The new life of former Wales international star Harry Robinson after his career ending injury

24th January 2021 James Dodd Student Work 0

by James Dodd

ON 28th April 2016, Harry Robinson announced his permanent departure from rugby after playing professionally since the age of 17.

He had been recovering for the last 13 months prior to this after suffering a serious spinal injury whilst playing for the Scarlets.

The seriousness turned out to be too much of a risk and Robinson was forced to call it a day.

As a result, the Pentyrch born 27-year-old is now running his own business, ‘Harry Robinson Wealth Management’.

Robinson explained how he kept playing in that Pro12 match against Edinburgh.

“A big backrower was running at me and I tackled him. I jarred my neck and as I was falling back my elbow went into the ground and it jolted my shoulder up into my neck,” he said.

“I didn’t realise it at the time but two of my discs had slipped and gone into my spinal cord.

“Immediately after the injury I knew I had done something, but I didn’t know exactly what I had done.

“I look back on it now and think it’s pretty obvious but in the heat of the moment you kind of just dust yourself off and carry on.

“My whole body went numb; I couldn’t feel my legs and I had pins and needles all over my body. I didn’t know if I trapped a nerve and I carried on playing.”

Once the match had finished, Robinson went off to get it checked.

The consequence of the incident was now clear.

“I finished the game and ended up going for a scan and the doctor called me and said look you’ve got to come back in.

“I’m thinking he’s going to call me back in and say there’s no need to worry, you’ve got a trapped nerve. But he actually said you’re really lucky to be walking.

“He showed me a scan of my spinal cord and said two of the discs had literally lodged themselves into the spinal cord.

“He told me there were three outcomes here: you could not get better at all; you could get a little better or you could get completely better and come back to play.

“I had the op and it turned out pretty quickly when I was starting to restart training at the early part of next season.

“My fastest 40 metre time was about 4.63 seconds and then trying to come back from my injury I couldn’t break 5 seconds.

“I knew pretty early on that things weren’t going to go to plan, and I couldn’t come back and play again, which was a bit of a downer.”

After three Welsh caps, representing the Cardiff Blues, Scarlets and Wales Sevens; Robinson had to turn to a different profession.

He explained how knowing that he wanted to be involved in finance made life a lot easier post rugby.

“Back in my late teens, I started buying and selling a couple of houses. That got me interested in mortgages.

“If I didn’t know what I wanted to do I would be in a lot worse position. Rugby is getting a lot better now in terms of the support.

It is a short career, you’re not only playing until your mid-thirties, you could be finishing mid-twenties or even early twenties like I did.

“You need to have a plan B and it’s good to know a lot of boys are actually heeding the call now and doing different things, whether it be property, setting up companies, doing degrees or night classes.

“It’s coming along, and I feel I was in a good position because I knew the direction I wanted to go.”

So, what exactly does his job involve?

Robinson explained this as well as the great relationships he has built over the years.

“My job is to sit down with someone, find out what’s important to them and what their goals are, and I create the strategy to get them to where I want to be.

“If someone’s sitting down and saying they want to retire when I’m 60 and I want this level of income and they have no idea where to start, my job is to create the strategy and plan to achieve their goals, whatever they may be.

“I absolutely love it. Playing rugby, you’re in a team sport, and I kind of see this as being a team game as well.

“Me and the person I’m helping – we’re in a partnership. It just builds and develops into friendships.

“I’ve gone on skiing trips with clients when they’ve invited me. I just love the interaction – it’s meeting people, chatting to them, and finding out what’s important to them.

“I absolutely love it.”

Speaking about his friend Owen Williams, Robinson explained how lucky he is to still be able to do things like going to the gym, cycling, and running on a regular basis.

Owen Williams was left paralyzed from the chest down after also suffering a spinal injury.

“That does always go through the back of your mind. Me and Owen are really good mates and I remember when I got that call from Cory (Allen).

“I was on holiday at the time with a mate. He told me what happened, and it hit me like a tonne of bricks.

“He was in the academy with me and to hear that; it was devastating really. To know that he potentially is not going to walk again.

“When I look at my case I didn’t come too far from the same outcome. I do count myself lucky.

“With the short career I had; having that amount of games for the Blues, playing for the Scarlets, doing the sevens, and playing with Wales, I do feel extremely lucky. I’m lucky that I was able to walk away from the game as well.”