Not bad for a stocky centre-forward convert

AS I write this, a group of 50 of us are a day into the latest Walk4Matt event, covering the 100 miles of the Warwickshire Ring Canal network.

- DARREN, GARFORTH

The route passes Nuneaton, Atherstone, Birmingham, Warwick and Leamington, and we’re collecting donations for The Matt Hampson Foundation along the way. Matt, as I am sure a lot of you are aware, was paralysed from the neck down after an accident during an England U21 training session in 2005 and breathes via a ventilator.

But rather than feel sorry for himself, Matt focused on the things that he still could do and decided to get busy living whilst helping other young people seriously injured through sport. Having spent a lifetime walking from scrum to scrum, 100 miles shouldn’t be a problem even with a few pub visits on the way! It would be great if you would like to join me and a few other ex-Tigers players en route.

Nuneaton, one of the first stopping points, was the starting point for me as a senior rugby player. But it was by accident that I got into the sport in the first place really. I used to be a footballer at a local club in Coventry called Folly Lane, as a stocky centre forward. But one day our game got called off and as I was walking home a minibus full of rugby lads who I knew pulled over and asked me if I fancied a game.

Because I had all my kit with me, I said, ‘go on, then’ and I played for Coventry Saracens against Barker Butts, who were a very good team. They threw me in at prop, aged 16, and I got absolutely annihilated by what turned out to be the entire Warwickshire front row. Afterwards, the bloke I was playing opposite walked across and I thought, ‘here we go, he is going to stick one on me’. But, instead, we shook hands and went and had a few beers and I never played football again.