Rugby player left without income after injury

An amateur rugby player is warning others to make sure they have insurance after an injury left him without an income.

Ashley Bishop, 38, had been a self-employed electrician for only five weeks when he suffered a major injury to his right leg playing for Rhyl RFC in Denbighshire.

He was due to meet an insurance agent to sort out appropriate cover just days after the injury.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) said it was sorry to hear of the injury and encouraged clubs to discuss arranging extra cover for their players.

Mr Bishop faces months of treatment and a lengthy recovery period before he can return to work, but the club has been raising money to help cover some of his costs.

"The positive I want to take from this is to try and advocate how important it is for other players in Wales and, hopefully, spread the word and encourage people not to make the same mistake I made," he said.

The father-of-two was told to expect to lose all flexibility from side-to-side in his foot, even after recovery.

"First thing I said is, 'I've just gone self-employed, how am I going to go to work on Monday with my foot like this?'

"We're very dependent on my salary, on my income, so it's had a massive impact on that side of things.

"I'd just invested our savings into the business so if I hadn't invested that into the business we would have a little pot of money to keep us afloat for the next three months."

Mr Bishop had only been playing for 10 minutes to help the developing players side when the injury happened.

He was due to meet an insurance agent the following Tuesday to sort out a policy ahead of his next proper game the following week.

Like players at other clubs, Rhyl players are covered by a WRU public liability insurance policy.

But that does not provide insurance for income replacement protection, which can particularly affect the self-employed.

Clubs like Rhyl bring in agents to discuss what types of insurance are available to players.

"I would strongly recommend that these players are covered - or certainly look into it," said Gareth John, the club's chairman.

Many younger players, who might not have financial commitments such as a family or mortgages, said they did not feel the need for extra insurance.

But 24-year-old first-team player Owen Jones said his teammate's injury had made him think again.

"After seeing Ash, I think a lot are taking it up now," the student said.

"Seeing how it's affected him, considering their own businesses and welfare."

Another teammate Jack Walsh, 19, also a student, said he needed to think about what players of his age would do if they could not pay their bills.

"There are other lads who don't have insurance who have rent to pay, they won't have any other income coming in," he said.

The WRU said: "We are very sorry to learn of the difficulties being experienced by the individuals identified and echo the advice that players and clubs should arrange extra cover wherever necessary depending on personal circumstances."

It added WRU member clubs, district clubs and unions were provided with a standard level of cover at no cost to clubs or 60,000 individual players.

"We also proactively encourage clubs to discuss arranging extra cover with their players, with bespoke cover for the self-employed," it added.