Lawrence Dallaglio

So, where on earth do I start? It's been sixteen months since I last played a competitive game of rugby, the Premiership final in which Wasps beat Leicester and, apart from the "Help for Heroes" match at Twickenham, I've not stepped on a rugby pitch since. People may wonder if there is life after rugby. Well, I don't think I've ever been busier and although nothing will ever replace the buzz of waking up in the morning knowing you will be playing the great game that day, my life is packed with a wealth of opportunities impossible to forge whilst playing.

My mother, Eileen, passed away last December after a courageous battle with cancer. Thankfully I was able to spend a great deal of time with her in the last few months with my playing days behind me and losing such a powerful part of my life has inspired me in so many ways to get on and do things.

First and foremost is the creation of the Dallaglio Foundation which aims to raise as much funding as possible in conjunction with Cancer Research UK for its new Clinical Fellows programme at Centres of Excellence across the UK. There is an exclusive party on November 8th called "8Rocks" for this purpose held in Battersea Park where the guests will be royally entertained by some top bands and entertainers.

Then, in February, the Dallaglio Slam bike ride takes place, in which Ian Botham and myself, with many others, will ride bikes from Rome to Nice, to Paris, to Twickenham, to Cardiff, Dublin and finally Edinburgh to coincide with England's Six Nations rugby internationals, where we hope to raise at least £1 million. We have teamed up with the BBC's Sport Relief for this and all monies will be split equally between the Foundation, which will be making donations to Help for Heroes, Debra, Leukaemia and the PRA/RFU Benevolent Fund, and Sport Relief. It should be interesting and probably challenging to be riding beside Mr I. T. Botham each day. We bumped into each other on the first day of the Lords Ashes test and, over a couple of bottles of wine, we came up with this idea. What he has achieved for Leukaemia is nothing short of a miracle and if the Dallaglio Foundation can achieve anything like Ian has I'd be delighted.
I'd like to add at this juncture that Prince Harry has emerged as a true friend and supporter. He gets a terribly bad press but I discovered that he took it upon himself to visit my mother towards the end of her life and spent two hours sitting alone by her bedside. I knew nothing about this until long after he had gone.

I'm happy to say that the Dallagio Foundation is the official charity for London Wasps for the next two years and it is promoted on the backs of every jersey worn by the players. I'm copping a bit of stick for this as the players are trying to see the back of me but these days it's the only chance I've got of seeing the name on a Wasps jersey! My mother was a well-known character, shall we say, at Wasps games, and this is entirely fitting.
I'm a board member at the club I played rugby for 20 years at and my role is to help get things right off the pitch. Don't worry, I'm letting the boys get on with playing the game and, even though one day I do see myself becoming some kind of coach, for the time being I'm happy taking a breather from the game.
I've shrunk a little since my fighting days, and it's a pleasure not to be carrying so many aches and pains every weekend any more. I'm keeping the fitness up, especially when it comes to cycling, but as you are discovering, I don't appear to have much time.

And that's not even the half of it. My day job is working with The Listening Company, the UK's leading outsource call centre company, which I enjoy immensely. I was also involved in the successful 2015 Rugby World Cup bid which, of course, will now be staged in England. I can't tell you how proud I am about that. Likewise the RFU task force set up in the wake of the drugs and blood scandals over the summer that didn't do the great game any favours. After a month's investigations and deliberation we discovered that the game really is in good shape and that 99.9% of players and figures in rugby are proud custodians of the game. I'm an ambassador for Greene King and Emirates too, both having a rich relationship with rugby.
Away from rugby I was asked to join the Board of Commonwealth Games, England, by Sir Andrew Foster and my role here, alongside Dame Kelly Holmes, is to create a commercial vehicle for athletes support and help re-brand the Commonwealth Games for England for both the Delhi Games next year and Glasgow in 2014. Again, I'm really proud to be doing this because, as everyone knows, I'm a passionate Englishman and it's an honour to be asked to play a part in helping to achieve English success at the Commonwealth Games.
As everyone also knows, however, I'm also half-Italian, and this brings me on to what many may see as an unlikely venture from a rugby player, but one that is very natural from the Dallaglio family, and that is the creation, in conjunction with my father, Vincenzo, and the Italian food company Sacla, of the Dallaglio range of pasta sauces.
During my mother's illness, and then in the aftermath of her death, it brought myself and my Dad closer together. We've always been close, of course, but I had some proper time to spend with a man who lost someone he was married to for 40 years.

I was always brought up in an English household with English values. That came from my mother. But when it came to culture and food my Dad was boss and I recall many nights spent around the dinner table as a family, especially when my sister was alive. So I'm really proud to have been able to create a Dallaglio food brand, and I can tell you my Dad is even prouder. As for my Mum, she would have thought her face should have been on the jar, not ours, but she'd be very happy for her two boys, for sure. I don't know whether people will be cynical about this or not but I can tell you that my Dad comes from Asti in Piedmont, very close to where Sacla are, and he's been banging on to me for years to tour Italy and write a cook book. Instead we've created some sauces and in doing so we've realised a dream.

I have written a book, though, although it's not the cook book my Dad wanted. Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay can rest easy! Instead it's a book called "Rugby Tales" and it covers many of the great stories and anecdotes that were prevalent in rugby when I first started playing the game, the kind of incidents that are long gone from the professional, polished diamond that the game has become today. Players today are good guys and they have some fun, but it's different. I've very lucky to have played when I did, sampling both the amateur and professional aspects of the game. I got many players to provide stories for me and for each story a donation has been made to the PRA, which is why the PRA's Chairman and old Wasps teammate of mine, Damien Hopley, has helped me write the book, alongside the former Bath and England player, David Trick.

It was Mr Trick, for example, who took a few puffs from a cigarette during a Bath game. Imagine that now? There are too many stories to relate, but I'll finish with a couple. When the Lions were playing the New Zealand Maoris in 1989 captain Gavin Hastings told a predominantly English pack that they would stick the haka up the Maoris backsides. After 15 minutes the Lions assembled under the posts 20-0 down and Gavin asked if anyone had anything to say. Mike Teague, slightly detached from the rest, and in his thick west country burr, replied: "I've got something to say. When exactly are we going to stick the haka up their arses, then?" The Lions went on to win and as they scored the winning try someone threw a four-pack of beer on to the pitch. Brian Moore picked up a can, ripped open the tab and necked the whole lot down his throat before throwing the empty can back into the crowd who nearly rioted! Again, can you imagine any of that happening today?
Happy days then, and indeed happy, if busy, days now.

www.dallagliofoundation.com
"Rugby Tales" is published by Headline.
Dallaglio Pasta Sauces by Sacla.

Watch Lawrence's video shout to Sportsvibe here.