Taylor Welch (born November 1, 1989) is an American rugby footballer who played one professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

match for the

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington ...

in the Super League in 2008. Welch was selected to represent the United States national team at the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's Festival of World ...

Background

Welch was born in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. He and his father relocated to

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

, Cheshire, England in 2003, following the death of his mother. He attended

Crosfields School Shinfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, just south of Reading. It contains and is administered by the unitary authority of Wokingham District. Shinfield Park is the northern part of the parish, becoming p ...

and

Lymm High School Lymm High School is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Lymm, Warrington, Cheshire. History The date the school was founded is unknown, but the earliest known reference to the school is in a church document da ...

Playing career

Having played

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

in his youth, he transitioned to

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

in school and was convinced to try

by the

head coach Paul Cullen, joining the team's youth academy. Playing as a , his under 18s début initially was held back due to his classification as an overseas player, an issue finally resolved with special dispensation from the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

. In 2008, Welch was drafted onto Warrington's 19-man roster to cover for an injured Chris Riley. Riley was cleared to play, however Welch had trained so well that he was selected to the 13-man playing roster ahead of teammate Kevin Penny for the game against the Castleford Tigers. He is thought to have become the first American to play for Warrington Wolves and the first ever to play in the Super League. Welch has continued to play rugby union. He was selected in the

training squad for the

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

NAWIRA Sevens Qualifiers in the Bahamas. He has played for

Fylde Rugby Club Fylde Rugby Union Club is a rugby union club based in Lytham St Annes, on the Fylde coast in Lancashire, England. The home venue is the Woodlands Memorial Ground on Blackpool Road in Ansdell and the first team play in English rugby's Nation ...

, Pays d'Aix RC in

Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was in ...

and

Sale F.C. Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the ...

, and applied for U.K. citizenship to enable him to count as a player in Super League. Welch subsequently relocated back to the

. He has continued playing rugby with the New York Raiders of the

American National Rugby League The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was a rugby league organization in the United States that operated from 1997 to 2014. The country's first domestic rugby league competition, it hosted an annual league from 1998 through 2013. Throughout it ...

and the Chicago Griffins rugby union team, and has trained with the startup

Chicago Stockyarders The Chicago Stockyarders are a semi-professional rugby league football team based in Chicago, Illinois. The team was established in 2010, and played two exhibition rugby league sevens games while preparing for a fuller exhibition schedule for the ...

. In October 2014, Welch signed with the semi-professional

Townsville Blackhawks The Townsville & Districts Blackhawks are an Australian semi-professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. The club was admitted to the Que ...

for their inaugural season in Australia's

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by fou ...

References

External links

Wyles and Ngwenya in USA Sevens squad
{{DEFAULTSORT:Welch, Taylor 1989 births Living people American emigrants to England American rugby league players Rugby union players from Texas Aston Bulls players Chicago Griffins RFC players Fylde Rugby Club players New York Raiders rugby league players Provence Rugby players Rugby league wingers Townsville Blackhawks players United States national rugby league team players Warrington Wolves players Rugby union players from Warrington Rugby league players from Warrington American expatriate sportspeople in France American expatriate rugby union players American expatriate rugby league players Expatriate rugby union players in France Expatriate rugby league players in Australia Sportspeople from Dallas