Does anything say ‘it’s Christmas’ more than Martin Johnson’s cherubic face peering out at you from the cover of Rugby World?
Well, yes, many things do actually, but let’s not let that get in the way of today’s advent calendar tale. Back in December 1998, the festive edition of the magazine was positively groaning beneath the weight of stories to digest along with the sprouts over the course of the month – perhaps that’s where they got the ‘Silent But Deadly’ title for the Johnson feature from.
The major news in the magazine though was the unveiling of three new columnists, and a pretty stellar trio it was too – England coach Clive Woodward, Welsh skipper Rob Howley and England star Austin Healey. All three of them were forced to give some of their columns over to the thorny problems of drugs in the sport after Neil Francis had claimed that the game was “awash with drugs”.
Healey’s retort was that, “The impression that every gym full of rugby players includes someone selling drugs is just not true – the gym that the Leicester Tigers attend is full of women in leotards, not drug dealers.” Which was a very different kind of performance enhancing, presumably.
Howley noted that, “I was tested three times playing for Wales last season…so from my own experience I can say that not only is drug-taking stupid and without defence, but that anyone taking drugs will get caught.”
Woodward was less sanguine, claiming that, “Testing here isn’t as good as in the southern hemisphere or in rugby league and it must be increased. We need to police the sport and out of season testing is an important element of the strategy.”
You can find more from their columns, plus features on Martin Johnson, the mighty Gareth Edwards and a list of the great hookers of our time here.
