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World Rugby commentator Dallen Stanford interviews the King of Sevens, Waisale Serevi.

Dallen Stanford (born May 16, 1979) is a South African born, former American rugby union sevens player,[1] and current rugby commentator based in the United States.

Stanford was selected for the USA Rugby Sevens team by head coach Al Caravelli in 2006.[2] The halfback played in 12 Sevens World Series events from 2007-2009 and was a traveling reserve for the 2009 Sevens Rugby World Cup in Dubai.

In November 2014, Stanford received the Athletes in Excellence Award from The Foundation for Global Sports Development, in recognition of his community service efforts and work with youth through Play Rugby USA.[3]

Stanford is the Director of Sports Partnerships for Friends of the British Council working with Premiership Rugby on their corporate social responsibility program in the USA. One of the initiatives is a partnership with USA Rugby for an international rugby coaching experience to Premiership Rugby in England. [4]

Playing and Coaching Career

Stanford attended Rondebosch Boys' High School and played alongside Springboks Gcobani Bobo and Hanyani Shimange during 1996/1997.[5] He studied Marketing at the Cape Technikon, and played rugby at the University of Cape Town (UCT), captaining the u21A Ikey Tigers side to a rare unbeaten season in 2000.[6] He represented UCT 1st XV from 1999-2002 at outside center, and was part of the famous 8-8 draw with the University of Stellenbosch (Maties) during the 2002 InterVarsity at Danie Craven Stadium, and UCT's 34-24 win over Stellenbosch in the return fixture at the Green Mile.[7] After moving to the United States, Stanford represented the Occidental Olde Boys (2003-2006), Belmont Shore Rugby Football Club (2007-2010), Austin Huns Rugby Football Club (2010-2011) and toured with the Pacific Coast Grizzlies (Hong Kong 10s, Singapore 7s), Atlantis Rugby (Rome 7s, Benidorm 7s) and Tiger Rugby (Nelson Mandela Bay 7s, Cancun 7s, RugbyTown 7s).[8] At Belmont Shore Rugby Football Club Stanford was a part of the Super League Championship team in 2007 and the USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship side in 2009 and runners-up in 2008 and 2010. Stanford was the tournament's top point scorer at the USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship in 2006.[9]

After retiring from international rugby, Stanford represented Team USA at the 2013 World Maccabiah Games in Israel, captaining the USA Rugby squad to Gold in 7s and Bronze in XVs.[10] He was named MVP of the inaugural 7s tournament.[11] In 2015, Stanford represented Team USA as a player/coach at the 13th Pan American Maccabi Games, held in Santiago, Chile.[12] He was one of three USA flag bearers for the Opening Ceremonies.[13] Team USA won Gold in 7s and Silver in XVs, with Stanford captaining the sevens squad.[14]

From 2011 to 2017, Stanford served as the Los Angeles Program Director for non-profit Play Rugby USA - whose mission is developing youth through rugby, using flag rugby as a vehicle for social change.[15] He was the Media manager for USA Rugby at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand and 2013 Sevens Rugby World Cup in Russia.

Stanford has coached the Austin Huns RFC, Austin Valkyries, University of Texas at Austin and was Head Coach of the Occidental College Men's RFC from 2011 to 2013. Occidental College claimed their first rugby National title in 2013, winning the NSCRO 7s at the Collegiate Rugby Championship in Philadelphia.

Broadcasting Career

In 2016 Stanford made his broadcasting debut on the HSBC Sevens World Series announcing the Men's USA 7s (Las Vegas) and Canada 7s (Vancouver) as well as the Women's Atlanta 7s.[16] Stanford has regularly featured on the HSBC Sevens World Series commentating the USA 7s (Las Vegas 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019, Los Angeles 2020), Canada 7s (Vancouver 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), Singapore 7s (2018, 2019), Dubai 7s (2019), Cape Town 7s (2019) and the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco.[17] He was one of the leading play-by-play commentators for Major League Rugby in the United States - appearing on CBS Sports Network[18] in 2018, 2019 and 2020.[19] Stanford was one of the lead voices for the 2019 World Rugby U20s Championship in Rosario, Argentina, featuring in several video reviews and previews called Commentators Cut[20].

