Is there life after rugby?
Professional rugby is a potentially lucrative career offering a variety of opportunities; however not all promising and talented players will be able to call it a real job for too long.
South Africa has produced a number of promising rugby players over the years but the majority of them never really live up to all the hype.
The reasons for not ‘making it’ are boundless – be it selection issues, injury, lack of determination or even personal reasons.
In today’s demanding professional rugby era – the role of an agent is a central contributor to the success of many players’ careers and lives after rugby. Promising players have for long been lured by scouts or agents to ‘greener pastures’ after starring in annual schoolboy showpieces like the Craven Week.
But those dreams never materialise as they fail to live up to initial expectations.
A few years after starring as a junior representative these players are left with average contracts at small unions hoping to establish their once promising careers – a far cry from their teenage hopes and dreams.
Pursuing tertiary education and gaining experience in the business world is very challenging due to the demands of professional rugby. And players simply give up on that notion. This also contributes to South Africa having one of the highest numbers of professional rugby players in the world.
This breed of professional players finally has to face up to reality and return to their home towns often ending up playing club rugby.
They subsequently face the challenge of establishing another source of income as most of them were not guided towards tertiary studies or were unable to maximise commercial opportunities while playing.
This rugby experience carries very little clout in the business world and gives them a distinct disadvantage and finding a good job remains an uphill battle. Therefore many of these players are forced, to stay involved in the game, rather than choosing to do so.
A booming professional rugby career has a very short life-span compared to a business environment and very few are able to exploit commercial opportunities like Schalk Burger and Bryan Habana. The onus is on SA Rugby to re-evaluate the professional system to ensure that less players end up in no-man’s land.
By Ebrahim Moerat
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