Congratulations at a long distance to Jake and baby Max
WALES rugby player Jake Ball has become a dad for the fourth time but is still separated from his family due to his international commitments.
Ball announced the birth of son, Max, on Monday, days after revealing he hadn’t seen his pregnant wife and three other children for nearly three months.
And it’s emerged his family have actually been living with relatives in Australia, where his new baby was born.
Ball took the difficult decision to separate himself from his family a few months ago, with rugby bubble restrictions limiting the amount of contact he was allowed with people outside of the squad, and his wife, Christie, needing support to look after the children whilst heavily pregnant.
That decision saw her head for
Australia, where the couple have family.
Ball, whose father Dave is from Pwllheli in north Wales, migrated to Australia with his parents when he was 17 before signing for the Scarlets at 21.
In a strange twist of fate, baby Max was born on exactly the same date as sister Charlotte, four, and brother Jackson, two. The couple have another daughter, Amelia, who will be six this month.
Speaking about the situation, Ball said: “It’s a decision I had to make pretty early on in Covid, for my wife and for rugby, too.
“I knew that it would be tough trying to juggle international rugby, with all the bubble restrictions, and having my wife heavily pregnant at home, on her own with three kids.
“I haven’t seen my kids for about two and half, three months now and it’s been really hard, to be totally honest.
“They’ve spent some time with extended family and so it’s been really tough.
“Luckily, we have things like Zoom, to keep in touch but it’s obviously not the same as seeing them.”
Ball started Wales’ match against England alongside Alun Wyn Jones at lock on Saturday but misses out against Italy this weekend.
Although the Wales players have been permitted to go home and see family during the autumn campaign, they’ve been required to spend many days and nights at the Vale Hotel training base and have faced strict limits on who they are allowed to see and what they can do outside of the squad bubble.
They have also been unable to see family at all for extended periods ahead of certain matches.
The restrictions have allowed Wales to function in a safe way and fulfill all of their five fixtures so far over the past couple of months.
Saturday’s clash against Italy is the final Test of the autumn, with Ball due to meet his new son for the first time afterwards.