Wales international Bradley Davies has given a revealing insight into the pressures facing Welsh rugby players who are facing up to potential pay cuts and possible job losses.
Players could consider strike action at a meeting ahead of next week’s Six Nations game against England amid the chaos enveloping the sport in Wales. One Wales player is reported to be on antidepressants and is unable to apply for a mortgage.
All this is linked to the impasse at the top of Welsh rugby, where the lack of a signed-off agreement over a new funding deal for the professional teams means Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets are unable to offer unconditional contracts to players.
Now 66-cap Wales lock Davies, one of the Welsh game’s most senior players, has weighed in, saying what those who actually take the field crave most in Wales is a voice in matters which directly affect them.
Davies took his seat at the Ospreys' weekly press conference on Wednesday afternoon, delivering a hugely impressive and detailed take on current events.
Making a "please, listen to us" plea, he said: “It's very difficult. I am coming towards the end of my career, and I am transitioning into my next kind of work.
"How would you feel if you weren't guaranteed a contract? It is hundred percent guaranteed you will be paid less than you were before, you are not even guaranteed all that money at the moment. There are all different stipulations.
"We choose to be rugby players, but we are not asking for more money, we are just asking for a voice in the way things are run — player welfare, how many games you play, head injury stuff, mental health is massive — but as players we have zero input into that. We are expected to rock up for work, run into a brick wall, take your money and then get up Monday and go again. All the boys are asking for is a bit of talk in their own destiny, and their physical and mental health.
"The boys want to play rugby, they want to find solutions that Welsh rugby gets better, the regions get better. I am a Welsh person, I want us to get better.
"I have been in rugby a long time, and I think we just want some kind of voice. I played at Wasps — an unbelievable club, and it is a travesty what has happened there — the players had strong voices, the RPA had a big stance with the RFU, player welfare was always talked about and discussed.
"It is not the money. We have no say. During Covid, which has been difficult for everybody, we were told we had pay cuts and the boys accepted that, and now we come to the next civil war argument. We are not in one meeting, we never get told, we are just expected to crack on and deal with it. All the boys want is a bit of communication.”
TO STRIKE OR NOT TO STRIKE
There has been talk of industrial action before in Welsh rugby, but nothing came of it. Will it happen this time? Davies said the hope was a solution would be found to avert it.
“It’s obviously an option in any job. But none of the boys want that. They don’t want to strike. Boys want Welsh rugby to get better again. They want this to stop and us to move forward and compete with other teams and get better.
“Boys playing international and regional rugby don’t know if they’ve got a job in four months. It’s always going to be difficult.
“For the person who says ‘you choose to play rugby’, yes, but what we are expected to do is quite difficult. If you look at the toll on mental health and head injuries. Boys want advice on that, how many weeks we can play, how many weeks we can’t play. When it goes well, you have the tap on the back. When it goes not so well, we get blamed. It is what it is.”
Would he strike? “I wouldn’t want to, but if that was the only thing that had to be done, then I guess I would have to.
“Let’s all get around a table, let’s speak, let’s make Welsh rugby good again. We are not far off it. Once this is all sorted, let’s move in the right direction and get our regions better. Get Pontypridd back playing Cardiff on Boxing Day and have 10,000 watching that. Let’s go and watch my local derby — Beddau v Llantrisant — and have all the fans watching and enjoying rugby again. If we had to strike and that was the decision everyone made, then fair enough. But it’s the last, last option.”
Would you support Welsh rugby players taking strike action amid contracts turmoil? Have your say here
THE TOLL ON PLAYERS
Despite the prolonged uncertainty over contracts, Welsh players at regional level delivered strong performances in Europe before the Six Nations, which did them considerable credit. But there are mental health issues that aren't often spoken about.
For the sport isn’t just about turning up on a Saturday afternoon and playing. There are also pressures at all levels, affecting mental well-being.
“Last weekend the boys playing for Wales tried to win and didn't win. They had the ratings off the media in the paper. The highest I think I ever got was a 3.5. You put a brave face on and tell everyone you don't read it, but you do,” said Davies.
