My Rugby Routes.

With Stewart Lancaster taking his England team back to there roots at West Park Leeds , i decided to think about my rugby routes. My rugby career takes me back to the age of 9 in my primary school when we took part in a tag rugby tournament with other schools and to be honest all i wanted to do was get the football from the bus and kick that about whilst pulling the front of my Newcastle United shirt over my face and running off with 'Speed scores again' yelled at the top of my voice!. The game didn't interest me as it was just people pulling tags off each other and i discovered by folding the tags on the inside they couldn't be ripped off so i was scoring trys for fun until Mr.Stubbs found out what i was doing and told me i wasn't allowed to play anymore and i took a instand dislike to the sport and went home and carried on playing football until secondery school.

The 2003 RWC victory by England saw rugby's popularity sore through the roof and my dad suggested i give it another go so i signed up to the school's rugby team and ended up playing for the year 8s who where all 6ft tall brutes who had been born with a rugby ball in there hands. compared to my 5ft 6 , 7 stone frame who was still wondering what a ruck and maul was and how to catch a ball. I started off on the wing because i used to quick from right back in football so i bagged a few touch downs as i called them back then before being instructed that they were called trys. After 2 years of school rugby i joined a club which a few of mates played for the club i am activly involved with today. Through playing for Seaton Carew i'v made some freinds who i will know for life and met some fantastic characters!.

I switched clubs when i was 15 to West Hartlepool and by then i'd been eating my veg so i'd shot up to 6ft and 14st and was playing in the back row or second row. At West i won so many trophies it was un true we dished out 100 point hammerings every week but it never felt as if there was a place for me at West and i rejoined Seaton just before my 18th birthday.

On my return to Seaton i had entered senior rugby and put the pounds on through about a hour in the gym and days on end in the bar. I had came back to the rugby club i still call my second home. What a fantastic place it was and still is to be.

On the 5th November 2011 my entire world was turned upside down about 25 minutes into a home game against Bishop Auckland 3rds. Packing down in the 2nd row at the scrum i felt a sharp pain in my neck and the next thing i remember was being layed on a stretcher with physios from both teams and paramedics stood over me and i had been taken from the pitch and was heading to hospital. I tried to move my right arm and couldn't i had been paralyzed down the right hand side of my body and would remain so for a few hours after. I spent 3 days in hospital with countless tests being ran on me and unlimeted sympathy from my mother.

I had slipped a disc in the C6 section in my neck and trapped nerves which paralyzed my right hand side , i'd been milimetres away from being in a chair the rest of my life and had got off lucky and to this day and every day after i owe the physios , paramedics and NHS staff my life and can't thank them enough.

At the age of 19 years 360 days my rugby career was over before it had even took off but if anyone asked me would i change a thing i wouldn't. Rugby isn't just about winning or loseing it's about the people you meet and the memories you make.

Rugby was and always will be a massive part of my life.



What's your rugby routes?

Well said mate! I can't think how life would be without the friends I have made through rugby, both playing and watching! And all the best with getting better!

And I'd like to extend my thanks to all the selfless medics, nurses, physios and paramedics who have helped all of us rugby player, young and old, through the worst!

Really good article Driver - do you think that you will one day be able to play again? See that you are still massively involved with you club, which is great to see - that's what I love about rugby it brings everyone together and you form really good bonds with everyone - apart from the front rowers...

Great article driver! Hope you're in good health now sir!

Driver thats a great read. One of the best articles around .

I started playing rugby at aged 13 having tried and failed badly at soccer, hurling and gaelic football. I loved it and my joining rugby coincided with the successful Munster 1999/2000 campaign. That was the hook I needed and I took to it like a duck to water.

When I was 18 I got a minor neck injury which began to cause me pain after games and I stopped and took up refereeing at aged 20.

In university I studied law and graduated with my final year dissertation based on the civil liability of rugby refereeing. As part of my univeristy programme I was obliged to spend a year in Germany where I was an assistant coach with the Munich seconds and I loved how the expats treated their rugby.

When I was 21 I went out to Ghana on a rugby volunteer programme where I coached youth teams and helped get one team to UK to play in a charity curtain raiser.

Last year I got a job with a rugby tour operator and am now in absolute heaven with them travelling all over with rugby fans and teams.

I genuinely can't imagine what my life would have been like without it.

Driver, may I recommend refereeing. Some of the top referees are guys who love their rugby but injury meant playing isn't an option.

Cracking stuff Driver mate. Gutted for you to have to give up playing, but I know you are still involved with the game and hopefully always will be

Wonderful read, Driver

My story...

First picked up a rugby ball when a group of did it in P.E. in a school where GAA dominated. And I loved it. I was 14, a bit thick around the middle and fitted in perfectly in the Front Row Union. So my P.E. teacher, who was a ref at the club invited a load of us down to train and we were hooked!

