Rugby players 'viewed as commodities' - Jason White

Following on from our piece yesterday on Nick De Luca, Jason White former Scotland captain has today had his say on the issue.

White told the BBC that he believes that modern rugby players are “viewed as commodities” by their clubs

His comments follow on from claims De Luca made yesterday that mental health is  “not really looked after at all” by clubs.

“All the clubs I played at, the players are viewed as a commodity,” said White. “The coaches have to get them back out on the pitch.”

“For Nick to say that he didn’t sleep one minute before an international, how could he have done that? That’s quite an unbelievable statement.”

“For the players now to have a bit of balance is so important.”

“They need to be preparing for life after rugby – whether they do a vocational course, a part-time study where they can take something.”

“They don’t need to be defined by what they do on the rugby pitch. If I have a bad game of rugby, am I a bad person? No, you’re not at all.”

“How can you not let what you do on the rugby pitch determine you as a person?”

“That’s the real challenge, which is the puzzle that everyone needs to try and work out.”

Twenty-two times capped Scottish prop Peter Wright, who played in both the amateur and professional era, having experienced both he was quite insightful on the matter.

Wright believes that the environment created by professional rugby set-ups can be insular and mundane experiences for the individuals involved.

“The difficulty I have is that, when I played, it was amateur, you had another life,” said Wright.

“You played rugby, you trained hard, but everybody worked, so you had a different regime.”

“When I was a professional for four years, I found it really boring. You worked and socialised with the same guys.”

“You didn’t have that outlet of going to a job and having a different group of friends. Since it’s went professional, the way I see it is that your whole life is controlled.”

“You’re told when to do weights, when to train, when to eat, what to eat.”

“Your whole life is taken over by conditioning coaches, medics, rugby coaches.”

“How much autonomy do you have as a player?”