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Doddie Weir talks tractors, lambing, MND status and much more in latest Dodcast podcast

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Doddie Weir has spoken about the unforeseen benefits of living in isolation during the coronavirus pandemic. The 49-year-old, who won 61 caps for Scotland and toured South Africa with the 1997 series-winning Lions, was diagnosed with MND in 2017 and has since raised awareness and huge sums of money for research through his foundation, My Name’5 Doddie.

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He has now released the fourth episode of the Dodcast, his Jill Douglas-hosted podcast where he talks about living with motor neurone disease.

“Isolation has not been that tricky at this time of year because we are very busy with the lambing,” reported Weir from Bluecairn, his 300-acre farm on the edge of the village of Blainslie which has views looking south to Melrose and Galashiels.

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“It has helped a little this year as wife Kathy had to do nights as well last year with twice as many sheep, but this year, with the boys all staying at home, one does the 12 o’clock shift, another three o’clock and Kathy gets up at six. Tempers are no quite so frayed.

“I’m out, believe it or not, driving my tractor that I enjoy for two or three hours a day to rake the grass for the new grass to come through. It’s quite a busy time of the year and the isolation has made it more of a family effort than normal.”

Away from farming matters, ex-Scotland second row also used his podcast to make an appeal to Matt Hancock, the British government minister, about the status of his illness. 

“Would it be possible for you and your team to work with the MND Association and MND Scotland to change this? People with MND have a hard life in itself, never mind trying to fight the coronavirus.”

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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