LAS VEGAS — Sometimes, dreams aren’t too big to return true.
Twenty years ago, Andrew Webster was a player-coach for the Connecticut Wildcats in a fledgling rugby league that’s now long defunct.
Back then, Webster was an expat Aussie attempting to satisfy his love for rugby and pleased if enough players turned as much as the dusty pitch in South Norwalk so he could field a team on a game day.
That was in 2005, Webster’s only yr in America but a highly impactful one.
On Saturday, Webster can be coaching the Recent Zealand Warriors in a National Rugby League match against the Canberra Raiders in front of an expected crowd of fifty,000 at Allegiant Stadium, where the Super Bowl was played last yr.
The 43-year-old native of Sydney is at the head of his career.
That makes him a poster child for persistence paying off, an example that dreams, even when seemingly unrealistic, do come true.
Webster called his yr in Connecticut “a tremendous experience … such a cool a part of my journey.”
“It was exactly what I wanted,’’ Webster told The Post on Friday. “I desired to transition my life into coaching but keep playing because I used to be still young, only 23. But I desired to do it on the opposite side of the world.
“Turning up in Norwalk, we had no goalposts, nobody really heard of the sport, nobody really even spoke about it,’’ Webster went on. “And now to be playing in Las Vegas in such a tremendous stadium where an NFL team plays is something I never considered in my life, and I’m glad it’s come true.’’
Richard Portale, certainly one of the founders of the Connecticut Wildcats, on Friday vividly recalled the moment Webster randomly reached out to him about joining the club.
“I would like to play for the Wildcats,’’ Webster told Portale.
“I used to be like, ‘Well, we’re form of in need of players here, so, yeah we could use a man,’ ’’ Portale recalled to The Post over the phone Friday.
“ ‘Do you need to just run with us and see the way it goes?’ ” Portale recalled asking Webster.
“He was amazing,’’ Portale said. “He was the perfect player in the sphere, so composed. We played a game against the skilled side, and he was just like the one guy who was standing up and putting in hard hits and making hard tackles and had blood coming out of his mouth at the tip of the sport.
“Afterward, he was like, ‘What do you’re thinking that?’ And I said, ‘You’re a Wildcat.’ ’’
Now Webster is a Warrior, coaching top-of-the-line rugby league teams on the planet, Saturday night gracing the largest global stage of all in the game.
Webster recalled “bringing a giant book on how I wanted to teach after I landed in America, and I threw it out after the primary week.”
Portale now laughs on the memory.
“Him showing up here with the playbook is true,” Portale said. “He was ready. And what he found was a bunch of men at a park. We didn’t have locker rooms. The funding was me and my buddy giving the blokes a number of dollars, and he lived with me and my wife.”
Nicholas Isbrandtsen is a Greenwich, Conn., native who also was a member of the Wildcats with Webster and have become nicknamed “Webby Jr.” because he had the identical long blonde locks as Webster.
“Even at 23, he was like an old soul — very calm, very welcoming,’’ Isbrandtsen told The Post. “He built a culture and a community that guys desired to be an element of, and I believe that’s why he was so successful. He was very confident in his coaching style.”
Under Webster’s watch, the Wildcats went to the 2005 American National Rugby League final, which they lost 32-30 to the Glen Mills Bulls.
“I remember his coaching style was very, very laid back and likewise very specific to details,’’ former Connecticut teammate Curtis Kunz, who now lives in Recent Jersey, told The Post. “He had a really approachable demeanor each on and off the sphere. As a as a player, though, he was an absolute savage, a vocal leader who played with passion.”
Now, Webster’s former Connecticut teammates are watching with pride, some in awe at the extent Webster has taken his profession.
Portale isn’t certainly one of them.
“I believe we knew,” Portale said. “Webby had that form of persona and energy about him that you just knew he was going to do what he said he desired to do. He’s certainly one of those kids where if he said, ‘That is my dream,’ he was going to perform that dream.
“Webby was one of the can-do, go-forward guys that you just’ll ever meet. He’s sharp. Men follow him. 100%, I at all times knew he would make his impact on the planet, and this was the impact he desired to make.’’
Dreams do come true.
