Bateman’s back after looking beast in face
BEER-BREWING Leicester prop Greg Bateman has spoken about how the breakup of his marriage, sleepless nights, injury and the pressure of last season’s bitter battle against relegation created mental health issues that almost led to him quitting the game.
Bateman, 30, is on the straight and narrow again now thanks to the loyal support he has received from the people at Leicester, including hooker Tom Youngs, who also knows what it is to emerge from personal hardship after his wife fought through cancer.
However, the burly front rower admits things came to a head last January before he sought help to put his career back on track. Bateman told The Rugby
Paper: “I was at the point of self-medicating with various sleeping tablets and all sorts, just to get myself through my daily life.
“It was really difficult and there were moments, particularly with the distance I was from my children in Devon, where I thought it wasn’t worth going through it. Lack of sleep, the fact Leicester’s season wasn’t going to plan and then getting injured was like a triple blow on top of all the other stuff. Yes, I did think about jacking it all in, but I quickly realised I wasn’t in a position to do that.
“I’ve always wanted to leave rugby on my own terms and I’m not a quitter. I didn’t want to walk away because of having some personal struggles, so I looked the beast in the face, sought advice and having rugby gave me something to get my teeth stuck into.
“Tom Youngs is a big mate and he’s been a massive support as well. The people around me here at Leicester are entirely responsible for me being in a much better place now. It’s been a mixture of arm around the shoulder and tough love, but it’s helped.”
On and off the field, Bateman is on the way back up. He believes Tigers are on course to become a Premiership force again and away from the club he has immersed himself in planning for life after rugby by way of an MBA course at De Montfort University and business ventures involving a coffee house and his popular People’s Captain beer.
Of the latter, Bateman explained: “It was borne out of a relationship with Everards Brewery, who are a club partner. Rugby and beer go hand in hand and I’ve always been aware of life after rugby, so trying to marry the two things made sense at this stage.
“We made our first America Pale Ale and we’ve recently developed a stout as well. It’s something I really enjoy and we’ve got some exciting stuff planned. If anybody wants to order some Christmas bottles or kegs, the links are on my Instagram page!”
Rugby still pays the bills, though, and in that respect, Bateman insists Tigers are through the worst after coming close to plunging into the Championship.
The former London Welsh and Exeter man said: “When I came here in 2015, Richard Cockerill said that it didn’t matter where we were, everybody wanted to beat Leicester because of where we’d been in previous years.
“It’s true and lots of people have enjoyed our downfall, but there are guys at the club now who are really putting things back together. We do get a lot of criticism and some of it was warranted, but we believe we can build a new legacy.
“We’re at the start of a new journey and although our early season league results perhaps didn’t show it, there’s a lot good in what we’ve done.”