In America, rugby is a sport that is overshadowed by football, as most people believe, it is a less aggressive wannabe. The popularity of the sport has been growing since the creation of Major League Rugby in the United States and Canada in 2018, which has been seen throughout the Omaha area with the creation of the Nebraska Youth Rugby Associations.
Omaha United is a team combined of Omaha South, Omaha Central, Creighton Preparatory, Brownell Talbot, and Omaha Benson students.
Hayden Hill, a 2017 Central grad was a key player on this team, which led to the impressive professional career he has now.
Hill started out his athletic journey on Central’s football, powerlifting, and baseball teams. After stopping baseball his junior year, he decided to join the rugby club to play alongside some of his friends.
After graduation, Hill intended on playing football in college as he had a few offers, but his plans changed.
“I was planning to play football in college, but I really did not know what I wanted to do with those colleges. So, I ended up doing a gap year and moving to Colorado,” Hill said.
During his time in Colorado, Hill met and made friends with people who were involved higher up in the rugby world, which gave Hill the idea that he could have a future with the sport.
“I got to meet some people that have been around the game for a long time, people from around the world,” Hill said. “So, learning from them and seeing the sport could take me around the world drove me to push rugby a bit more.”
After recruiting, Hill ended up playing for Grand Canyon University in Phoenix Arizona.
“In college, it is more organized, people take it more seriously,” said Hill.
When Hill had graduated from GCU, the pandemic limited the game in the United States, but because of a connection with an old coach, Hill got an agent and sent out film to gain the attention of professional teams.
He started his professional career at the Dallas Jackals, then he played internationally for the Netherlands Rugby Union Club.
After playing in the professional league, Hill continued playing a different version of the sport called sevens.
“Sevens is a form of rugby that is kind of like three-on-three basketball, there are only seven guys on each side of the field instead of 15,” Hill said. “That was more of a traveling thing, we play in tournaments and for that I played for a team called Gorilla Rugby and The Southern California Griffons.”
Hill currently plays for the Dallas Rugby Football Club and hopes to continue his rugby career.
