We can all agree the United States is a sleeping giant in the world of rugby.
Now meet the Dunedin bloke poking the big friendly guy with a stick.
Tom Kindley headed over to the United States in 2018 on an internship with the New England Free Jacks.
The capable 28-year-old started off doing strength and conditioning and providing performance analysis for the Major League Rugby (MLR) side.
Three years later he basically does everything.
His official job title is the performance director. But essentially it is a general manager’s role and he has helped oversee a transformation at the franchise.
The Free Jacks have been in sizzling form this season. They have won 13 of their 16 games — a league record — and will host Rugby New York in the Eastern Conference final in Quincy in Greater Boston this weekend.
It is a far cry from their inaugural season in 2020 when they won just one of their five games.
There is a lot of competition for attention in the American sports market, but MLR is gaining some ground on the fringes.
There are also some big challenges around generating revenue.
There are 13 MLR teams, so that means total losses of $US52 million annually. Three months ago that was almost enough to buy yourself a 100-year-old bungalow in South Dunedin. It is a lot of money.
"If you compare us to an NPC team, we’re just an NPC team with way more expenses.
"We’ve got to fly in all our staff. We’ve got to fly in 25 players-plus every year. We’ve got to travel more than any team does in New Zealand.
"We’ve got to house most of our players and provide them vehicles. It just goes on and on.
"Having said that, money has gone up every year. We get 3000 to a game religiously now."
A couple of years ago the average crowd at a Free Jacks’ home game was around 1800, so that represents decent growth.
The sport is on mainstream television and slowly people are waking up to the attraction of the game. But it is not second nature for people and Kindley, who was raised and educated in Dunedin, said there was a lot of education involved.
"But people are seeing it and now that we are in one location as well — we used to be all over Boston — people are able to get behind it."
Those revenue problems Kindley mentioned are not as pressing a problem as you might think, especially when you have an owner with deep pockets. And most teams have a generous benefactor. In some cases too generous as it turns out.
It appears not all the teams have been sticking to the rules around the salary cap.
The two top teams in the Western Conference — Austin and LA — have been booted out of the finals for alleged breaches.
Both teams are owned by F45 fitness empire founder and chief executive Adam Gilchrist — not to be confused with Adam Gilchrist the former Australian wicketkeeper.
Gilchrist made more than half a billion when he floated his company on the New York Stock Exchange in July last year.
"The consensus is these people understand you need to be prepared to spend money to make money. You are not going to shift the needle by putting together an [inferior] product."
The 2031 World Cup promises to bring increased media attention and more sponsorship.
The Free Jacks have created a bit of chat themselves this season.
Kindley has used his connections to help bring in a talent crop of players from around the world. He has also mined his Dunedin links pretty thoroughly.
Former Otago assistant coach Ryan Martin coached the team last year and helped get the side heading in a positive trajectory.
Former Otago player Aleki Morris-Lome had a stint at the franchise last season.
This year’s playing group includes former Otago players Slade McDowall, Harrison Boyle and Josh Larsen, and former Highlander Jesse Parete.
Former Otago Rugby Football Union staffers Ewan Brumwell and Thomas Grant are part of the management team. And there is a host of other New Zealanders in the playing squad.
The rules allow for 10 foreign players in a game-day 23.
It seems an awful lot — perhaps even a bit of a handbrake when you are trying to develop local players.
"I feel it’s about right to keep the competition standard high and still give the [local players] lots of opportunities.
"Another thing you can do in this competition, which is a bit weird for us Kiwis, is you can trade for a foreign spot."
The Free Jacks have traded away some of their salary cap and a prop in return for three further import slots.
Kindley was happy to take a pop back.
New York, who beat Atlanta 26-19 in the Eastern Conference playoffs to clinch a finals berth against the Free Jacks, has some very familiar names in its line-up.
"They have a lot of experience with guys like Andy Ellis, Waisaki Naholo and Nehe Milner-Skudder is there as well. It is a bit of an All Blacks old boys’ club.
"That is not us. We are getting over guys who are [mostly] 21 through to 25 ... and this is a chance for them to play at a high level and develop and hopefully go on and play Super Rugby.
"We’ve got a very different model to them."
The teams have met three times this season and the Free Jacks hold a 2-1 advantage.
"They are more experienced than us, but we think we are more of a team than them and we’ve got a really clear game plan. If we play well, we’ll beat them. If we don’t, we won’t. It is up to us to define the game."
As for Kindley’s future, he seems fairly settled at the Free Jacks.
"It is just such a unique, awesome opportunity. I’ve found myself in a role that if I was to try and get into a similar role in New Zealand it would just take so long.
"So I’m definitely very grateful but I pick up every player from the airport, I sign all the leases for their housing, I put every bed in every bedroom. It is not all fun and games.
"But I’m proud of the organisation and where it has gone now. I’m trying to make it somewhere were guys can build a life and that is the next progression for us."
