Saracens
Tom May Column: Saracens top of the class for educating players on life beyond rugby
Tom May
June 15, 2015
Saracens Under-18s
Saracens Under-18s© Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images

Balance is key for rugby players. Very few players coming through the elite Academy systems go on to gain full senior contracts. I've been incredibly lucky, as have the rest of the players who find themselves training and playing full-time. When I sit down and think about how many "could have" made it, the mind boggles.

Many simply miss opportunities to make the step up or perhaps didn't have the mindset to go on and play full-time, now finding themselves doing something totally different. I'm sure there is a whole league of world-class players who either didn't know they could play at that level or didn't get the chance to show it and now have left the game.

For those of us who did get that opportunity to play, it's something to treasure, an unbelievable opportunity that must be grasped with both hands and held on to for as long as possible. It's easy to take for granted what professional sport is about. It becomes the norm sometimes. You forget how lucky you are and it seems like it's never going to end. It does, and for some it's sooner rather than later.

Balance in rugby is the key. I feel strongly that players should have interests outside of sport and I'm constantly left concerned for players not doing anything outside of their daily training to make themselves more rounded people, better prepared for life after rugby and in a better position to look after young families. Unless you're in the top 0.5% of the game, you're going to need to work when you finish so you might as well get your head around it rather than avoiding the subject.

Players need to take ownership. Many of my team-mates, the ones my age anyway, have done some sort of qualification or have worked in a trade before becoming professional rugby, but the new batch seem to forget the importance and worth of this.

Clubs can have a huge influence on this. Their Academy set-ups now recruit players so early in their teens, players are groomed for professionalism from a very impressionable age. Great if you are working for the clubs; the kids you are working with pick up good habits, learn the systems and develop physically.

But it's not so great if you are a player. For me, it seems young players now feel they have it all when actually they have only just scratched the surface. They feel they have made it when there is still so far to go. The attention clubs give to their growing talent encourages them to feel that they should focus 100% on their rugby, nothing else. Focussing on rugby is hugely important but it's not the only thing needed. A life balance must be achieved to get the best out of them as individuals or clubs find themselves surrounded by rugby robots who have nothing to talk about except rugby and can't relate to anyone outside of the game.

It's incredibly refreshing to see what Saracens are doing with their stars. This isn't just their Academy players either. Every player, from seasoned international to first season Academy prospect, must be involved in doing something else outside of rugby. Work experience, further education or perhaps setting up and running their own businesses, it is compulsory at Saracens. It's not holding the club back on the field either - they are Aviva Premiership champions, of course, but also won the Under-18s championship in February and went unbeaten in the Premiership A-League.

It might be a case of the player experiencing an industry in the City and deciding that it isn't for them when they finish, that doesn't matter. They are learning and developing. Their players become rounded people, better people and fit well into what they are trying to do with their squad.

Mats Hummels
Mats Hummels© Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

I think it is a great idea and a massive example for the other clubs to follow. Too many clubs simply tick the box of having the Rugby Players' Association there to help players develop off the field. They should do more themselves and encourage this for their own lads. It would be hugely beneficial to them, too. A similar system is in existence in German football's Bundesliga where Academy players must be involved in further education as ongoing back-up to football. Germany stars and World Cup winners such as Manuel Neuer, Mats Hummels and Andre Shürrle have all come through this system.

It's not true that rugby players don't have the time to complete qualifications, there is plenty, you just have to be able to commit yourself and look for the long game which, believe me, comes round quickly. There are many horror stories of young players missing out on contracts, suffering terrible injury or being left out of the coach's plan for the future and not having anything to turn to. Rugby is all they have known. It's proof that players need to reinforce the rugby with something to back it up but also that the clubs need to help provide that framework for them to be able to complete that.

I know what it sounds like as a young player. It's boring and you can probably think of a hundred and one different things you would prefer to be doing. Preparation in rugby is key. Preparation for life after rugby is just as, if not more, important. Clubs need to buy into helping their assets become better people. Players sacrifice a huge amount for them and in return they need to afford them the opportunity to progress themselves without holding it against them. Sadly, I think some clubs do.

Our time retired from the game is much longer than any rugby career so why wouldn't clubs, players and coaches prepare for that point in life? Some of the best players I have played with have busy lives and some of the worst go home and simply sit on the PlayStation doing nothing. That says a lot to me.

© Tom May

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.