Louis Rees-Zammit has swapped Welsh rugby's state of perpetual crisis for sharing billboards with Travis Kelce in the future. Photo: Kansas City Chiefs
It took Louis Rees-Zammit just 73 days to go from chronic dysfunction in Welsh rugby to the heart of America's most glamorous sporting team. He endured a tumultuous Six Nations last winter, unsure whether he and his teammates, despairing over their dire financial situation, would go on strike. Now he's the star of a spring signing with the Kansas City Chiefs, back-to-back Super Bowl champions set to earn £700,000 a season alongside the generational quarterback and Taylor Swift's boyfriend. You can understand why a few other restless 23-year-olds might explore this quantum leap and be tempted to try their luck.
The striking feature of Rees-Zammit's velvety transition to the National Football League is how wildly it was received by him native sport. «Rees-Zammit signs with Kansas City,» World Rugby announced on X, adding a biceps flexing emoji and a background image of Patrick Mahomes. And just look at Kingsholm's words: “We are proud to call you Gloucester graduates, Deputy.”
Rees — Zammit signs for Chiefs surrounded by his family. Photo: Kansas City Chiefs
If you look beyond the club's pride in one of its own, there is a very peculiar subtext to these messages. What does it say about rugby's sense of self-worth that a hugely talented young player's move to another sport is portrayed as a promotion? Why is the game's world governing body displaying such a grim inferiority complex by seeing Rees-Zammit kidnapped by the NFL? It appears that World Rugby, having already made the questionable decision to award the 2031 World Cup to the United States, feels obliged to bend the knee to any American.
One should be wary of excessive reverence. The siren call from across the Atlantic is growing stronger as the NFL has opened an academy in Loughborough which has so far enabled more than 40 students to secure scholarships to US colleges in New York State. America's tanks are parked firmly on the rugby green, but the sport remains oblivious to the wider implications. If Rees-Zammit, who rocked the 2021 Six Nations at such a tender age with his superb second game against Scotland, is tempted by a very different career trajectory, his peers will be persuaded to follow suit. The question is how much and how soon.
Everything that happens to Rees-Zammit seems to happen at warp speed. Ever since he became the first 18-year-old to score a Premier League hat-trick, he has been a man in a hurry. His disappointment with a 4.43-second 40-yard dash last month was telling: He expected, he said, to run in the 4.2-second range, which would have jeopardized the fastest times ever for a potential rookie.
LRZ told me he was disappointed with his time in 4.4 and said he was running in 4.2 and 4.3
— Rob Maaddi (@ RobMaaddi) March 20, 2024
Not that the perceived failure has affected his prospects. A week later, a statement came from Kansas City: “From the United Kingdom to the Kingdom of Chiefs.” In one fell swoop, he swapped Welsh Rugby Union's state of perpetual crisis for a future sharing billboards with tight end Travis Kelsey, lover of the most famous pop star on the planet.
In terms of fame and international status, the Rees-Zammit move, which was initially perceived as a gamble, promises to bring handsome rewards. It also makes sense financially as his potential annual minimum of £700,000 is more than three times the £225,000 he took home at Gloucester. And that's just for a spot on the final 53-man roster, who will receive much more riches if he succeeds as a running back or wide receiver.
For now, the likelihood is that Rees-Zammit will make his most immediate impact on special teams as a kick returner, with the NFL's revised kickoff format taking advantage of his signature strengths of identifying defensive weaknesses and rushing. breaking through the line. For those who grew up playing rugby, the very concept of special teams is an unfathomable luxury, whose members, on average, must be on the field for more than 20 percent of the total playing time. The alternative to being crushed by the second rows for 80 minutes, the alternative is not without appeal. “They want to triple my money for a fraction of the pain? Where should I sign?”
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What worries Rugby is that these internal monologues are multiplying. After a year in which three Premier League clubs collapsed, Rees-Zammit charted a more tempting path, eagerly pursuing his American dream. It's not that success in the NFL is destined, even for celebrities in their own sports. Years ago, I spent some time in Barcelona with Dwayne Chambers as the sprinter was desperate to show grizzled NFL scouts that he could make it to college football. The idea collapsed as quickly as it arose. Although he has unparalleled acceleration, a 9.97-second 100m sprinter in his prime, he has never mastered the basic skill of a receiver — quickly catching the ball over his shoulder.
Fig -Zammit is young and limitless. ambition is on his side. But his message from America, explaining that he wants to «inspire as many people as possible to go back home to try and believe in themselves», should send a chill through the game he left behind. Rugby developed one of its greatest assets in this exciting young Welshman, but it did not convince him to stay. Quite the opposite: this is an open protrusion for the fact that he is switching to a different code. For a sport in chaos, there could be no more stark admission of defeat.
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