Old Glory DC has re-signed Ryan Burroughs for the 2020 Major League Rugby season. He will be 28-years-old in a few days and is 5’10” and 201 lbs. Ryan played during the team’s 2019 exhibition season.
Ryan is from Manassas, Virginia and attended Liberty High School in Bealeton. He was a running back and a wide receiver. Playing football was a way for him and his brother Chris to “to channel their aggression and feel like their lives had meaning.”
Ryan enlisted in the Army after high school and after “serving for three years, he spent a couple of years doing heating, ventilation and air conditioning work as a government contractor, while competing on the side in semi-professional football and amateur MMA.”
Ryan was introduced to rugby by Chris Frazier and after briefly playing rugby union locally, joined Northern Virginia Eagles Rugby League Club in 2015. He scored five tries in his debut against eh Bucks County Sharks and finished the season with 33 tries in 10 games. This placed him on the USA Rugby League National Team radar.
Ryan represented the USA Rugby League team in a two-match Colonial Cup Series against Canada in 2015. He played in both 2017 World Cup Qualifiers against Jamaica and Canada.
He then moved to Australia in 2016 to play with the Wentworthville Magpies. Initially, he played Sydney Shield and then in the Ron Massey Cup. He then signed with the Toronto Wolfpack for their inaugural season in 2017. He played in the Challenge Cup against Siddal and scored the team’s first-ever try.
Ryan was then loaned to the London Skolars for the remainder of League 1 season and then moved to the Barrow Raiders in the Championship.
Ryan returned to the U.S. and began playing rugby union with NOVA Rugby. He has been the captain of the US National Rugby League team and served in the Army’s Elite Athlete Program. He has become known as “Captain America”, although Todd Clever also has been tagged by that title.
Ryan has played fullback, center, and wing in rugby league and slated to play either wing or center for Old Glory DC. Following the 2019 Old Glory exhibition season, Ryan played rugby league with the Northern Virginia Eagles and was selected for the USA Rugby League North All-Star Team in 2019.
