The results of the Irupa survey among retired professional players points to the need to look after players better after they have finished their careers on the field, writes Gerry Thornley

THE RESULTS of the Irish Rugby Union Players Association (Irupa) survey among retired professional rugby players do not make pretty reading, whatever angle you're coming from. That the transition from retirement into comparatively ordinary life is very difficult for more than nine in 10 is hardly surprising, nor even, perhaps, that four in 10 are obliged to retire because of injury.

No doubt the results of the survey would have reinforced fears among parents of aspiring young players about whether they really would like their children to pursue careers in professional rugby. But they'd be absolutely justified in doing so, for those concerns would have existed anyway.

No doubt there would have been a feeling among some officials in rugby that it would have been better to keep this information private. Niall Woods, the Irupa chief executive, deserves praise for having the courage to go where few have gone before, and to make the information public. In this, Irupa are doing their members and the game a service. If ever there was a classic case of "don't shoot the messenger . . ." this is it.

Irupa's survey is merely testing the waters. It gives a sense of what has begun to happen with the advent of professionalism, but a retirement ratio of four in 10 through injury is probably fairly representative of the increased trend in this regard.

As Woods accepts, Irupa's recent survey - contracted independently through BDO Simpson Xavier Consulting - is far from complete and certain areas would probably have to be researched again more extensively. And that's just with regard to Irish players.

Everybody can see that the game has become more physical, and there is plenty of firm evidence to show that the ball is in play longer and players are both making and taking more tackles per match than ever before - all the more so with the advent of the ELVs. Indeed, among current professional Irish rugby players it is considered a fact of life that you're not really part of the game unless you have shoulder reconstruction somewhere along the way. It's almost a badge of honour.

Now, of course, they have some wonderful times, and by and large most of them wouldn't regret their choice of sporting career at all. They take injuries as par for the course and nearly all are acutely aware that there but for the grace of God it could be them next. Long, arduous months of recuperation after operations are almost inevitable along the way.

Heaven knows how many players cannot pursue a career after school or after their first forays into the semi-professional or professional game because of injuries - usually to the knees, neck, shoulder or back.

Likewise, who knows how many players retired from the amateur era because of injury but it seems safe to assume that even with professional training, diet and vastly improved physiotherapy and medical care, the rate of injury-enforced retirements is increasing all the time.

Thus, while players from the amateur era might envy the modern professional player for being paid for doing something they both loved in equal measure, their jealousy would be tempered by several factors. For starters, while the old-school-tie and jobs-for-the-boys network was derided by other sports, it often served to ensure that many had a career outside rugby which they were able to continue while playing and beyond.

And given the time and commitment they put into the game, all the more so with the injuries and physical pain many would have had to endure for the rest of their lives, good luck to them.

Randomly picking out an Ireland match programme from the 1980s serves to underline the point, for the majority were from the professional/white-collar classes. Four were bank officials, two were involved in business, one was a solicitor, one was a sales representative, one was an Army officer (okay, we all know he famously made the rallying call, 'where's your ****ing pride'), two were civil servants, one was a teacher, four were students (and all did pretty well for themselves), one was a publican, another a farmer, a company director, a market research executive and a council employee.

It is one of sport's injustices that football, because it is the world's most popular game, is also the best paid team game in this corner of the world - whatever about the NFL or NBA, even though it comes with nothing like the risk to body or limb.

Even lower English division or National League players are paid just as handsomely as the majority of professional rugby players.

Now there are some truly horrible football injuries and lengthy spells in rehabilitation - for example, Eduardo da Silva's long road back from his leg break - and one ventures that injury-enforced retirements are probably higher than we think as well. But no less than rugby players and supporters, Gaelic footballers and hurlers and supporters must look upon the feigning of injuries on soccer pitches as either pathetic or sickening. When played well, football is still the beautiful game, but it's not hard to have greater admiration for rugby players.

The IRFU are no different from any other rugby union or federation in not providing post-career medical care; something, to their credit, they are now looking into with Irupa. Indeed, one would venture that the union looks after injured players during their careers better than most. Witness the example of Alan Quinlan, whose contract was renewed while convalescing from major surgery, and he is not unique.

But by rights the International Rugby Board have a duty to independently contract an outside consultancy firm to conduct a survey among retired players from the professional game throughout, say, the Six Nations and Tri Nations. And if it makes for unhappy reading - which it almost certainly will - then so be it.

One of the knock-on effects, undoubtedly, would be for the professional game globally to provide post-career medical care and to make a greater effort at providing services for players during their careers to ensure the transition to life after rugby is as smooth as possible.

Rugby cannot just keep changing the rules to quicken up the game and make it more and more intense without looking into the consequences, and without making considerably more effort to look after players after they have finished playing.

It is, quite simply, the sport's duty.

gthornley@irishtimes.com