Banahan ending career on his terms

Rugby at St Peter. Gloucester (red) V Jersey (blue). Gloucester in Jersey on a training camp, including Jerseyman Matt Banahan (pictured) Picture: ROB CURRIE

The Jerseyman will embark on a new journey as a community sports coach for a West Country charity this summer, having spent the last 17 years plying his trade in England’s top flight.

Banahan, who sits sixth on the Premiership’s all-time try-scorers’ list, says he wanted the decision to step away from rugby to be his – and he holds clear excitement at what is to come.

‘The time is right,’ said the 34-year-old. ‘Touch wood, I’ve played professional sport for 17 years and haven’t had any surgery. I’ve got a lot of my life still to go and I want to help my kids and other kids – showing them things properly rather than being a broken ex-rugby player.

‘When the first lockdown kicked in last year, I knew I had one more year at Gloucester and I started working out what I wanted to do and if I wanted to leave on my own terms. I could keep playing just for the money, but not play as much, but I reached the point where I thought “I’ll finish on my own terms”. That’s rarely done in professional sport.

‘I was given the opportunity by Bath Recreation to be the manager of a new project they’re doing and the ball rolled very fast after that. And looking at how it’s going so far I’ve definitely made the right decision. Now, it’s just about making sure I’m the best professional rugby player I can be, while helping the boys who are midway through their journey, or just starting.

‘I’ll probably play less this year because I’m retiring and the coaches want to play the boys who will be playing next season but I’ve got to take that on the chin and just enjoy the last four months.’

Banahan recently obtained rugby coaching qualifications through Gloucester and the RFU, but the former Les Quennevais student’s leadership skills will be wider-reaching once he has hung up his own boots.

‘I really enjoy coaching and I’ve been given this opportunity to coach kids from the age of eight to 18,’ he explained. ‘I’ll track them through, help them pick their GCSEs, A Levels, work experience … there will be kids from under-privileged backgrounds so hopefully I can be a trusting figure in their life who they can talk to.

‘I’ll be coaching rugby very rarely. I’ll be teaching them all about sport, attitude, behaviour, respect. And some of the kids have never been to the beach or out of the Bath area, so I’ll be taking them out on experiences and teaching them their “Ps and Qs”, so when they’re older they’ll know what the world is really like.’

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