'I currently have no income and I'm stuck here… that's not an ideal scenario'
It’s been an emotional rugby narrative of the coronavirus pandemic, the pay cuts at the elite end of the game around the world. There is a macabre interest into how the Premiership elite or the Super Rugby stars are reacting to losing a chunk of their salary, but spare a thought for the low-earning professionals at the bottom of the game’s food chain.
While the likes of Itoje, Tuilagi and so many other household names are still coining it given the extent of their money-spinning contracts in the first place, those eking a living out playing in the sport’s lower reaches have had their income decimated.
Take Irishman Danny Kenny. His career claim to fame was 40 minutes off the Premiership bench for London Irish in front of more than 23,000 in a November 2013 defeat at the Welford Road home of Leicester, the then defending champions. Since that sole top-flight appearance at the age of 25, he has earned his living as a journeyman pro, Doncaster, Ealing and London Scottish all English pit stops on a low frills adventure that eventually took him to Italy in summer 2018.
It is there that a nightmare unimaginable to the likes of Itoje and co unfolded in recent weeks. With no indication the Serie A season would be terminated, Kenny flew back to Bergamo on March 10 after visiting his ill father in Ireland thinking there was still a campaign to finish with Valpolicella, the club near Lake Garda that operates in a championship a step below the better known Top 12.
Within days, everything radically changed. Italy went into lockdown and Kenny has effectively spent the last month under house arrest, his only outlet a rare trip to the supermarket to stock up on food paid for with his own savings after he was told the club salary he was contractually entitled to through to the summer was scrapped due to the rugby season ending prematurely.
It’s incredible adversity, one with no end yet in sight as the Italian government restrictions have just been extended into May leaving Kenny fearing that even the player-coaching contract he has for next season might now not be honoured.
“It’s obviously pretty worrying,” he told RugbyPass, taking a break from the endless routine of reading, drawing and virtual table quizzes with his team-mates that have become his groundhog lockdown existence living in an apartment with no access to a garden. “I have been told they are unable to pay me for the rest of the season, so I currently have no income and I’m stuck here. That is not an ideal scenario to be in.
“I do think of the bigger picture scenario. I’m healthy but not having a source of income and not having a job is a whole new grasp of reality to me. I have another year’s contract here next year but if I’m not being paid for the rest of the year, who knows what state rugby will be in next year.
“A lot of clubs rely on sponsorship and individual sponsorship. Our club is essentially sponsored by one individual and their company is currently recording about €400,000 a month in losses so to a lot of companies, sponsorship is going to be the last thing on their list. It’s going to be needing to recover and looking after your own employees. Sponsoring a club isn’t necessarily going to be on top of your priorities.”
Part of Kenny’s monastic routine is mapping the level of new virus cases in Italy, particularly as Bergamo, where he flew into pre-lockdown, is only a short spin up the road and was the worst-affected area in the country for quite a considerable time. It’s why limitations on daily life in the Verona region have been so harsh.
“Our lockdown measures are very severe. We had been told April 10 was the date (for easing them) and now they are saying it won’t be until May. It’s quite a long haul to be stuck in an apartment. You can feel oppressed but you have to remember we’re still one of the lucky ones, we’re healthy and safe.
“When this first started I struggled because I had a routine, a schedule pretty much for the last eight to ten years. I was frustrated with not having a routine, not really having a purpose in my day, but you get accustomed to it. You make yourself productive… yes, essentially (it is house arrest). We have had police cars going past blaring sirens telling you to stay home and if anything it has intensified as it has progressed.
“You’re only allowed out for emergencies or to do a food shop. If you’re out you have to have a document from the government saying why you’re going out, what time you left, the date, what type of ID you brought with you, how long you think you will be out for.
New life in lockdown. Police making sure people aren’t going for walks around the lake. Mass gatherings like Cheltenham are mental #Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/rfcygh5wef
— Danny Kenny (@DanielKenny7) March 12, 2020
“If you’re stopped and don’t have these documents you’re fined anything from €3,000 up. I have been to the shop three times in the lockdown and I have been stopped by the police twice on the way home. They check your documents, ask where you have been, how long you have been, make sure your documents match the time frame.”
