Matt Garvey interview: Rugby needs to stick up for its ‘squeezed' middle earners

Matt Garvey cannot apologise enough. The 34-year-old sheepishly admits that this chat had to be rearranged. He thought his English bulldog, an RSPCA rescue called Poppy, was due at the vet for booster jabs tomorrow. As it turns out, the appointment was earlier today.

Thirteen years in professional sport will institutionalise you. Emerging into the ‘real world’ brings challenges, time-keeping among them. Garvey’s playing days in rugby union came to what he calls a “natural” end last season. At the start of this month, a new chapter began with the Rugby Players’ Association.

Previously a versatile, tough back-five forward, Garvey is now working as a development officer for Bath and Bristol Bears. Excel spreadsheets and introductions have been recurring themes of his first weeks in the saddle. Rich experience in the game, both positive and difficult, means few are better qualified to support players.

“As I said in both of my interviews for this job, sport is different for everyone but I have seen a lot at first-hand,” Garvey explains.

“I went to university, I’ve been an academy player and a senior player. I’ve moved clubs, I’ve been a club captain. I’ve seen how clubs operate behind the scenes, I’ve had injuries that I thought would be career-ending, I’ve had contracts pulled away from me.”

Those are just broad brushstrokes. Garvey represented London Irish, Bath, Gloucester and, finally, Worcester Warriors on the way to accumulating well over 200 appearances at senior level. A move to France was derailed by a failed medical due to a history of neck operations.

Some years ago, a bout of avascular necrosis, effectively a situation where bone tissue in his ankle was dying after becoming cut off from blood supply, caused “panic