Pro rugby coach sues City of Glendale for hiring and then firing him

The City of Glendale’s publicly funded rugby team, which won’t play next year, has been sued for allegedly reneging on its plans to hire an Argentinian coach at the end of 2023.

Carlos Ignacio Fernández Lobbe, 50, played professional rugby from 1996 to 2011 and has been a coach since retiring, most recently for Los Pampas of the Super Rugby Americas League. Glendale’s team, the American Raptors, also played in that league.

Last year, Los Pampas walloped the Raptors 63-0. That, according to a lawsuit filed Nov. 14, is when the Glendale team decided to lure Fernández Lobbe to Colorado.

The Argentine’s coaching career was at an inflection point, he recalled in the lawsuit. He had an offer to coach Spain’s national rugby team, among other prospects. But Glendale had hired Marcelo Loffreda, a former coach of his, to run the Raptors. So, he came here to work under Loffreda.

“Fernández Lobbe believed that coaching for the American Raptors would open up future career opportunities in the United States of America,” according to the lawsuit that he filed.

Fernández Lobbe’s $6,500-per-month contract was signed Dec. 7, according to the assistant coach, and he planned to move here from Buenos Aires on New Year’s Day. But before he could, Loffreda was diagnosed with a health problem that prevented him from coaching the Raptors in 2024, and the City of Glendale backtracked on its plans to keep Fernández Lobbe for the 2024 season.

Reportedly, the city’s stated reason for firing Fernández Lobbe was two incidents last fall when he grew agitated and insubordinate. He said those occurred during the interview process, before he had been hired to coach the Raptors, and therefore can’t be used to fire him. The city did not answer requests for comment on the case.

“In reality, the city decided to ‘move in another direction for 2024’ after it learned Loffreda would not be able to join the American Raptors in Glendale,” according to Fernández Lobbe.

After the assistant coach turned down severance pay offers of $5,000 and $8,000, the City of Glendale fired him in early 2024, Fernández Lobbe alleges in last week’s lawsuit.

“Whether rugby is a wise use of public funds is a question for the taxpayer to decide. But as a matter of law, the City of Glendale has not been operating its rugby program like the American government it is,” claims his complaint for breach of contract and promissory estoppel.

“This is not how governments are allowed to behave in the United States of America,” it added. “Carlos Ignacio Fernández Lobbe intends to hold the City of Glendale accountable.”

His lawyers are Stephen Hennessy and Mirko Kruse at the Hennessy Kruse law firm. Requests for an interview or comment from Fernández Lobbe were not answered by his attorneys.