Played for the mighty Dungannon for 4 years and loved every moment, especially the friends I made. The best thing about it was the fact that the club had players from both sides of the community and we all didn't care where the others came from. We just loved to play together and munch any team we came up against!

Moved to Glasgow aged 18 for Uni and joined the Medics Rugby team. Best thing I have ever done. Been all over Scotland and Northern England with them and the lads are brilliant fun. Makes it fun at 6N time as there's a good mix of Scots, English and Irish with the odd token Welsh! Usually leads to great banter and I'd probably be a recluse if not for it!

The other thing I did was get a volunteer job as part of the Glasgow Warriors. Now some of the visitors to Firhill may have noticed a giant Highland Coo floating around... Yeah that's me. Best idea my friend ever had! Have met some great people and quite a few of the Scottish internationals!

I cant't see me keeping up all of this when I'm a junior doc but I'll always have the friends I've made through rugby and that's all that matters!

Cheers for the feedback guys , it's all been read and it the messages of support are much appreciated and i can't thank you guys enough for them.

I have done some referring in the past and am weighing up a choice between that and coaching at the moment.

The worst part of not playing isn't watching the game as you get swept up in the drama of things , it's the after knowing you can't be out there with your mates in sunshine , rain or snow battleing it.

Ah driver check you out with the whole writing stuff!!! Pretty good read too bud! I'd echo Stag's comments and say think about reffing although....a northern ref may not like glos

Driver - I reckon referee while you have your fitness. You can coach at any age and will do no doubt for decades and decades.

My Routes:

RTBs Ebbw Vale - Training on our 'Cabbage Patch' up towards Hilltop, now a road straight through it. Runs upto the Star top of Newtown.

Joined Up

RAF Brawdy, RAF Honington and Watton, RAF Wittering and Stamford, St Athan, RAF Boulmer and Alnwick, RAF Henlow, RAF Lyneham and Calne

red_stag wrote:Driver - I reckon referee while you have your fitness. You can coach at any age and will do no doubt for decades and decades.

"Tell that to fatty Barnes" - S Diamond

I'v got on to the Durham Refs society but there's no courses in my area for a few months yet.


Quick update on the disk scenario - Due to go see GP on Wednesday to arrange a date for another MRI and Few tests along with seeing a specialist who he thinks will more than likely offer me some surgery but i can't say i'm too keen to take it.

My family moved around a bit (from London to Bristol to Yorkshire) whilst I was young but finally settled in Devonshire when I was 8. I went to the local most affordable Independent School, and being a public school in the south west rugby and cricket were the main sports. However for the first few years I was short and fairly chubby and unfit and so didn't really play more than the compulsory amount. After the 2003 world cup I started getting into rugby (before that I only really watched tennis) to the delight of my dad who was a fan but only watching, I wasn't really a player and focussed pretty much on music and academics.

Then when I was 15 I grew a bit and lost a lot of weight via various factors and became borderline obsessed with exercise and fitness. I started doing cross-country, athletics and rugby, playing on the flank (an a few games elsewhere but mostly there) and really getting into it. I also started the ow journey of putting the weight I had lost back on in muscle and doing a lot of weights work. After we finished school I went on a gap year and played a little league whilst I visited friends and family in Australia, then started rowing and rugby concurrently at medical school in London. I started off rowing more but it looks like I will swing more towards rugby as my time availability for water outings decreases throughout my final 2 years at university. I still play on the flank where possible and now weigh 90-something kg which I am trying to trim down to just muscle weight again.

And mate I'm really gutted for you, it sucks to lose anything you loved doing and I hope you can keep the game in your life in some way. Best of luck

Started out at London Welsh Under 7s when I was about 5 or so. I played there for 7 or 8 years, playing simultaneously for my secondary school as well. Got to year 9 and stopped playing completely. Then at the start of Year 10 I got back into it, though since putting on lots of weight during my time off, moved from 8 to prop and have been there since. Was never much good during my midteen years, was probably fourth choice prop at school. Got to sixth form, started getting picked frequently, became starting prop. Went back to London Welsh this summer for pre season before uni, ended up playing for the Mens Amateurs. Now playing second team for uni. Not too interesting but that's it.

Started playing for Bridgend Athletic under 8's (I think) and then for my local Primary school.

Continued to play for the Ath until under 12's where I swithed to, shock horror, soccer.

Was bored of playing soccer, only lasted one season before moving back to rugby. This time i joined Pencoed RFC, this was a really good team. We went undefeated for nearly 3 seasons and in the process beat big club teams such as Cardiff, Swansea, Bath and Bristol all of whom selected their players from other clubs.

