Rugby Union / The State of the Union: How professional have amateurs become?: Case Study One: Brian Moore
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Your support makes all the difference.WHEN Brian Moore, then as now England's hooker, joined Harlequins from Nottingham in 1990 his former club were miffed at the pulling power of his new club and said so more stridently in private than they did in public.
The clear implication was that Moore had effectively been 'bought' by Quins with the offer of handsomely remunerated employment and other trappings of metropolitan success. The truth was, and is, far more prosaic, though Moore does provide a case study of the way things now work.
He had been a solicitor in Nottingham and has ended up as a solicitor in London, though in between he tried his hand at merchant banking. Quins make no bones about the assistance they gave him - nor should they. 'The club gave him nothing, absolutely nothing,' Colin Herridge, who has a foot in two camps as RFU committee man and Harlequins secretary, said.
'But what we did for Brian was find the opportunity for him to get into merchant banking. In the end he found merchant banking was not for him, so we then suggested who he could go to see to get back into the legal profession. He got a job and the result is history; he is now a partner in the company.'
Where suspicion arose about Moore's move was when a local paper headlined a statement by the hooker that he would move to London if the price were right, the figure being six figures. 'What in fact I said was that of course I'd be a mug not to respond favourably if someone were to offer me a hundred-grand job,' Moore recollected.
Quins are possibly the best-connected club in English rugby, but Herridge insists they only point people in the right direction. Moore had to be worthy of the job that was offered, the same as Peter Winterbottom when he metamorphosised from farmer's boy to Eurobond dealer in 1988. Then, this struck many as surprising; now, he is doing so well that he is being head-hunted.
'We will do everything we possibly can to try to help a young man in his career and there's no crime in that,' Herridge said. 'It's not against the regulations but in any case we don't have to offer inducements because players who want to progress their rugby careers are bound to gravitate towards leading clubs like ourselves.'
(Photograph omitted)
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