Scores of Premiership pros could soon be without a contract, making the initiatives of former players such as Geoff Griffiths vital
The RPA general secretary, Christian Day, in action for Northampton in 2017. ‘We’re looking at 10 senior players per squad not being there next year,’ he says.The RPA general secretary, Christian Day, in action for Northampton in 2017. ‘We’re looking at 10 senior players per squad not being there next year,’ he says.Life after rugby: as game feels pinch, players face demanding transition
Maybe one or two will be fortunate and find a summer trial somewhere. The implications of the Premiership’s reduced £5m salary cap, however, threaten to wreck a lot of dreams. Some clubs have been shedding truckloads of academy pros, others have made derisory offers that no full-time athlete could reasonably accept. “The last two years have been the most testing and challenging for rugby union as a professional sport since the early days when everyone was flying blind,” says Day.
In many ways, though, that is the easy bit. Tick the box and on we go. Rather harder for those tiptoeing back into the real world is to replicate the weekly adrenaline rush to which they have become addicted. Or, tougher still, to peel back the layers of their institutionalised past and find something that might yield lasting happiness and long-term fulfilment.
Everyone knows playing rugby cannot last for ever but, equally, it is possible to be pigeonholed once you stop. “What happens in rugby, in particular, is that people get pushed into finance or brokerage … things where you’re classically going to be good at because of your transferable skills.
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