When and why did you become involved in the RPA initially?
When I was at Northampton, Christian Day was chairman of the RPA and he was always very passionate about his work. After I joined Worcester, he thought I’d make a good players’ rep and I jumped on his advice and got on the RPA board for the 2018/19 season. This is my third year on the board and being on it during the pandemic has been an eye-opening experience, which is one of the reasons I wanted to become chairman.
You couldn’t possibly have anticipated the year you’ve just had?
Absolutely not. Initially, I thought the RPA role at Worcester was a good chance to learn about how the game worked and, hopefully, have a positive impact on the player welfare side of things, but that’s never been as prevalent as it has been over the last 12 months. The game’s always had areas to improve upon, even pre-Covid, but player welfare is a huge priority at this point.
How was your experience of being thrust into flashpoint discussions over wage cuts and potential job losses?
This story is from the February 28, 2021 edition of The Rugby Paper.
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This story is from the February 28, 2021 edition of The Rugby Paper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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