The New Orleans Gold Rugby Club re-signed John Sullivan for this third season with the club. The 26-year-old, 6’2″, 225 pound back row is a versatile player, whose vertical leaping ability is an asset in lineouts. He played in 12 matches for the team in 2019.
John is from Orchard Park, New York. He went to Orchard Park High School and began to play rugby his sophomore year for the Orchard Park Rugby Club. He also ran indoor track that year.
After high school, John enrolled at St. Bonaventure in 2011 and pursued their 5 years BBA/MBA program. He majored in accounting and minored in economics for the undergraduate degree, and graduated in 2015. At the conclusion of the fifth year, he obtained an MBA in 2016. For his 5 years at the university, he played rugby.
His rugby honors at St. Bonaventure University include All-Empire Conference first side fullback his sophomore year and with the same honors at wing his junior year. His Senior year and his 5th year in Graduate School, he was selected to the second side All Rugby East Conference at outside center and at No. 8, respectively. In 2016 he was also a Collegiate All American honorable mention.
While in college, John also played rugby sevens with the Columbus Rugby Club/ 1823 Sevens during the Summers of 2013 and 2014.
After obtaining his graduate degree, John played rugby with the Mystic River Rugby Club during the 2016-2017 seasons as an outside center, No. 8 and flanker. His performance also gained him recognition with the club for the 2016 Rookie of the Year Award.
John’s rugby sevens play also brought him to the Las Vegas Invitational in 2016 where he played with Stars Rugby 7s where the team became Shield Champions. He also played with them at the Rugbytown 7s that August. To conclude that year’s sevens season, he played with the Northeast Academy at the New York 7s and the Barbados 7s. The team left both tournaments as Cup champions.
In 2017, he also went to the Las Vegas Invitational with the Northeast Academy, where the team finished in 5th/6th place. Then he played with Mystic River in the 2017 Northeast Summer club sevens competition.
At the end of the Summer, he again went to the Rugbytown 7s and played with Negro y Azul, where they finished in 6th place.
During Summer 2019 he played with New Orleans RFC Sevens with the team finishing second in the Red River, just missing out on the USA Club 7s Nationals. He also played with USA Rugby South at loosehead prop against the Cayman Islands. He is currently playing in for the Chicago Lions during Fall 2019.
NOLA Gold Comments
Ryan Fitzgerald, General Manager, discussed John’s signing saying “Pound for pound, Sully is one of the strongest guys in all of MLR. His relentless work ethic, his toughness, and his do ‘whatever it takes’ mentality add great value to our roster.
We are looking forward to a big year out of Sully, as he returns for his 3rd season in Gold.”
