Jungle-living ex-Springbok van Niekerk outlines extraordinary view on recreational drugs in rugby
Ex-Springbok Joe van Niekerk claims that rugby should stop punishing players who take recreational drugs. The 39-year-old, who earned the last of his 52 South African caps in 2010, finished his club career at Toulon in 2014 and has since embraced a new-age lifestyle in the Costa Rican jungle.
Asked by French rugby bi-weekly Midi Olympique if doping was widespread in the game during his career, the ex-back row said: “I don’t believe in an organised doping system in rugby but there have always been recreational drugs and frankly, I believe that the rugby authorities should be more lenient with regard to these behaviours.
“Suspending a player for six months or a year because he or she took cocaine in the evening seems like an exaggeration. Rather than whipping and destroying, we should accompany the players, reach out to them, help them.
“We s*** so much s*** after the games: sleeping pills, tramadol (a muscle relaxant)… do you really think it’s good for the body? And yet it is completely legal and widespread. But what bothers me most is seeing alcohol at the centre of everything in rugby.
“We drank litres and litres of beer, me first. However, there is nothing worse after a rugby match: it freezes the blood, it tires, it dehydrates and it slows healing. But alcohol is a part of everyday life in our sport and its lobbies even finance the biggest competitions.”
What would van Niekerk’s alternative be? “In these mountains, there are a million plants, including cannabis, that can help athletes recover from their efforts. But before it gets down to business, before the pharmaceutical lobbies free the world from their grip, I’m afraid we have time to die twice. Do you realise that we live in a world still afraid of the power of plants? It’s ridiculous…”
When the end came for van Niekerk’s stellar career, he felt nothing but emptiness and it was only when he moved to the Costa Rican wilds that he began to move on with purpose.
“The day I ended my rugby career, I felt like a void. I asked myself a question: ‘Who am I now that someone has taken away my life for 20 years?’ Because glory, medals, money and autographs are just an illusion. When everything stops, there are only memories, dust.
“I thought to myself, ‘I’ve been thinking about myself for 15 years, it’s time to help others.’ With my girlfriend Marie, we wanted to be connected with nature, trees, plants and animals. We both knew Costa Rica. We knew how powerful his nature was. So we decided to drop everything to settle there.
“This valley of Tinamaste is sacred territory, strewn with vestiges of disappeared civilisations. Above all, this place lists the greatest shamans on the planet. With Marie, we bought a piece of land to make it a huge organic farm.
“Soon we will be able to live in total autonomy, consuming only the vegetables and fruits of our land, drinking pure water from the two springs that flow under our feet… until 2014, I had everything done for me.
“Today I’m under construction. I’m learning marketing, accounting, farming. I learn how to keep a vegetable garden, feed chickens, speak Spanish. I have a life of a man,” he explained, adding that he hopes the valley in Costa Rica will potentially become a place for rugby teams to visit.
“All kinds of people visit – business owners, musicians, painters and backpackers. We even host business seminars. In the future, I would very much like to receive rugby teams in pre-season training. In the Tinamaste valley, time allows for a break: we read, we meditate, we drink tea in front of the Andes mountain range while listening to monkeys. And then there are the healing ceremonies.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments