Once you look beyond a club’s pride in one of its own, there is a deeply peculiar subtext to these messages. What does it say about rugby’s sense of self-worth that it is portraying the move of a supremely talented young player to another sport as a promotion?
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Why does the game’s world governing body demonstrate such a dismal inferiority complex on seeing Rees-Zammit snatched away by the NFL? The impression is that World Rugby, having already taken the dubious decision to award the 2031 World Cup to the United States, feels compelled to genuflect at the feet of anything American.
It should be wary of overdoing the deference. The siren call from across the Atlantic is growing stronger, with the NFL establishing an academy in Loughborough that has so far enabled over 40 students to secure United States college scholarships in gridiron.
American tanks are parked firmly on rugby’s lawn, and yet the sport remains oblivious to the wider implications.
If Rees-Zammit, who electrified the 2021 Six Nations with his glorious second try against Scotland, can be seduced towards a wildly different career trajectory at so tender an age, then his peers will be persuaded to emulate his example.
The question is how many, and how soon.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbeat/louis-rees-zammit-s-nfl-success-should-be-a-concern-american-tanks-are-parked-on-rugby-s-lawn/ar-BB1kZpAV