It’s a draconian existence that has left Kenny thankful for being so dedicated to his trade, putting whatever little money he could away over the years for fear a rainy day might ever arise. This good habit has proven all the more useful given the slow reaction of the Italian government to help people who have lost their jobs. Unlike the furlough system in Britain or the covid payment in his native Ireland, there was no assistance until a scheme was unveiled at the start of last week. Even that will take quite a while to provide any payout assuming he is successful.
“It’s a huge application process. You have to be resident of Italy, have an Italian bank account, have a registration with the Italian government. I have all that so I’m going to apply but the waiting list is meant to be incredibly long and they’re dealing with all the sportspeople who make less than €10,000 a year first and then dealing with the rest after… I had savings in the bank from playing over the last few years and my expenses are pretty limited. It’s just wifi and food. In this situation, I’m okay with spending. I’m not in any financial difficulty thankfully.”
That’s just as well. If Kenny put his sports management degree to use or stuck with a marketing job he had before playing rugby professionally, he wouldn’t be stuck in isolation in Italy and feeling uncertain if he has employment next season. Yet, he wouldn’t change it for the world. He just adores the game, even though he isn’t starring at an elite level. “Ideally I’d like to be representing Ireland at the next World Cup but that isn’t going to happen,” quipped the back row who turns 32 in July.
“I just love the game. That’s what is pushing me, I love playing. It’s a passion and I want to play for as long as possible. I have always enjoyed it and that is what is pushing me to stay at it. I’m much happier doing a job I love rather than sitting at a desk and potentially making double, triple my salary but being unhappy, waiting for the weekend. I look forward to every day of playing, training and coaching.
"I don’t think our lives will ever be the same again… There are so many people dying"
– @ZebreRugby lock @GFBIAGI on the grim new reality in Northern Italy & how a transcendent moment of family jubilation burst through the darkness – w/@heagneyl ?? https://t.co/yIGjFYpP6T
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 28, 2020
“My last year at London Scottish (2017/18), I said to myself that if I didn’t get a Premiership offer at the end of that season I’d look to use rugby to experience something else, something new. I felt I’d given a lot to rugby and needed to realistic. I’d always backed myself to be a top-level player but to be signed by a Premiership club at the age of 31 as a back row is quite rare. If you’re an overseas back row at that age you have got to be an ex-international.
“I always had it in the back of my mind while I had no major commitments, why not experience rugby while I still can? I’d never heard of Valpolicella. I was approached by a different club in Italy maybe three or four years ago who I’d heard of but I never heard of Valpolicella. I’m really happy. It has one of the most humbling experiences I have had in rugby as a professional. The reason is I’m quite fortunate to be part of a club who knows who they are and what they represent. You don’t really find that very often within a Championship squad.”
Kenny sounds the epitome of all the hard-working pros who enthusiastically make up the numbers and give the sport its depth underneath the layer of stars. He’ll put up with all sort of difficulty and just get on with it, as evident in his current predicament in Italy. But there is one sliding doors moment he’d love to fix if he ever had his time over again.
“Any club I have been in I have always been 100 per cent committed to the cause, committed to bettering myself, but I have one regret that sticks in my mind. When in UCD I played for Connacht Eagles a few times. I’d been down there, built a good camaraderie, and was then was asked to play against an American select team. On my drive down I got a call from Leinster asking me to play against Bristol in the British and Irish Cup (April 2013). I was on the bench for Connacht and Leinster told me I’d be starting at six for them.
“I still drove to Connacht to let them know, talked to them and made the decision to start for Leinster in a competitive game rather than sub for Connacht in a friendly. But the day of the game they brought Rhys Ruddock down from London because he didn’t get enough game time against Wasps in Europe. He started ahead of me and Leinster gave me the last four minutes.
“I never got to go back down to Connacht after that. In terms of rugby that was my only regret, that I didn’t stick with a club who were pursuing me. That day didn’t turn out very well for me.”
Comments on RugbyPass
What happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
2 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
2 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
9 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
9 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
9 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
39 Go to comments