“You go home from camp and your family tell you that you were the man of the match, even though you weren't. They try to put an arm around you, then you go to your local garage to put petrol in your car and everyone is hammering you telling you that you played rubbish.
“Then you go into training on Monday and have the review and the coaches put up clips of you doing stuff wrong in front of the team, or you might have cost a try or given the game away.
“Your emotions are like a roller coaster all week. Then you are waiting for selection again on Tuesday, you are picked or not picked, but you have that feeling of not knowing what is going on. If you get picked again you get excited for the game and you get nervous.
“I'm glad people are starting to pick up on these things now because rugby is difficult, not easy. The way we train, the way you are expected to come in and do your weights and fitness, it is a full-time job. Your family suffer, big things don't get talked about and you are away a lot. I've got two children and they hardly see me when we go for two weeks on tour to South Africa. People think it is a holiday and you are enjoying yourself playing rugby. But you are away from home a lot and it can all catch up on you. The last couple of weeks, and years really, as a group we have tried to ensure we pick up on cues and on how people are feeling, and getting our voice across.
“If someone told me they were on antidepressants I'd try to help them out and see what I could do. I guess it does go on in any sport.
"The mortgage one is the big one. As professional athletes you aren't guaranteed more than one or two year's work. The credit crisis and the way the country is going at the moment makes it very difficult to get a mortgage for anybody, but if you haven't got guaranteed work?
“If you get injured, or the coach doesn't like you, there is a budget cut or you get dropped, there isn't much you can do about it."
The current situation in Wales wasn’t ideal for good mental health for players. “It must take a toll on people, if you go into a game not knowing where you are going to be next year," said Davies. “I played a game against Connacht where we were told we were never merging, then all of a sudden we could be merging, about an hour later — during the game. It’s not nice.
“Behind the scenes, it must have an effect. Probably no-one likes to admit to that, but it does. If you’re worried about something or you have something in the back of your mind plaguing you, sometimes you can’t switch off.
“It’s easy for someone to say ‘don’t worry about it’, but you do worry about it. It’s your job. You have families, mortgages, cost of living. This myth about every player being on £500,000 a year - I’d love to know where that comes from because my agent’s done a terrible job and undersold me for 10 years if that was the case!
“People are earning big money in rugby, the same in any sport. But the average wage in rugby, especially Welsh rugby, is nowhere near [what it is in other sports].
“Rugby’s a short career and everyone speaks about that, but, now, with things like head injuries and people going to the press and they can’t remember what they did the day before, that’s worrying, especially for me because I’ve been knocked out many a time in a game. I want to be able to enjoy the rest of my life. The mental health side of things does affect you, hundred percent.”
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR YOUNGER PLAYERS JUST STARTING OUT?
The turbulence seems never ending, with strife in the Welsh game not far away for at least a decade and counting. Players have lost jobs, wages have been restructured, deals have been reached but on terms that haven’t helped the regions be consistently competitive, with uncertainty casting a cloud that never seems to move away. But someone reckoned recently the current situation was as bad as he could remember.
Davies added: “I hope it doesn’t deter people from playing rugby.
“That’s my biggest worry. Why would you want to play in Welsh rugby at the moment? We used to attract great foreign players to come and play in Wales. The Blues, with Ben Blair and Xavier Rush, people who were world-class rugby players and wanted to come to Cardiff. At the moment, would you want to come to Cardiff to play? Would you want to go to Ospreys? I probably wouldn’t if there’s other options out there. That’s a shame, isn’t it.
“We’re affecting our product by fighting this civil war or whatever it’s called. I don’t know what’s happening. Yeah, I do worry for the youngsters. They think this is normal. These boys have come into this. This is the norm for them. Some of these boys have signed professional contracts during Covid, so they’ve had a pay cut the next day.”
Welcome to Welsh rugby, lads. But it shouldn't be that way.
At 36, Davies has pretty much seen all there is to see and done it as well. He’s known as a larger-than-life character who walks on the sunny side of the street. So for him to be concerned, the game on this side of the River Severn must have big problems.
It's long overdue for them to be sorted out. Players deserve nothing less.
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