Life after rugby: as game feels pinch, players face demanding transition

T he final number of casualties is not quite confirmed but it is guaranteed to hurt. According to Christian Day, general secretary of the Rugby Players’ Association, at least 100 current Premiership squad members will shortly be left without a contract, victims of the stark financial realities gripping the English club game. “The market is incredibly squeezed,” says Day. “We’re looking at 10 senior players per squad not being there next year.”

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. “We’re trying to help with that.”

But even as Day spells out his determination to negotiate for a proper minimum wage and a benevolent fund for past players, a much bigger truth is increasingly hard to ignore. There is foolhardy and then there is the bone-headed stupidity of those who think pro rugby alone will set them up for life. Rarely has there been a worse time to put all your eggs in rugby’s increasingly wobbly basket.

To the RPA’s credit, things have come on slightly since Day started as a young pro in 2003. Back then there was barely any support or pastoral care for those suddenly deemed surplus to requirements. This year 91% of players in the league expressed an interest in developing themselves beyond rugby and 62% of those enrolled on educational or vocational courses. More than 100 education