Rugby is a very physically demanding sport. But what isn’t focused on so much is the mental impact of playing the sport professionally. These issues have recently been dragged into the spotlight by the actions of Kearnan Myall and Jamie Cudmore.
Myall has said he believes players are often afflicted with intense pressure and loneliness. He has also said he believes that professional coaches are stuck in a generational gap dating back to when the game was mostly played at an amateur level.
“A lot of the guys in charge have come from the amateur days,” he said. “It’s a case of: ‘You need to toughen up, get your head down, work hard.'” He has also said that far from players being valued more highly with the commercial success of the game, he believes they have only become more “disposable.”
He has described the hardships of camp, and said many players do not enjoy going back. “It’s a combination of pressure, scrutiny, what’s going to be said and what they’re going to be made to do.”
Meanwhile, Cudmore has taken a different stance. He is taking his old team, Clermont Auvergne, to court for failing to protect him after a series of concussions he suffered in 2015. A court-appointed neurologist has concluded that the club was at fault for letting him play on with a concussion in the 2015 Champions Cup final.
The case could cause a serious ripple effect across the sport.
“The game has progressed so fast,” Cudmore said. “But the people who run it are 50-70 years old and they’re still in the dark ages. I have stood up for myself and other who do not need to go through this.”
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