contract to a player who already possesses the valuable ability to strike. on seats.
In the short term, however, that doesn’t help Wales much. Or, perhaps, the British and Irish Lions in Australia next year. Because if he returns to feature in the 2025 Six Nations, Rees-Zammit will have to rip it to convince Andy Farrell that he deserves a place ahead of more loyal, selfless squad players.
If it sounds a little harsh, it’s just a fact of life. Rugby union is sometimes seen as a Mickey Mouse sport compared to the professional gridiron but 143 years of test match history is woven into the red jersey that Rees-Zammit briefly threw aside. He is entitled to go to Florida to pursue any dream he likes but it is also a huge gamble. And when the Welsh players sing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau before the Scotland game in Cardiff two weeks on Saturday, it might be best to avoid any badge trimming.
