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Rugby Union’s six-nations championship is in full flow with countries trying to build upon or move on from their performance in the 2007 Rugby Union World Cup. As England did not go into the World Cup full of confidence it was thought that they might make the quarter-finals – or they might not – but probably go no further. In the event magnificent victories over Australia and France took England into the final. Jason ended his career in a World Cup Final. While injury and a South African win put a dampener on things, it was still an amazing way to go out. Moreover it was Jason’s third World Cup final – 2 Rugby Union and a Rugby League! Jason was a star of Rugby League before he was 20 but soon his personal life was out of control. ‘I was extremely successful at my job. I was financially secure. I had everything material that I could want but I had relationship problems. I was having great success on the park but off it my problems were overpowering me. It got to the stage that I would be out drinking six nights a week. On the outside everything was great. I was earning a lot of money, I had a fast car, nice clothes. ‘People wanted to be associated with me. People probably thought, “I want what he’s got”, but inside I was empty. I was searching for something. I was looking for happiness in money, in possessions, in drinking, in relationships. But none of these could fill the space within me. Drinking was a vicious circle. I had problems so I drank, yet the more I drank, the more problems I had, and the more problems I had, the more I drank. I was getting away with it because on the field I was playing as well as ever’. When the New Zealand player Inga Tuigamala joined Wigan, Jason noticed that there was something different about his teammate. Inga was happy within himself. He was under the same pressures as Jason but did not feel the need to go out drinking. Jason knew that Inga was a ‘Bible basher’ and had expected Inga to try to convert him. Inga didn’t say a word but just lived his life in front of Jason. ‘He never pushed his views on me, but if I ever wanted someone to talk to he would always be there for me. He spoke to me much more by how he lived, than by anything he said. He had something special about him. I didn’t quite know what it was, but I knew he had something that I wanted. ‘Then one day he told me that he had had a dream about me. I was curious. He told me he could see me standing on top of the world. I had the world at my feet but gradually the world started crumbling beneath my feet. I was amazed. The dream was uncannily true. It stopped me in my tracks. I knew that he had to get my life sorted out. It was just the jolt that I needed’. Jason rang a friend who was a Christian and said, ‘I can’t go on like this. I don’t want to live like this. I need help.’ He went to see the friend, who listened and then asked Jason a direct question. ‘He said, “Do you want to invite Jesus into your life?” I just knew that I could not continue what I was doing. That morning I asked Jesus into my life. The words from the Bible “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), summed up exactly how I was feeling. At that moment, when I gave my life to thee Lord, I felt a burden lifted’. Incredulous teammates gave him a week or a month at most before he was back in the pub. A dozen years on Jason is still going strong as a follower of Jesus Christ and has found in him the peace and balance that he lacked beforehand. box Jason Robinson: Career summary Born 1974 Rugby League Wigan 1992-2000 302 games, 736 points Great Britain 12 games England 7 games 13 international tries World Cup Runner-up 1995 Rugby Union Sale 2000 - 2007 England 51 games, 28 tries British and Irish Lions 5 games, 2 tries World Cup winner 2003 |
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