The Man They Call ‘Butcher’ – Introducing Dylan Fawsitt As The First MLR Centurion
Written by Joe Harvey
“That’s mad.”
Dylan ‘The Butcher’ Fawsitt can scarcely believe he is the first player to make 100 Major League Rugby appearances.
The Chicago Hounds and USA Rugby hooker has cemented himself in MLR history as one of the competition’s fiercest competitors.
No player has scored more tries in the league, had more All-MLR selections, or played more minutes since the league began in 2018.
Lifting the Shield in 2022 when Rugby New York beat the Seattle Seawolves in the Championship Final, the 34-year-old hit the landmark appearance in the Hounds’ 45-31 Week 2 loss to the Utah Warriors at SeatGeek Stadium.
“All I have to say is just a thank you to the people that have made it happen,” he said. “I know I got there through hard work and people that gave me the opportunity.
“This is for them.”
Fawsitt’s journey to legendary MLR status started in the country he was born in, Ireland.
Dylan Fawsitt with Greystones RFC
Growing up in Wexford and Wicklow, he first picked up a rugby ball with Greystones RFC and tried his hand at hurling and Gaelic football.
But it was on the rugby pitch that he thrived.
Dylan Fawsitt with Old Blue Rugby
While playing as a flanker, he helped the prestigious Blackrock College to a Leinster Schools Senior Cup win in 2009, and after helping his school to that title, he began playing senior rugby with St. Mary’s College RFC in the All-Ireland League while studying at Technological University Dublin and working at Blackrock as a rugby coach and housemaster.
During that time, Fawsitt forged a friendship with current Chicago Hounds CEO James English, who was also coaching and working at the school.
Fawsitt also transitioned to the front-row to progress his career but found his options limited, and a future playing rugby in Ireland seemed unlikely.
“I sat down with some great men, who know their rugby, and they just said it wasn’t working right now,” he said.
“These guys had my best interests. I had fleeting, passing comments from coaches that didn’t know me enough, saying I wasn’t big enough.
“I just thought, ‘I’ll show you’. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
Offered the opportunity to study and play for Life University, Fawsitt linked up with his Blackrock College classmate AJ MacGinty in Georgia and fell in love with the country he now calls home.
Dylan Fawsitt Life University
After spending a season with the Ohio Aviators in 2016, he moved to New York, met back up with James English at Old Blue RFC, and coached Monroe College and Fordham Preparatory School.
Dylan Fawsitt with Ohio Aviators
Qualifying for the Eagles after completing three years of residency, Fawsitt was a late call-up to the USA’s 2017 tour of Europe but did not make an appearance for the side.
Making his Test rugby debut in the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship, he helped the USA win the competition for a second time and scored his first international try against Uruguay in the competition, clinching a 61-19 win over Uruguay in Montevideo.
2018 was also the year that Fawsitt’s MLR journey started.
Signed to Rugby New York as the team prepared for its inaugural campaign in 2019, an injury crisis at the Glendale Raptors opened the door to a loan move.
Helping Colorado club reach the Championship Final, which they lost 23-19 to the Seattle Seawolves at Torero Stadium before returning to the East Coast.
For the next five seasons Fawsitt dug in and helped New York become a force to be reckoned with.
In 2019, he helped the club to the postseason for the first time with 12 tries, and in 2022, he was an integral figure as the team beat Seattle 30-15 to end the year as champions.
Fawsitt describes the feat as one of his proudest rugby memories.
Ahead of the 2024 MLR season, Fawsitt was reunited with James English once again when he moved to the Chicago Hounds.
In his first season the 34-year-old crossed the whitewash on 14 occasions and went to the Eastern Conference Final.
https://twitter.com/usmlr/status/1861519296951693392
Now, in his eighth MLR season, Fawsitt is among a select group of players who have played in every year of the competition.
His Chicago teammate Nate Augspurger is one of that group, as are the NOLA Gold’s Tesimoni Tonga’uiha, Seattle’s Riekert Hattingh, and Utah’s Angus MacLellan.
Dylan Fawsitt 2025 Chicago Hounds
Part of the competition’s evolution from the start, Fawsitt hopes to leave a lasting legacy in MLR when he finally hangs up his boots.
“From the first year it started to now, it looks wholly different,” he said. “It’s just a credit to everyone involved. It really is.
“And it’s still growing. All I can do is continue to perform and produce a product that makes it exciting. That is why I push myself every day.
“I don’t want to limp into retirement. I want to go out on top. And if I can influence anybody on the way and help all these young fellas understand how privileged this position is, then I have done my job.”
To start the 2025 season, Chicago started with a 25-22 win over the Houston SaberCats in Texas and got Chris Latham’s reign as head coach started in the best possible way.
Crossing the whitewash in Week 1 and did the same at the weekend as Chicago battled it out with the Warriors in the Midwest.
After the disappointment of leaving the Play-Offs at the Eastern Conference Final, the hunger to lift the Shield again has never been more apparent for the 34-year-old.
“You can anticipate everything and more,” Fawsitt said of this season. “I don’t know how to answer without going over the top.
“Imagine leaving your mark on the league and doing it for the first time. Being on that team that won it for Chicago for the first time. That’s the way I look at it.
“I have never been more excited for a season. Whether this is my last or not, trust me, it’ll be the best yet.”
https://twitter.com/usmlr/status/1893742917849669883
Get a behind-the-scenes look at Fawsitt and the Chicago Hounds in "The United States of Rugby," documentary - The first episode is out now on Roku.
One episode each week will be dropping on Fridays 8:00PM ET for the next five weeks. Episodes will replay on Saturdays at 5:00PM, and be available on VOD.