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Thread: Amateur era had some of the most professional players

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    Amateur era had some of the most professional players

    Amateur era had some of the most professional players

    Ewen McKenzie, March 17, 2011 - 7:03AM

    In a week where it was mooted that player wages are about to be squeezed and there would be a $3 million dollar bonus prize for the players if they were successful at the World Cup, you could be forgiven for thinking it's all about the money.
    The arrival of money was literally overnight in 1996. It did not alter much at first. Although I had technically become a professional rugby player at the Brumbies, a couple of us continued to work our jobs with our training and playing commitments.
    These only become a problem as training had now moved to daylight hours as opposed to the traditional night sessions under lights.
    Training during the day limited work possibilities but it did allow time to prepare, analyse and train more. Games moved to evenings so it was an effective swap.
    In the old days, games were always played in daylight and were well and truly over in time to suit up and enjoy some sort of function. In the UK, it was even a sit-down dinner with your opponents.
    Not before toasting the Queen, there was even a spot in the formalities to have a cigar if you wished. We even wore bow ties to these occasions and kilts when we were in Scotland. This left the evenings free for socialising, which we did.
    These days, there is not enough time for a dinner. Night game obligations tend to finish at 10.30pm, which leaves little time to mingle. If you play the French in Paris the game does not even start until 8.45pm so you do not leave the stadium until after midnight.
    The inter-team socialising has disappeared in favour of the science of recovery and nutrition and keeping the sponsors content. Getting ready to train again is the priority for coaches. Getting a 40-plus person squad and three tonnes of gear on and off buses and planes so the next game cycle can start is a full-time, seven day business during the season.
    Preparations in the amateur days were not greatly impeded by sports science. The negative impact of alcohol on performance had not been connected by scientists. There were kangaroo courts, minimal strapping, no massage and occasional weights, plus oodles of time to do other things.
    The team doctor seemed to be in charge of sightseeing. In fact, the IRB did not allow Test teams to assemble until just three days prior to a game. This was to help us who had to go to work to earn a living, but it also meant the camps were intensive and only rugby training was done.
    Weight training was left to the creativity of the individuals in their own time. It was three straight double-training days with contact and the odd spa bath for recovery and away you went.
    Pretty simple stuff really.
    While time has been the big winner for professional rugby players it is only a benefit if you know had to manage it. The guys I played with in the “amateur” days were brilliant at being efficient.
    Without the benefit of science and technology they could manage to work for a living and still be properly prepared to play rugby at the highest level.
    Being a professional rugby player for me has never been about being paid. The money is, in fact, a distraction when the focus should be about having a professional attitude, practices and habits.
    Some of our greatest professional rugby players actually existed in the amateur era.

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    I don't think it has anything to do with "professional" per se, I think it is more a case of them having to sacrifice to play. You get the feeling that a lot of players these days see themselves as the "talent" that must be kept happy, rather than someone lucky enough to have been selected and prepared to do whatever necessary to see the dream through.

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