LAS VEGAS — Sometimes, dreams aren’t too big to return true.
Twenty years ago, Andrew Webster was a player-coach for the Connecticut Wildcats in a fledgling rugby league that’s now long defunct.
Back then, Webster was an expat Aussie attempting to satisfy his love for rugby and pleased if enough players turned as much as the dusty pitch in South Norwalk so he could field a team on a game day.
That was in 2005, Webster’s only yr in America but a highly impactful one.
On Saturday, Webster can be coaching the Recent Zealand Warriors in a National Rugby League match against the Canberra Raiders in front of an expected crowd of fifty,000 at Allegiant Stadium, where the Super Bowl was played last yr.
The 43-year-old native of Sydney is at the head of his career.
That makes him a poster child for persistence paying off, an example that dreams, even when seemingly unrealistic, do come true.
Webster called his yr in Connecticut “a tremendous experience … such a cool a part of my journey.”
“It was exactly what I wanted,’’ Webster told The Post on Friday. “I desired to transition my life into coaching but keep playing because I used to be still young, only 23. But I desired to do it on the opposite side of the world.
“Turning up in Norwalk, we had no goalposts, nobody really heard of the sport, nobody really even spoke about it,’’ Webster went on. “And now to be playing in Las Vegas in such a tremendous stadium where an NFL team plays is something I never considered in my life, and I’m glad it’s come true.’’
Richard Portale, certainly one of the founders of the Connecticut Wildcats, on Friday vividly recalled the moment Webster randomly reached out to him about joining the club.
“I would like to play for the Wildcats,’’ Webster told Portale.
“I used to be like, ‘Well, we’re form of in need of players here, so, yeah we could use a man,’ ’’ Portale recalled to The Post over the phone Friday.
“ ‘Do you need to just run with us and see the way it goes?’ ” Portale recalled asking Webster.
“He was amazing,’’ Portale said. “He was the perfect player in the sphere, so composed. We played a game against the skilled side, and he was just like the one guy who was standing up and putting in hard hits and making hard tackles and had blood coming out of his mouth at the tip of the sport.
“Afterward, he was like, ‘What do you’re thinking that?’ And I said, ‘You’re a Wildcat.’ ’’
Now Webster is a Warrior, coaching top-of-the-line rugby league teams on the planet, Saturday night gracing the largest global stage of all in the game.
Webster recalled “bringing a giant book on how I wanted to teach after I landed in America, and I threw it out after the primary week.”
Portale now laughs on the memory.
“Him showing up here with the playbook is true,” Portale said. “He was ready. And what he found was a bunch of men at a park. We didn’t have locker rooms. The funding was me and my buddy giving the blokes a number of dollars, and he lived with me and my wife.”
Nicholas Isbrandtsen is a Greenwich, Conn., native who also was a member of the Wildcats with Webster and have become nicknamed “Webby Jr.” because he had the identical long blonde locks as Webster.
“Even at 23, he was like an old soul — very calm, very welcoming,’’ Isbrandtsen told The Post. “He built a culture and a community that guys desired to be an element of, and I believe that’s why he was so successful. He was very confident in his coaching style.”
Under Webster’s watch, the Wildcats went to the 2005 American National Rugby League final, which they lost 32-30 to the Glen Mills Bulls.
“I remember his coaching style was very, very laid back and likewise very specific to details,’’ former Connecticut teammate Curtis Kunz, who now lives in Recent Jersey, told The Post. “He had a really approachable demeanor each on and off the sphere. As a as a player, though, he was an absolute savage, a vocal leader who played with passion.”
Now, Webster’s former Connecticut teammates are watching with pride, some in awe at the extent Webster has taken his profession.
Portale isn’t certainly one of them.
“I believe we knew,” Portale said. “Webby had that form of persona and energy about him that you just knew he was going to do what he said he desired to do. He’s certainly one of those kids where if he said, ‘That is my dream,’ he was going to perform that dream.
“Webby was one of the can-do, go-forward guys that you just’ll ever meet. He’s sharp. Men follow him. 100%, I at all times knew he would make his impact on the planet, and this was the impact he desired to make.’’
Dreams do come true.
