Read an extract from Ian McKinley: Second Sight - Rugby and Redemption.
Sunday, March 2nd, 2014
I woke up and went to the club early for a mini rugby tournament in the morning, but I told Mum I would be back to pick her up for the game. This certainly wasn’t my normal routine for a game in years gone by, but I had to work. As I was doing that, I saw the other players coming to the game. I knew what the level was like as I had been training with this team for the best part of six months but when you see opposition players coming to the ground with cigarettes in one hand and a McDonald’s in the other, it is hard to stay focused.
When we emerged from the changing room, there were the kids from mini rugby cheering us on and each home player ran onto the field, hand in hand, with one of those players. There were a couple of Italian rugby traditions to go through before the game. I also managed to score 28 points but ultimately it was just great to have my knees covered in mud again, my lungs burning, and feeling part of a team.When the game was over, we congratulated each other. I saw Mum and just gave her a big hug. With a camcorder in one hand, she hugged me with the other and we both started crying.
But these considerations could wait until after a few beers in the changing room and then we would always head to a restaurant for a feed after the game. So I went with the team and Mum came along too. We reached the play-offs to get into Serie B, but we lost our last game to miss out by one point. It was a blessing in disguise though as the club was losing a lot of the better players due to work, relocation, or retirement.
Massimo Rizzi, my boss, readily agreed to release me from my last year with Leonorso and helped me find an agent. I arrived at the ground in my club car where there were some of the current CUS team training in the gym. I didn’t want the goggles to be an issue, so I just tackled away without them. I made all my tackles without the scrum cap and goggles.
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