Rugby
200 for Ward
14 September 2007
Falcons prop Micky Ward becomes a double centurion this Sunday at Kingston Park, when he packs down for the 200th time in a Newcastle shirt.
The 28-year-old Geordie has undergone a rare transformation since walking through the doors as a raw teenager, but he wouldn’t swap it for the world.
“It’s one of those things you never dream of, getting to 200. You just crack on and play your games,” says the Wallsend tight head, who became a dad for the first time over the summer with the birth of baby daughter, Lola.
“But I suppose when you do hit a bit of a milestone like that, it’s quite a nice feeling.
“I’ve been here ten or eleven years, and it’s changed me massively as a person. The amount of experience I’ve picked up, not just in rugby but in life, as a result of being here is amazing. I’ve been to places I would never have gone to, and I’ve met people from all walks of life.”
Revealing his broadened horizons, he says: “I never even knew what a tuxedo was until I started here. I thought black tie just meant like your school tie but black, I didn’t know it was a bow tie and the whole suit. But seriously, it’s just helped me develop in life really, as well as physically, mentally and emotionally. It’s been phenomenal.”
A firm favourite on the Kingston Park terraces, the England Saxon and two-time Cup winner says of his support crew: “I just try and treat everyone as a pal really, and that includes the fans, so I think maybe that’s why they seem to get behind me whenever I’m on the pitch or my name’s read out.
“After the game I always gan for a pint in the supporters’ bar and speak to as many people as I can. If they like me for who I am then brilliant, if they don’t then I suppose that’s unfortunate and it’s their loss, but I’ll never change. I’m not trying to be someone I’m not, and every time I hear someone shout my name or cheer for me when I’m out on the field it just gives me a massive lift to think that they want me to do well.”
Asked the reasons why he enjoys such popularity among the rank and file, Ward says: “I suppose maybe they can identify with me a bit because I was brought up in the same area as them, I went to the same sort of schools as their kids and I’ve worked my socks off to get in to a privileged position.
“There’s not many people in the north-east can say they’re a professional rugby player, and when they see me out there on a Sunday afternoon maybe they think if my son or daughter sticks at it they can do whatever they want to do – they can achieve their own personal dream.
“To be a role model is an awesome feeling, and when people come up and say that to me it makes me feel like I’ve really achieved something. I love it when we go and speak to kids on our community visits, and the fact that my old school in Wallsend has one of my shirts on the wall is fantastic.”
Turning attention to more immediate matters, namely Sunday’s Guinness Premiership opener against Sale Sharks, an excited Ward says: “We’re at the point now where the lads are absolutely buzzing in training.
“You can see it’s just starting to boil over a bit, and that’s ideal because it means we’ve timed it perfectly. We’re desperate for a game, and if we’d had to wait another weekend for a match I think there would be a few scraps in training because the lads just want to get stuck in to a physical confrontation one way or another.
“Warm-up games are all well and good, they serve a purpose, but it’s not the same as getting stuck in to the competition week in week out, getting back in to the nitty gritty of playing every weekend and throwing the kitchen sink at the opposition.”
While attention in some rugby quarters may be directed towards France at this time of year with the World Cup in full swing, Ward believes the tournament will not serve as a direction for those at the Guinness Premiership coal face.
“To be honest you look at the team sheet and even though the World Cup’s on in France both clubs have put out good sides with some belter players in,” he says.
“Both of us have a few lads away with their countries, but we have a strong squad, World Cup or no World Cup. We’re doing alright, and we’re pushing in the right direction.”
With lofty ambitions traditionally churned out to the media in pre-season, a pragmatic Ward chooses the understated approach as he reaches his own double century in club colours, stating: “Everybody asks the same question this time every year, and to an extent we just trot out the same sort of stuff saying this is going to be our season and all that kind of thing.
“What we’re doing this time is deliberately not making that kind of statement, instead we’re knuckling down behind the scenes and just getting on with it.
“What I will say is that the pre-season has been outstanding, and we’ve had a level of planning that I’ve never seen before at this club. Training has been totally overhauled at every level, and we’re doing things now that we’ve never done before, whether it’s on the fitness and weights side, the rugby, skills or whatever.
“Maybe for the past few years we’ve been following the same sort of path in training and getting the same sort of results, but we’ve kind of ripped up the book and started again this time because it was pretty obvious something needed to be done.
“Steve Bates has come in for the technical side of things and made a big difference, and the coaches haven’t just rocked up on the first day of pre-season and decided what to do, they’ve been planning the whole thing for months before we even returned from holiday.
“It’s all been geared towards this weekend. The lads are absolutely itching for a game, you can sense it, and they’re all a year older, a year stronger and a year wiser.”
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