The Carling era? No, it was truly the Geoff Cooke era
It’s interesting how time changes the way people remember things and the way that they define those moments. As we look back we have the ability to colour the past with a personal view, whether for good or bad and then play up or down our personal role in events, but if you are seen as a ‘star’ at the time, the media can inflate your ego and self image endlessly, leading to a false idea of your importance.
With so much written these days about the mental health of players, it has me wondering why some find it harder than others when the lights are finally turned off and the phone stops ringing.
The latest person to open up about the effect on his personal life when his rugby career ended is Will Carling. In a full and frank interview with the Guardian, Will told of his childhood, schooling and then rugby career.
As someone who shared a part of his rugby career I am pleased that he is now happier and seems to be in a far better place than in those early days when it all ended.
Having read the article, one thing occurred to me that seems to be similar for all the players that face problems when the merry-go-round stops, which is the belief that they are somehow more special than others; and the media play a big part in creating that idea.
In the interview it referred to the ‘Carling era’ as if it were an unusual time in the game and Will was the person who made it happen.
It’s not difficult to imagine the effect that the sudden stardom and intrusion had on the life of a 22-yearold young man who had just left university and had no experience of ‘real’ life.
We don’t refer to other periods of English rugby history by saying the Beaumont era, the Johnson era, the Robshaw era, or the Hartley era. So why the Carling era?
If we have to name eras after people, it ought to have been called the Cooke era, as it was when Geoff Cooke (along with Roger Utley as his coach), took over that everything changed.
It was Cooke and Utley who selected Will, Micky Skinner and myself for our first caps in the Five Nations game against France in Paris on January 16, 1988. Then on November 5, 1988 the following autumn, Cooke made him captain for the first time in the game against Australia.
Cooke had taken over the England team after failure at the 1987 World Cup and looked not only to reshape the England team, but change the whole dynamic of the game.
Cooke was the man who motivated the team with Roger bringing about a more structured game for the forwards. Will didn’t have much to do around the match preparations, but Cooke would allow him to head some of the team meetings. It was Cooke who set England on the path to success and encouraged players to believe in themselves by doing something very simple.
Until Cooke, if you were picked for England and they lost, it was very likely you would be dropped, hence the number of OCW (one cap wonders) before the Cooke era. Cooke told us just because you lost doesn’t make you a bad player and to go out and play with the confidence you show weekly at club level.
His confidence in his selections made a successful team that stayed together and had very few changes over the years, making it more like a club side than an ever-changing international team.
This was also the time when the profile of the sport was beginning to take off with Will as the ‘poster boy’ of the English Press as we became a winning side.
Will was one of the youngest of the team, who was briefly an army officer, then put in charge of a gruff old bunch of tough, older forwards while also controlling the backs.
It is easy to see how the constant adoration could go to his head and particularly as we were amateurs at the time with rugby just one part of most of our lives. As the game became a more media interesting product, some players were drawn to the attention they were getting in the hopes of earning money and partly for the recognition the public profile gave them.
The problem for players like Will and Brian Moore was that the media became a big part of their everyday lives, unlike the rest of us who only had to deal with them on the odd occasion that we were involved in a controversy. Things only really get bad for you mentally when faced with leaving the international stage and, as much as people say they retire, the truth is you are either dropped or injured out of the game in an instant.
Either way the same thing happens, the day you stop so do the phone calls and media interest, with the endless calls for opinions and exclusives suddenly ending.
Leaving the game is hard enough, but losing the profile you had is like losing your life purpose and the more you have embraced the media the harder that loss can be.
Brian Moore had his dark spell but re-kindled his media profile which has helped him resurrect his life within the game and with his family.
As England captain Will was able to use his position to build a business while playing, even in the amateur days, but once he stopped, he had to adapt to virtual obscurity outside the rugby faithful and rebuild his life.
Both are examples of the strain that the top players have to live with then and now and why in the professional game, media training for players is so important in protecting their mental health .
“The problem for Will and Brian Moore was the media became a big part of their lives”