I was again lucky that my school, Brynteg Comprehensive, were always in the running for top honours, I was sub when i was 16 when we reached the final of the Welsh schools, got hammered by Neath college, mainly down to a up and coming Welsh under 18's which saw a number of boys unable to play.

Best rugby experience was that summer when i went on 3 week rugby tour of South Africa, lived like kings

In upper 6th form I was only playing for the school, season didnt last long, I has a double leg break. Spent, in total, 2 weeks in hosptial had two operations. Then it was 6 months on crutches, not having the same treatment as professionals, meant that I still had a slight limp a year later.

By now i was in uni, weighed about ten stone (i'm 5'11'') and was too busy smoking, drinking and indulging in other naughty stuff.

Aftrr traiining made a comeback two years later, played one game then a week later fractured my ankle playing 5 a side football of all things.

made another comback in 2009 when living in london playing for old allynians, managed to last half an hour before my hamstring went 'ping'

2 months later pulled same hamstring again, then damaged my ankle pulling ligaments and other things whilst out running.

Made final comeback to 2010, lasted until autumn internationals where i decided that training in the cold, wind and rain wasnt worth it. Id rather be in a warm pub drinking beer.

I grew up in a single parent household and during my primary school years things never settled down, my mother was trying to earn a better living so we mved a lot. In total I went to 7 primary schools in 7 years. Problem was here in SA you don't get the opportunity to prove yourself when you go to a new school every year.

The coach would simply just take his team of last year at the next age group level and continue with them, so my only rugby I played during those nomad years were at break or after school with mates.

When I got to my first year in high school I smartened up. Due to the fact that everyone is starting afresh in high school, they hold trials so I got to play eighthman for Adelaar High School in the under 14B team. Most of my team mates were a grade ahead of me so they protected the newbies. Needless to say, rugby in the seventies was full of bloody noses and broken ribs.

After a year at Adelaar we once again moved, so by the time I got to my next school Florida Hoerskool, opportunities were once again stifled. I did practice against Wahl Bartmann (ex springbok flanker) a few times, and man he was made of steel.

So I had to wait until I left school before I joined Edenvale rugby club.

There I started in the third team as flanker, then got promoted to flanker for the second team the next week.

The coahces were looking for a sturdy prop, and becuase I wasn't the fatest guy around, they asked me to move to loose head. It was tough in the beginning as I only weighed 92 KG, and had little technique when I started.

Fortunately when you are not the biggest you quickly adapt, and pretty soon I was as solid as a rock.

End of the first season our 1st team loosehead wanted to retire, so the coaches wanted to put me on a summer program to bulk up and I wasn't interested in spending my free time in gym. I enjoyed playing rugby and during those years there wasn't any professional rugby about, so there was no motivation to play at the top level.

For me the best times I ever had was in that seconds team, we played one of the first mixed race matches in SA, there I learnt respect for the grit and determination coloured players had and their love for rugby.

That is where my passion for rugby overtook my common sense and to this day you won't get me away from a tv screen or stadium when rugby is on.

Bitter sweet tale there, Driver. Fingers crossed all comes good and your back is sorted out soon.

My rugby route started at prep school. We were only a small school, and our pool of players small enough to see me picked for the 1st XV for about three years despite having no skills whatsoever. I played on the wing, and cannot recall receiving a pass in any of the matches I ever played in, but I used to love tackling and amazingly won my colours in my last year.

Moving on to boarding school, our first training session as skinny, pubeless boys all unsure of what big school was all about, we were asked who could tackle. I volunteered and became a 13 year old equivalent of Mike Catt, as a gurt great fourth former ran over me, concussing me in the process.

My nerve somewhat shot, I gave up for a year, before finding my niche in the similarly malcoordinated 4th XV, when we played mad, heads up rugby against all the big west country schools, winning as many as we lost. Great fun, and a transformation from wing to wing forward saw me receive as much ball as I ever did as a 12yo, but the passion for tackling come back to a degree.

My passion for Bath started here, too. Brian Ashton taught me PE and history, so there was a bit of bragging rights, but I also used to bunk off on a Saturday afternoon when I should've been playing hockey, instead catching the train to Bath where I'd climb up on the roof of the clubhouse to watch Bath in their pomp. A quick illicit pint at the Crystal Palace, the only place that'd serve my baby face, and back to school before anyone knew I'd gone.

University at Aberystwyth, and I paid my subs to play rugby, but honest to god, I was never going to play against those hairy arsed welsh brutes, so my tenner went to waste.

The last time I donned a pair of boots in earnest was about four or five years ago at a supporters match between Bath and Bristol. We lost them both, but raised a decent sum for charity.

Now, I content myself with armchair support only. I'm exiled in Wales, working in Bridgend, but as passionate for Bath and the Mother country as ever I have been.