Robert Kitson 

School of Hard Knocks documentary puts Six Nations in perspective

Robert Kitson: Sky's fly-on-the-wall series, starring Will Greenwood and Scott Quinnell, is bringing rugby union into new territory
  
  

School of Hard Knocks
Will Greenwood and Scott Quinnell address the latest batch of young adults to take part in the School of Hard Knocks at Moseley Rugby Club. Photograph: Des Willie for the Guardian Photograph: Des Willie

As the wind sweeps in from a nearby council estate in south Birmingham the only voice you can hear is Will Greenwood's. "This is a baby," implores England's former World Cup-winning centre, hugging a muddy ball to his chest. "You need to look after it." Around him 30 silent players nod obediently, ravenous for any scrap of insight into a sport which was a mystery to the majority until three weeks ago.

It is the latest lesson from the School of Hard Knocks, the unique collision of rugby union, fly-on-the-wall television documentary and disadvantaged young adults which should be compulsory viewing in all middle-class households when its seventh series starts on Sky in September.

Michael Henderson, a grateful graduate from the 2010 Croydon edition and now a mentor himself after spending 25 years in and out of prison, reckons the programme saved him from oblivion. "My life now is so far removed from the life I had. Being involved was such an empowering and positive experience." England versus Wales, even the Six Nations itself, suddenly feels like a parallel universe.

With any luck, this year's shivering Birmingham intake – the weather has been grim since filming started – will also find it a springboard to a better place and, ideally, full-time work. Some such as "JP" have been unemployed for two years and were recruited at the local job centre. "It's basically about breaking you down to build you up again," he murmurs.

Jermaine, a 27-year-old unemployed personal trainer, can hardly contain his enthusiasm; his eyes glisten as he talks about his determination to rise to the challenge. The producers found one of his new team-mates in a local mosque; another was self-harming as recently as last week. When someone asked what he'd had for breakfast that day the answer was absinthe. The odd painful sporting knock quickly becomes a relative concept.

Rugby union, in short, is increasingly going where it has seldom gone, boldly or otherwise. Greenwood's old Lions team-mate Scott Quinnell may joke about the pair as being a beefier version of Ant and Dec but showbiz conceit is entirely absent. The School of Hard Knocks charity – it is independent of Sky and relies on donations – offers sessions all year round to unemployed adults and young offenders. Similar ventures such as the Dallaglio Foundation Rugby for Change and HITZ focus on younger individuals but all seek to banish perceptions of rugby as an elitist game based around what school you went to.

An archaic stereotype? Ask anyone from Cornwall or the Forest of Dean and they will tell you that pigeon-holing "rugger" as the sole preserve of braying public schoolboys was always wildly simplistic.

The England XV poised to line up against Wales next week is likely to consist of 13 state-educated players and two from the independent sector.

One of the Rugby Football Union's aims is to take rugby into 750 more secondary schools by 2019. Two hundred have already signed up with a further 100 starting in September.

"We want to get the message through that rugby can be played by everybody," stresses Steve Grainger, the RFU's rugby development director. "The stereotype about the game just isn't true and we've got to break that down. We're just beginning to get some real traction in places people wouldn't consider to be union heartlands."

There is, clearly, a big distinction between much-needed social inclusion initiatives and trawling the inner cities for the next Jason Robinson.

Progress, even so, is occurring on both fronts. Further education colleges, in particular, are being targeted as the RFU seeks to increase the number of regular adult rugby players in England from 190,000 to 215,000 by 2017.

"We believe a huge part of that increase will come in the 16-24 age-group," says Grainger, optimistic that players such as Luther Burrell and Manu Tuilagi can inspire more kids from different ethnic backgrounds. "It's got to be about changing people's perceptions and broadening the reach of the game. We've got to get the game to places where it hasn't always been."

The participation picture is rather less rosy in Wales – the latest figures (which weeded out plenty of registered individuals who had long since retired or, in some cases, passed away) suggest there may be as few as 12,000 active adult players. They could have no better ambassador, however, than Quinnell, the passionate man-bear whose expletive-laden pre-match exhortations illuminated last year's memorable series in Glasgow.

"Everybody says they want to put something back into the game but it's so much more than that," stresses the former Llanelli and Lions forward. "It's about giving people confidence. I was told at 15 I was thick, stupid and lazy. I only found out later in life I was dyslexic and dyspraxic. If they can't read or can't write it doesn't matter. There are so many other doors. A lot of people tend to emphasise the negatives when they should look at the positives."

The 43-year-old Henderson, who was first incarcerated at 14, also feels rugby has intrinsic qualities other sports cannot offer. "The football culture is all about gold and glory: I want to be the next Messi, I want a million-pound pay cheque. The difference in rugby is that it's not a one-man show.

"The other day I visited Isis young offenders prison (next door to HMP Belmarsh in south-east London) where we had governors and prisoners playing against each other. We find rugby brings people together. There was no 'I'm going to get you, I'm going to hurt you'. It was just epic."

Epic, certainly, but how about the wider picture? While no one is expecting rugby to conquer every big conurbation overnight, next year's Rugby World Cup will spread the gospel. The inspirational Henderson reckons there is a large untapped audience out there. "A lot of young people have a misconceived perception of rugby. When they actually get playing it they go: 'Wow.'

"We work with schools which are marginalised, disaffected and disadvantaged. Initially many of the students didn't want to play. Now, two years on, they're embracing it and playing regularly because it allows them to channel negative energy in a positive way. For me, not enough people are informed about the benefits of rugby." The moral of the story? There is a lot more to life than the Six Nations.

For further details visit www.schoolofhardknocks.org.uk

• This article was amended on 7 March 2014 to correct Ben Clarke's entry in the table.

 

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