So you’re 22 years old. You have always enjoyed watching American football and you have just had an offer to head to Florida to gauge your potential to make it in the mega‑bucks NFL. No guarantees but there is an awful lot of cash on offer if you can crack the code. Do you say: “Yes, please”? Or do you say: “No, awfully sorry, we’re playing Castres in the Challenge Cup on Friday”?
Place yourself in the fast‑moving boots of Louis Rees‑Zammit and, in deepest darkest January, you can see immediately why the ultimate American dream might appeal: if I’m good enough, sweet; if not, at least I gave it a go in my athletic prime. As LRZ made clear in his hastily written farewell note, this sort of life-changing opportunity does not come around every day.
On the one hand, good luck to him. On the other, he has just trashed the hopeful dreams of thousands of Welsh fans. Particularly those who would saw off their right arm to represent their country just once in the Six Nations at a packed Principality Stadium. So much for the green, green grass of home and the thrilling tingle of the pre-match anthems. It’s all about your personal brand these days, bois bach.
Maybe it is naive or hopelessly old school to feel 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 from the States came only last Sunday night, so he has not spent weeks agonising over it. Maybe someone, somewhere could also have advised him that the precipitous timing and lack of notice does him few favours. If it doesn’t work out stateside, universal forgiveness may not be instantly forthcoming.
Then again, Rees-Zammit has never been someone 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 real enough. So is his self‑confidence. As he told the Guardian in late 2021, he backs himself against pretty much anyone. “The way I look at it, the bigger the man I’m up against, the less he’s going to move.”
He is going to require all his searing pace and more simply to make an NFL club roster. Christian Wade was arguably even quicker off the mark yet ultimately had his ambitions dashed. Aspiring to be a wide receiver or a kick return specialist is all very well but thousands of talented sprinters in the States already have an innate edge. The NFL International Player Pathway programme awaiting Rees‑Zammit in Florida is merely the first of many hurdles, with the odds stacked firmly against him.
Some will argue that even the sight of him trying on a pair of shoulder pads is good news for rugby’s global profile in a nation where the next-but-one World Cup will be staged in 2031. Others will reiterate that every individual has a right to make whatever decision feels right for them. It is not as if Welsh rugby is now awash with money or possesses a stellar team. Rees-Zammit may just have looked around him and decided that skipping this particular Welsh Six Nations campaign might not be the absolute end of the world.
Above all else, though, it is a sign of the times, both in rugby and wider society. For all the heartfelt recent eulogies to the great JPR Williams, rugby no longer exerts the same magnetic pull in Wales that it once did. It is also a sport which demands colossal commitment for a distinctly modest wage by American football standards. In commercial terms rugby is a pimple on the NFL’s hefty backside and, from Gen Z’s perspective, there are sexier sports out there.
So why would athletes in their early 20s not want to sample life beyond Kingsholm or Cardiff Arms Park? Rees-Zammit’s property developer father, Joe, is a lifelong American football fan and there is a big wide world out there. If he ends up coming back to rugby, wiser for the experience, there will be no shortage of teams in Britain, France and Japan more than happy to offer a contract to a player who already has the priceless ability to put bums on seats.
In the shorter term, though, that does not greatly assist Wales. Or, potentially, the British & Irish Lions in Australia next year. Because if he does return to feature in the 2025 Six Nations, Rees-Zammit is really going to have to rip it up to persuade Andy Farrell he deserves a place ahead of more loyal, unselfish team players.
If that sounds a bit harsh, it is merely a fact of life. Rugby union might sometimes be perceived as a Mickey Mouse sport compared to professional gridiron but there are 143 years of Test match history woven into the red jersey Rees‑Zammit has summarily tossed aside. He is perfectly entitled to go to Florida and pursue whatever dream he likes but it is also a huge gamble. And when Wales’s players line up to sing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau before the Scotland game in Cardiff a fortnight on Saturday, it might be best to avoid any badge-clutching.
