East London Rugby Star Stephen Munnelly swapped try’s for touchdowns and found his calling playing ‘America’s Game’.
New Chapter
After the 19-year-old spent most of his early life as a promising rugby prospect, he felt he needed a change. Having represented Hackney, as well as teams at the school and college level, Munnelly had achieved all he could, short of playing professionally. However, few would have thought the next step in his journey would be playing America’s most popular sport.
“Having played Rugby all my life, I thought it would be nice to try out a new sport, after having played and succeeded I felt like I needed a new challenge,” he said.
More Than Power
Measuring up at 6’2 1/2 and 225 pounds, Munnelly really is built for the gridiron. Being blessed with such physical attributes no doubt gave him an advantage in his rugby career, but as he found out the hard way, American Football is about way more than just size and strength.
“The Speed catches you out. The game is so explosive. After the first session you really start to feel it in your joints and your body. Rugby wears you down slowly whereas in American Football one play can take you out. The position I play is so physical, every play is a constant fight.”
Intricate Game
Many professionals have described playing on the line of scrimmage as like being involved in a head-on car collision. As Munnelly described, each play requires defenders to give everything, they must try and beat their match-up and tackle the ball carrier. This sport simply doesn’t give time for respite, making it arguably the most physically challenging sport played at the collegiate level.
The physical feats achieved by the players are made even more impressive when taking into consideration the amount of planning and intelligence that is required on each play. To a novice, the game may appear like chaos, however every snap features a specific play being run by both the offense and defense, which is often specially designed by the coaches to work against their specific opponent or formation.
“Learning the game plans has been tricky. The psychical side has its draw backs, but I’m somewhat used to that with my rugby background…the mental side of the game is way harder,” says Munnelly.
“At first it’s so much to take on. You get a play book put in front of you and that’s it. You’re expected to learn it. You get a couple of days until your first training session with that playbook and the coaches start throwing plays at you and you have to recognize and react to it.”
Think On Your Feet
To anyone that has grown up playing British sports the idea of a playbook will likely seem bizarre. In American Football, Offense, Defense and Special Teams all have their own playbook which is drawn up by the coaches. The playbook could have anything up from 20 plays in it, with each one having a unique name and situation in which it will be called. Players have a maximum of 40 seconds between snaps, which is all the time they have to hear the play call from the coach or captain, react to it and put it into action.
“In rugby there is often one big tactic for the whole game which may change at half time, whereas with American Football, the game plan is continuously changing with personnel, tactics and new plays being thrown in. Some new plays are actually drawn up on the sideline”
Season Highlight
Munnelly’s impressive rookie season with the Derby Braves is coming to an end, with his final game being a varsity match-up against the University of Hertfordshire. As he prepares from his first game back in London, Stephen spoke about his biggest personal achievements from this season so far.
“Getting my first sack was the personal highlight of rookie season. I grabbed a hold of his (the quarterback’s) waist and I felt him almost slipping away and I just thought, this is the first opportunity I’ve had to take a quarterback down and I told myself, ‘I’m not letting him go’.
“It was a great moment because the rest of my teammates knew it was my first as well. They gave me a slap on the chest and then I felt more powerful on the next play. It’s like you have this burst of energy.”
Hometown Return?
Personal milestones have been key from Braves players in what has been a testing season for the team overall, in which they have struggled to find wins. Munnelly is not letting the teams poor record get him down however and intends to strive for improvement as he returns to East London this summer.
With a very long off-season, it’s a real challenge for players to stay at their best, let alone improve. However, Stephen is aiming high, with a real emphasis on improving his physical attributes during the summer.
The defensive lineman even teased at the idea of him joining the London Blitz saying, “He would definitely be interested” in trialling for the squad when he returns to Hackney. The Blitz are London’s most successful independent American Football team, this would be a real step up in competition after only one year of football experience.
However, having proved doubters wrong already, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Stephen Munnelly sacking quarterbacks in his hometown, sooner rather than later.
