A blast from the past
Those familiar with the Rust’s sports pages may recall an era now fast receding in the rear-view mirror during which fellow columnist Derek Williams, a Harlequins fan of many years, reported upon matters relating to Premiership rugby.
In what became in many ways a fascinating but sobering feature, over time Derek detailed his gradual but growing disillusionment with game of rugby union and indeed the team he had supported for over a quarter of a century.
Finally – to appropriate a WW1 reference – the engine of his proverbial Sopwith Camel finally spluttered to silence and, after an agonising pause, it fluttered briefly and then began a dizzying downward spiral that he described with searing frankness in his irregular bulletins for this organ.
This ended only and abruptly with his announcement that he was retiring from not only from his writing duties with the Rust, but also from following both the Harlequins and, to all intents and purposes, the game of rugby union itself.
Quite by chance recently I bumped into him at a school-based charity event in south-west London and we had a ten-minute catch-up chat.
I’m pleased to be able to report that he seems to be in a very good place – he’s lost weight and taken up cycling as a means of keeping fit – and was full of good humour, vim and vigour, a long way from the slightly haggard, chain-smoking fidget I used to arrange to meet for a drink before games on my period visits to the Stoop.
Now, with the forthcoming publication of his memoir Oh, What’s The Bloody Point? – One Man’s Journey From Rugby Addiction to Redemption Without Looking Back [Sideswipe Press, 2019, £14.99 from all good bookstores and Amazon] on the horizon this spring, Williams is in talks with a major satellite broadcaster about making a documentary upon his journey and say he has no regrets at all.
“In many respects writing for the Rust was a personal ‘Road to Damascus’ process …” he told me, “… I was trapped by my love of rugby union and didn’t know it: something had to give. It’s the irony that confronts all sports fans, these days. You’re devoted to the folklore of your sport – and to your team – but in the modern era too often everything is about short-termism, money and power-base interests …”
Derek’s experience may be an extreme one, but in many ways his theme has traction.
With the ICC now considering the abandonment of five-day Test cricket, Premiership Rugby clubs still making their annual calls for league ring-fencing and now the issue of player-welfare generally much more centre stage than before, the need for someone (or some world body) to get an urgent grip on world sports strategy is palpable.
Meanwhile Williams, a self-confessed recovering rugby-holic, is enjoying life. When I asked if he was missing, for example, the joys of travelling to a game on match-day, he burst out laughing:
“Missing it?! Of course not! I’ve got my life back now …”
He told me that he had no idea where Quins were in the Premiership table but could guess (“Just above the relegation zone? …”) and added that he rarely watched anything but international rugby these days.
Sad to say it, but Mr Williams may be onto something.
