DAVID SOLE

‘

Dylan Hartley, the 97-times-capped former England captain, has to come down the stairs sideways.

He can’t play simple games with his young daughter because his body won’t allow it.

He is a physical wreck after a 16-year career in professional rugby.

Hartley retired because of injury last year, but he will be paying the price for some years to come, if the current state of his body is anything to go by. Rory Hughes, the former Glasgow Warrior, has also spoken out about his experiences of being unceremoniously dumped from his home city’s team, and being left feeling that he was little more than a commodity rather than a person.

When this is overlaid with the experiences of Matt Smith – another Glasgow player who has been lost to the game because of issues with mental health – then surely something has to be done to protect the physical and mental welfare of rugby players, more now than ever before?

The issue is exacerbated this year by the compressed fixtures calendar that is emerging as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 2019-20 season restarted across the UK over the last two weekends and, while the format to conclude the season is different to before, there are still European competitions to finish before a start is made on the 2020-21 season. It is time Players’ Associations flexed their muscles

Overlay that with a prolonged international tournament in the autumn, the Six Nations in early 2021 followed by a British & Irish Lions tour to reigning world champions, South Africa, and it is a busy old year for a professional rugby player.

Player welfare seems to have slipped down the list of priorities and, indeed, off the bottom altogether.

To be fair, in England, measures have been put in place to protect players’ welfare and to ensure that their bodies are given time to recover. Damian Hopley, who is CEO of the Rugby Players’ Association in England said: “All stakeholders have worked collaboratively to agree essential player welfare initiatives in these extraordinary circumstances.”

It is time that players associations flexed their muscles on behalf of their members.

Scotland were very late to the party in this regard, being the last Tier One nation to create a players union two years ago – Rugby Players Scotland (RPS).

RPS were upset not to have greater involvement in discussions when wage cuts were being made back in April, affecting all of their members, so perhaps relations between the SRU and the players union is somewhat strained.

But players cannot end up like Hartley, Hughes or Smith.

There is a duty of care to support and manage the careers of professional rugby players during and beyond their time as players.

It’s time for RPS to have a louder voice.