Stanford made history as the first South African and first American to announce a Rugby World Cup for World Rugby on the World Feed.[21] He was one of four lead commentators selected by World Rugby to announce the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. Stanford worked with analyst Joel Stransky and sideline commentator Santiago Gomez-Cora covering 10 pool matches, including: Italy v Namibia, Wales v Georgia, England v USA, Argentina v Tonga, Scotland v Samoa, Ireland v Russia, Japan v Samoa, South Africa v Canada, Ireland v Samoa and Wales v Uruguay. [22] Stanford's most popular #RWC2019 one-liners included "Kotaro Matsushima - he's so dangerous - Freddy Krueger has nightmares about him!" (Japan v Samoa) and "Cobus Reinach - he's more dangerous than climate change!" (South Africa v Canada).

Stanford was the show host for the Colorado Raptors weekly highlights in 2018, 2019 and 2020. 'Pardon My Take' co-host PFT Commentator said in an interview in March, 2020: “I would say that it’s 50 percent the success of the sevens team and 50 percent having Dallen Stanford on all of those calls that make it on social media because he’s an electric dude."[23] Since 2012 Stanford has commentated 44 Internationals.[24]

In 2020 Stanford founded The Rugby Hive podcast with former Canadian 7s international, Robin MacDowell. [25]

References

  1. ^ "Stanford's varsity reunion in George". Planet Rugby. Planet Rugby. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2007.
  2. ^ "USA player pool for World Sevens Series". ESPN Scrum. ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 14 October 2006.
  3. ^ "Eight Olympians, Paralympians Named Athletes In Excellence". Team USA. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
  4. ^ "Premiership Rugby Scholarship". Premiership Rugby Scholarships. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  5. ^ "Rondebosch Boys' High School". Villager Sevens. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  6. ^ "Catching up with Ikey Legend Dallen Stanford". UCT RFC. UCT RFC. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  7. ^ "Rugby: UCT conquers the mighty Maties". University of Cape Town. Retrieved 16 September 2002.
  8. ^ "The Rugby Corner: About Dallen Stanford". The Rugby Corner. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  9. ^ "The Rugby Corner: About Dallen Stanford". The Rugby Corner. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  10. ^ admin (2014-12-05). "Maccabi Blog- Rugby with Dallen Stanford". Maccabi USA. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  11. ^ admin (2015-01-30). "MACCABI USA RUGBY ANNOUNCES COACHING STAFF FOR 2015 PAN AMERICAN MACCABI GAMES". Maccabi USA. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  12. ^ "Maccabi USA rugby team announced for 2015 Pan American Maccabi Games". USA Rugby. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  13. ^ "Maccabi USA". support.maccabiusa.com. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  14. ^ "Maccabi Rugby". Goff Rugby Report. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  15. ^ "Play Rugby USA Los Angeles". PlayRugbyUSA. Play Rugby USA. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  16. ^ worldrugby.org. "World Series heads to North America". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  17. ^ "Fly like an Eagle: World Cup brings USA Sevens full circle". www.rugbypass.com. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  18. ^ "Dallen Stanford and Brian Vizard Set to Call Major League Rugby Action on CBS Sports Network". Glendale Raptors. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  19. ^ "Major League Rugby: Q&A with MLR commentator Dallen Stanford". www.rugbypass.com. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  20. ^ World Rugby (2019-06-11), Stanford and Tenana discuss World Rugby U20s Top Performers, retrieved 2019-06-19
  21. ^ "Eagle Alumni Spotlight: Dallen Stanford, From Playing to Broadcasting". USA Rugby. 2019-08-23. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  22. ^ "Eagle Alumni Spotlight: Dallen Stanford, From Playing to Broadcasting". USA Rugby. 2019-08-23. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  23. ^ https://www.majorleague.rugby/news/its-time-to-take-notice-ft-a-conversation-with-pardon-my-takes-pft-commenter/
  24. ^ https://www.therugbycorner.com/about/
  25. ^ https://rugbyamericasnorth.com/stanford-macdowell-launch-rugby-hive/
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