Collegiate All-Americans: A Century Ago and Today
This year’s 2010 Collegiate All-Americans tour marks the centennial anniversary of the original trans-continental American Universities or All-American tour. In 1910, the All-Americans, consisting mostly of student-athletes from Stanford, the University of California-Berkeley (Cal), and the University of Nevada competed in over 20 matches in Australia and New Zealand. The historical background of the formation of the tour is a compelling story of the history of American Collegiate rugby, and has spawned a great tradition of the All-Americans going abroad to compete.
While rugby was the original football code in American universities in the latter part of the 19th century, American Football (also known as inter-collegiate) had replaced rugby as the primary football code in the United States. However, increasing violence, injuries (including multiple deaths), as well as negative press coverage garnered attention and concern from President Theodore Roosevelt. Consequently, he called a meeting of college presidents in the White House in 1905 to discuss rule changes and the future of the game.
On the West coast, isolationism had allowed rugby to survive longer before eventually succumbing to the football code. At the time of Roosevelt’s meeting in 1905, Stanford President David Starr Jordan, and Berkeley President Benjamin Ide Wheeler (who were both unable to attend Roosevelt’s meeting), were deciding that rugby would be more suitable to their universities. Following an especially brutal 1904 ‘Big Game’ of American football between Cal and Stanford, marked for its poor sportsmanship, along with rumors of player receiving special payments and privileges, Wheeler and Jordan called on rugby to replace ‘inter-collegiate’ as the code to be played in the 1906 ‘Big Game.’ Both Wheeler and Jordan saw rugby as a sport more conducive to the development of their students’ character and moral compass.
By 1909, the game was gaining popularity on the West Coast once again with the establishment of numerous clubs as well as a strong team at the University of Nevada-Reno. In 1909, the Australian Wallabies toured the west coast and brought further attention to the sport through international competition. However, following sweeping rule changes to the American Football code (most notably the inception of the forward pass), inter-collegiate football was again rising in popularity, and threatening rugby’s existence. Rugby needed a spark, and thus an international tour was planned to Australia and New Zealand.
In Australia, a similar struggle between rugby ‘codes’ was coming to a head. Rugby league and rugby union were competing for fans and publicity. In 1908, both the Wallabies (the Australian international rugby union side) and the Kangaroos (Australian international rugby league side) toured to the UK. The Wallabies tour was a much greater success, with larger crowds, more press coverage, and culminated in an Olympic Gold Medal in the 1908 London Olympics.
The victory was short-lived for the union code. Professional rugby league teams were formed and upon the team’s return in 1909, 14 players from the Wallabies defected to the professional code, leaving the future of union in disarray. The Australians saw the chance to host their Pacific neighbors as an opportunity to give union a shot in the arm through international competition. The Australians also felt that rugby could be used to continue to build their international relationship with America in a form of cultural diplomacy. They saw Americans as similar culturally and were a rising world power. Rugby, it was believed, could be used to help strengthen relations between a potential ally who could be both economically and defensively beneficial.
The tour itself brought immediate excitement. Over 2,000 Australians greeted the Americans at the Sydney Town Hall. The Americans played over 20 games, beginning with the first leg in Australia where they played the likes of Sydney University and others, but found little success.
On the second leg of the tour, the Americans began to hit their stride and put together a string of victories, including a famous victory over Auckland. Another highlight included a match against the newly formed New Zealand Maori. Throughout the tour the Americans were noted for their sportsmanship and enthusiasm, and in particular, their desire to get better and learn about a code that they had just recently re-adopted. One notable instance was at a social function where the American captain, Cedric Cerf, sat next to the Freddy Roberts, the 1910 All Blacks captain. Cerf was observed by others drawing diagrams and taking notes as he picked the Kiwi’s rugby brain, effectively conducting his own rugby reconnaissance mission while abroad.
Overall, the tour was a success. It paved the way for future international tours and fixtures including a visit to American shores by Australia’s New South Wales and the All Blacks in 1913. The initial All-American contributed to America’s gold medal successes in Antwerp in 1920 and Paris in 1924. Both of the gold medal-winning American sides were comprised primarily of college students.
The original 1910 Collegiate All-American tour has also paved the way for what is now a century of America’s best and brightest student-athletes touring abroad. The 2010 Collegiate All-American Tour, presented by Royall Lyme, proudly continues the All-American rugby tradition of crossing oceans and competing internationally.
The 2010 team consists of student-athletes from over 17 universities and will play three matches against Richmond Football Club, Saracens Rugby Academy, and Leicester Academy. Like in 1910, 2010 is an exciting time of growth and change for contemporary collegiate rugby. The game is thriving, particularly at the collegiate level, from coast to coast. Recently the USA Sevens LLC Invitational Collegiate Sevens Championship was seen live on network television. With the emergence of a new elite competition in 2011, the College Premier League, there is a promising future for the rugby in America.
The original All-American tour was created in part to combat the sport turning professional. Ironically, today’s All-American tour is often a stepping-stone to international and professional careers for many student-athletes. Fourteen current or former All-Americans played for the Eagles in 2009 and 13 have already appeared for the Eagles in 2010, with three matches still remaining this year.
Eagle scrumhalf Mike Petri, who appeared in five matches for the All-Americans throughout his college career at Penn State, was recently signed by the Sale Sharks in England. Eagles captain Todd Clever, also an All-American, has been a professional standout, most recently relocating to Japan to ply his trade following a successful stint in the Super 14 competition. Other current professionals who were former All-Americans include Eagles Paul Emerick, Louis Stanfill, Kevin Swiryn, Mike MacDonald, and Hayden Smith. As the 2011 Rugby World Cup approaches, the 2010 All-American tour will certainly serve as an opportunity for today’s best young collegiate players to showcase their talents to national team selectors and professional scouts.
Fundraiser and Prize Giveaway: Win a trip to New Zealand during the Rugby World Cup and Dubai for the IRB World Sevens Series:
The All-Americans have launched a fundraising campaign and raffle that offers multiple sensational prizes for winners, including a vacation to New Zealand and the World Cup, as well as two tickets and airfare to the Dubai Emirate 2011 IRB Sevens event, amongst other great prizes. To find out how you can enter for these and other great prizes, please visit the All-American Fundraising page.
Sponsor: Royall Lyme
The 2010 All-Americans wouldn’t be able to continue the proud tradition without the support of their sponsors. Their 2010 tour is made possible by the contributions of Royall Lyme. Royall Lyme’s brand of fragrances has had close ties to the beloved sport of rugby, and is currently involved in the sponsorship of several teams and events at the collegiate level. Royall Lyme also aims to recognize exemplary performances. A “Royall Man” is a winner, yes, but more importantly, Royall Men are, by their very nature, role models and natural leaders. They demonstrate exemplary character. It’s no mystery why Royall Lyme and the Collegiate All-Americans have built a strong relationship.
To follow the All-Americans on their tour go to their website, on Twitter, or Facebook.
Note: A special thanks to Dr. Sean Brawley of the University of New South Wales for providing information about and pictures of the 1910 tour. His paper, “Our Bright Young American Cousins” is a comprehensive account of the tour and the crucial years before and after it. It provided a bulk of the information contained in this piece.
