LIFE AFTER RUGBY
A TALE OF two interviews. In the first, an impressive teenager is not only honest in talking about his mental health struggles but mentions undertaking a butchery course and how he’d like to go into the restaurant industry once his rugby days are done. In the second, a player a decade older says he is purely focused on rugby, with spare time spent going for coffee or walking the dog.
In this sport, the second interview is by far the more common (although playing computer games is probably the most prevalent pastime) – and that is hugely worrying. A professional rugby career has a finite lifespan.
Heard the one about the 55-year-old player in the Top 14? No. Exactly.
And given the physical toll the game can take on the body, more players are having their time on the pitch cut short by injury. Rarely a week goes by without a press release dropping into the Rugby World inbox about another retirement on medical advice, and the age of those players appears to be getting steadily younger. Playing until your mid-30s is now considered an achievement.
So when you contemplate the fact that players will spend more of their life as a former professional player than a current one and that 95% of retired players need a second career, why are so many not giving their future much thought?
In speaking to a number of former pros for this feature, it is clear many players feel they need that narrow focus on rugby to achieve all they want in sport. Yet there is also an argument that having interests away from the game can make you a more rounded person and a more successful player. Saracens actively encourage players to pursue things outside of their rugby habitat – and they are European champions.
Another common theme is how those players who had not given their future much thought now wish they had prepared better so their transitions – particularly those that are unplanned and caused by injury – had been smoother. After all, there are enough challenges in adapting to life after rugby that knowing how you’ll support yourself (and your family) financially once the rugby pay cheques stop can help relieve some of the stress.
