A Snapshot Into the Life of a Canadian:

The Privileges of Playing Professional Rugby

Life as a professional rugby player can come across in the general public as glitzy, easy or smooth going, and this stereotype may have even crossed my mind before I took my first flight over the Atlantic in 2009 to play professional rugby in England. But it is safe to say that the glitz or glam of playing in the RFU Championship slightly wears off after you finish your first game and walk off the pitch not knowing who is on who’s team because every player out there is covered in mud from head to toe and you have won or lost by 3 points or less. Now trust me when I say those types of games make up probably only ten percent of the season (maybe more this year as the weather in England has been horrid), and so predominantly playing on firm grounds has resulted in expansive games and with removal of the relegation playoffs more teams can breathe a sigh of relief earlier in the season when they know they are out of the relegation spot and can therefore look to play exciting rugby.

I am currently playing professional rugby for London Scottish FC in the RFU Championship, which is one level below the Aviva Premiership. There are currently seven Canadians playing in this league and most people would argue that it is an extremely physically demanding league but it is also an amazing breeding ground for players to move up into top flight rugby not only in England but all over Europe.

When Patrick asked me to do a guest blog I had to ask him what he wanted me to write about, and he suggested taking the angle of a day in the life of a professional rugby player and to potentially illustrate to the general public (or his readers) how players like myself filled their day both during and after training. I guess then this blog is a reflection of what I would do in a general day and is also hopefully a portrayal what some players might do away from rugby. Most importantly the goal for this post is to illustrate how much of a privilege it is to be able to not only represent my country playing the sport I love, but also to do it as a career.

For me a standard day would consist of breakfast (fruit and porridge always) around 7:30 am then off to training. At training we would do a prehab session, which would be core strengthening, stretching, mobilization and any other key areas our Strength and Conditioning coach wants us to focus on. Then we would head to the gym to do a weights session (split by forwards and backs). Once the gym session was complete, it is off to unit analysis and then on field unit training. For me this means some video analysis of the opposition and ourselves from our last game, and then a brief discussion on any new moves or plays we are going to bring in as a forward pack (mostly centered around the lineout).

We then head outside to rehearse some of these moves but also incorporate other skill set drills combined with forward specific fitness drills. This might consist of us working on 2 vs 1 scrummaging for example, then off to do some sprints and down up fitness drills, largely so that we are fatigued while we are working on important skills like scrummaging or lineout technique. We would then break for lunch around 12 pm, and then reconvene for a team analysis meeting after lunch, followed by an on field session run by all our coaches, which finishes usually around 3 pm.

The goal is to have short and sharp sessions so that we aren’t fatiguing ourselves too much in the week, as it is a long season and staying fresh is one of the biggest difficulties for a rugby squad throughout the yearlong campaign.

Once I get home and all showered up many people would say to themselves, well now that sounds like a great day, not even nine to five! But as many people don’t realize rugby players do not garner the same kind of salaries that for instance soccer (football) players would, and so some of my teammates have other part time jobs. A couple are personal trainers or physiotherapists, and this extra work allows them to supplement their income.

For me personally I don’t have another job, but rather I am completing my Masters in Business Administration by distance education or correspondence. Several of my teammates also are following this path and are currently finishing degrees whether undergraduate or masters while also playing for our team. My afternoons and evenings are usually full of note-taking, review questions or studying whatever course I have an upcoming exam for (as I write this blog my next exam is Strategic Planning in a few months) as well as having dinner and another snack later in the evening.

The reason for doing my masters is because I thought it would be a good idea to have something to fall back on after I hang my boots up and retire from rugby so that I am not stuck without any job opportunities or real long term plan. Therefore I felt doing a distance education MBA might be a good way to gain a little bit of business experience while playing rugby. Once I complete my MBA next year I hope to also do some work experience possibly through sponsors of the club so that I actually have some real world work under my belt and that I can put on my CV.

All this long term after rugby talk shows that I might be getting a little ahead of myself, because one of the biggest dilemmas professional rugby players face, and one of the main positives or negatives (as my girlfriend might attest to) is the lack of long term career security as a professional rugby player. Our Canadian team coach always states that you are only as good as your last game, and that point is directly correlated with playing professionally, you are not only as good as your last professional game.

On top of that, you are only as good as your last season played. Once the February and March months come, the ‘what are your plans next season’ chat always come to fruition, and can be a massive drain or stress on a player especially if they are not ‘wanted’ by their club next year. This dilemma is doubled or tripled for a person like myself who also doesn’t hold a European passport or isn’t English Qualified (ie can potentially play for England in the future) as those are the golden tickets to playing pro in England. Many of my Canadian teammates are in the same boat as me, that being one of the two foreign players allocated to a pro rugby club.

To gain one of these spots is very difficult, and if you can land one it simply emphasizes even more how lucky you are to be playing rugby and how privileged I personally am because I know that my next game could be my last, or after a season, I could be out of a job and have to leave the country due to an expired working visa. The foreign player issue is something that is generating more and more interest as of late (especially with London Welsh’s recent points deduction) but it is one of the main obstacles that Canadians have to get through to play in the leagues in Europe. For some reason I don’t see anything changing in the near future that will loosen the rules or open up the pro leagues to more overseas players, and as a Canadian being one of the two foreign player spots on our roster I definitely always try to play each game like it is my last and to the best of my ability.

The results from completing my MBA while also playing professionally consist of several late nights and stressful weeks leading up to my exams, on top having to perform at training and obviously in games, complete all my analysis of the opposition (which is a fair bit for me as I am usually in charge of lineouts), and to try and fit in somewhat of a social life. There are maybe three to four free weekends throughout the season for some time off and with maybe four to five weeks off during the offseason, sometimes my body feels like it is constantly running, jumping, and tackling.

But I would never change what I do for anything else. I am extremely lucky to be a Canadian playing professional rugby in London and it is an utmost privilege to be able see the rewards from some of the sacrifices and hard work made earlier on in life. I always tell younger players that I am coaching or just chatting with, that when I was in high school, I was a short and fat prop up until I was about 17 years old. Then in university, I was not a special rugby player at all, very average in my opinion. But finally through a lot of sacrifice and work, not only by me, but with so much help from my parents as well, I was able to make strides and get my first cap for Canada a year after I graduated university.

Then I ultimately landed a professional contract playing in an amazing city in Europe. So as the cliché goes, realistically anyone can achieve their goals if they set their mind to it, and sacrifice a hell of a lot to get there.

It is such a privilege to be able to play not only for my professional club and for the Canadian National Rugby Team, but it is even more rewarding when something occurs, like what happened to me last month. My high school (St. George’s School from Vancouver, Canada) happened to have a Grade 9 and 10 rugby tour stopping in London the day I had my second last home game of the year. So 41 kids and teachers/coaches (most of which used to coach me as that prop over a decade ago) came to watch my game and get a small glimpse of what I do for a living. The weather was horrendous, zero degrees, mud, snow and we ended up losing by seven points in one of the ugliest rugby games I have ever been a part of. But they coped with it and I was able to chat with them after the game and hear about their tour.

It sort of felt like I had come full circle when I went on my first rugby tour in Grade 11 with the same school to Australia and New Zealand and watched a professional game there, when I never thought in a million years, as a 17 year old kid, that I could someday be playing professional rugby overseas and representing my country. It is a humbling feeling and one that I will never take for granted and that is why it is such a privilege to be able to play the sport I love and make a career out of it.

Patrick Johnston is a Vancouver-based freelance journalist. Follow him on twitter at twitter.com/risingaction.

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