News

Gibbs reminds of the need for balance

Sunday 20th July 2008

Scott Gibbs: Taking time off

Former Wales and B&I Lions legend Scott Gibbs has hit out at the modern professional rugby player's lifestyle, saying that the lack of alternatives and variety is dulling the character of the game.

Gibbs, speaking to the Western Mail, said that taking the game seriously was one thing, but that it should not come at the expense of an alternative to the intensity.

"I fear for the players now," said Gibbs.

"The game is becoming very much a 24/7 occupation and you can see it on the field in the body language of some individuals.

"People do take it very seriously, rightly so, because you have to be a conscientious professional. But you have to have a balance.

"It's how you get that and I don't see, with the season getting longer, how you get that balance and perspective.

"Rugby is such an intense environment now. If you think too much about what you do, especially in the modern game, you will go stir crazy.

"The rugby machine, as it is now, has very little time for those individuals to physically and mentally repair themselves. Players play on a Saturday and are back in work on a Sunday preparing for the next challenge.

"I do think you need an element of stimuli outside the game, that is healthy and should be advocated.

"Otherwise, you become an automaton and a rugby robot and I don't think that is good for the soul."

Gibbs was renowned for his ability to switch off from the game and find a way out, be that slipping into a god book or into an aeroplane to somewhere new for a couple of days.

He was one of the players playing when the professional era was ushered in, but once famously admitted "he wasn't a bird who liked to be kept in a gilded cage," and said life as a professional player could be mind-numbingly boring.

He has been retired for four years, and now he has taken a step back, he is in near-disbelief at the way the game has moved on.

"I look at the intensity of the rugby calendar and I do wonder how the modern player just keeps doing it," he said.

"You only have to look at how poor the quality of some of the play is to see that the players cannot play to the level their talent deserves.

"I look at Shane Williams, somebody who has been absolutely outstanding this year, and I worry and wonder how is he going to keep performing at that level.

"The answer is - he won't. Why? Because you just can't. Professional players have to rest.

"We ask so much from these guys and, ultimately, we are asking for more than they can give to the game and asking them to fail."