Steve Raia

Perhaps no player has done more to boost the Lions’ level of play than Stevie Raia, and his body—and the bodies of countless opponents—has paid the price. After tearing his knee recently, the hard-nosed flanker—maybe the best rugger ever to hail from Staten Island (“Island of Shaolin”, in Raia-speak)--says he’s hanging up the boots. Stevie shared some Lions memories over a pint on Friends and Family Day.

A PINT WITH: When Lions retire—Clay, 280—it doesn’t always stick. How do you define “retire?”
STEVE RAIA: My body’s taken quite a beating the last 11 years of rugby, seven with the Lions. I’ve had major shoulder surgery and they basically did the holy trinity on my knee. To enjoy the rest of my life, I may have to hang up the boots now. I have no regrets about the way I played, but I guess part of me knew this was how it was going to end. I’m not happy with the way it happened but I guess there are worse ways to go out.

APW: When you think of your early Lions memories, what comes to mind?
SR: Thursday nights at Fiddlesticks were classic because I’d just come from college and didn’t really know anyone. I found the team on the web and went to practice in sweatpants and sneakers, and the team was very welcoming of me, regardless of how I looked and them never having seen me play before. Everyone was very enthusiastic about rugby and taught me about the game, helping players regardless of whether they were good or had the potential to be good, like a family. My coaches were Christian Averill and Marty Rosenthal. I eventually got my shot out there, and when you were out there you had to prove yourself as a rugby player. But everyone on the club respected people as people, not just as rugby players.

APW: What are your favorite Lions memories?
SR: Connecticut Yankees my first year with the club. I joined in ’99, toward the end of the season. We played as Rockaway’s B team against the Connecticut Yankees and it was one of those games--I didn’t know half the people’s names but everyone played really hard. We were down by 4 late in the game. I took a penalty full steam, ran over someone, scored a try, turned around, and it was one of those things--‘I can do this on this level.’

Also, Sweden. We played against a team that hadn’t lost in a year. Everyone to a man was bigger than us. It was my first international tour and we beat these guys on sheer heart, a bunch of old Lions and new Lions coming together. We were down a man late in the game and we had a goal line stand for about 10 minutes. Our coach, Christian, took off his whistle and ran onto the field to sub in at second row for the last five minutes. I’d never see him play before. I saw that and said, ‘we’re not losing this game.’ It was 15 dudes laying it all on the line for each other.

APW: Which teammates from over the years stand out?
SR: It’s hard to say after seven years. That’s the thing about the Lions, that everyone has their unique thing that they bring to the team. I’ve met people that I would’ve never met in my life; I got a best friend like Clay out of rugby and met people all over the world.

In terms of most valuable teammates, I’d have to say Mike Barry and Mike Donnelly. When I first joined the team as a 21-year-old guy who said he was a flanker, those two class back row players accepted me into going into #7--especially Mike Donnelly, who’s one of the best players to ever play for the Lions. They encouraged me. They saw something in me and allowed me to pick their brains every Thursday night in Fiddlesticks. I would sit there and talk rugby with them for hours. They taught me the little things they learned from someone else, and that’s what rugby’s about; they allowed me to try to become the best player I could be.

That’s really setting aside your ego for the sake of the team. They were like, look for this, look for that in the flyhalf, and in the next game, it was ‘shit, those bastards know what they’re talking about.’ It’s basically turning from a raging lunatic to a smart rugby player. That’s how I learned. I had ability and anger, but playing with guys like Mike Donnelly and Mike Barry really teaches you how to play the game. The best thing I can do now is to try to help the younger guys. I can’t show them anymore, but I can tell them: Have a pint with me, I’ll talk your ear off.

APW: You’re pretty chill off the field. Where does the anger come from?
SR: I’ve always been very competitive, and as childish as it seems, I’d get very angry that some dude on the other team thought he could wear my number. I was number 7, so what the hell right does that guy have to wear my number on his back? One thing Donnelly told me was, I’ve played against #7s that were better than me, faster than me, but on that day, they weren’t. He said beat your opposite, then you can beat the rest of the team. That’s the way I approached the game.

APW: How’s it feel to be able to party on Fridays?
SR: It’s definitely weird. It’s definitely kept me in check--have a few pints on Thursday, but Friday was always very focused on Saturday morning. It was never a good night’s sleep before a game. I always had butterflies until the first smack of the game.

APW: What athletes did you idolize growing up?
SR: I always liked the guys everyone else didn’t like, the underdogs. Everyone liked Michael Jordan, so I had a Dominique Wilkins poster on my wall. I wasn’t as much an LT fan as a Mike Singletary fan. The middle linebackers, the guys who got dirty. I never went for the flashy guy.

I was never a big guy. I was always the guy everyone would underestimate in every sport I played: ice hockey, baseball, whatever. People would see me and not think much, and that would fuel me to try and prove them wrong.

APW: How long before you no longer feel the itchy palms at 1 p.m. on a Saturday?
SR: I don’t think it can be unlearned. It’s part of me, and it’s a good part of me. I lived for my Saturdays. The beauty of the sport was, the Lions had bartenders, surgeons, laywers--every walk of life. But come 1 o’clock on Saturday, all you were were teammates. I prided myself on never taking a play off, because my teammate might get hurt or I might let someone down. That’s the way the game, in my opinion, should be played. I may not have been the most skillful player, but I bet I played harder than most people.

Quick Facts:

• BIRTHPLACE? Staten Island, a.k.a. the "Island of Shaolin", NY
• FAVORITE DRINK? Proper pint of Guinness or Ketel One on the rocks or with a splash of club soda
• YEARS WITH THE LIONS? Fall 1999-Fall 2006
• MOST VALUABLE TEAMMATES? Hard to make a complete list with all of the great teammates that have come and gone while I have played. Anyone who ever stepped on the pitch with me and gave everything they had I considered invaluable... particularly whoever looked after me when I found myself on the bottom of countless rucks and breakdowns.
• BEST LIONS MEMORY? I do not have a best memory but a few moments do stick out...the feeling of exhausted joy when the final whistle blew and we beat Boston in regionals after winning Div 3....all of the international tours, particularly winning against the team in Lund, Sweden after a 10 minute goal line stand and captaining the team in Italy...flying to the Philippines to see teammate and friend Clay Luraschi start for the Philippines' national side at fullback and score a game-deciding try against Guam...post-game Saturdays with teammates that started early and ended even earlier the following morning...
• DAILY PERCOSET INTAKE? 1 pill at night, switching to Advil Gelcaps
• OLD DIRTY BASTARD OR METHOD MAN? Neither. I prefer The GZA (a.k.a. the Genius) because when the Wu-Tang come together and form like Voltron, The GZA forms the head and leads the clan into battle.