The young Welsh coach whose whirlwind European adventure saw him transform the rugby fortunes of…Austria!

By Tobias Hunt

CURTIS Bradford wouldn’t be the first name on people’s lips when it comes to Welsh rugby coaches.

However, the 25-year-old has been making a name for himself further afield – as head coach of the Austrian Sevens side and backs coach of the country’s 15 a-side team.

Bradford actually hails from Newcastle Emlyn where his family has always been based, but he’s helping to put Wales on the map by spreading his talents to a location not normally associated with the oval ball game.

“It’s a bit of a weird one to be fair, I’d spent a season coaching a club side in Australia, I was enjoying out there, but I wanted to be closer to home,” Bradford explained.

“I was looking at a few things in Europe, I’d actually agreed to go to Belfast and work for Ulster as a development officer.

“I was packing to come home from Australia because the season was over, I was just waiting for a bus while I was scrolling through my spam emails, and I found one from Rugby Austria.

“It turned out I coached an Austrian guy while doing a coaching stint in Kuala Lumpur, and he passed my details on without me knowing.

“The email said, ‘would you like an interview to be the national sevens coach of Austria?'”.

On the day of the interview, Bradford was staying in a hostel in Australia and not in ideal surroundings.

“It was just full of people partying. I was thinking I’ve got to have a meeting in here to potentially coach a national rugby team,” he added.

“I remember asking if there was anywhere quiet that I could go for my meeting, they sent me to a room on the top floor.

“I had just gone on the skype call with the technical director of Austria rugby, suddenly on the tannoy system in the hostel I heard, “Oh yes, it’s ladies’ night, there’s a free welcome shot, and fellas we haven’t forgot about you we’ve got two for one on beers!”

“I was mortified, I couldn’t believe it, luckily the director saw the funny side of it, and it all went smoothly from there.”

Bradford told the story of how his coaching journey began.

He said: “I was playing for my local team, Newcastle Emlyn all the way through the age groups.

“But when I was 19, playing for the youth team, I suffered a bad injury and was out for the season.

“In the meantime, my brother was playing for the under-12s, so I started helping out with them and I really enjoyed it. The club was good to me after that and put me through my coaching badges.

“It was a bit of a whirlwind after that, there wasn’t an age group at the age below my brother’s team, so I had a daft idea to try and start one.

“After that I was asked to help with county and district teams, my journey really kicked on from there.”

Coaching Sevens and 15-a-side brings with it its own challenges. But Bradford relishes them.

“I feel as a coach you need to be coaching often otherwise, you’ll go stale, a bit like as a player,” he said.

“Even as an international coach, you don’t get the contact time with the players, we’re lucky if we get six weeks when we’re not in competition. If you don’t see the players, it can be a little bit difficult to affect change.

“It was quite nice for me though as a lot of the sevens boys were playing in the 15-a-side team anyway. So, I got to work with them a lot more which benefitted both sides in the long term.

“I loved being involved in an international setup, credit to the players who were all so committed to what we had going on there, the side really grew together and become a much better side because of it.”

 

Bradford also coached amateur club side, Graz: “I loved it there, I did it as a bit of side money and a hobby really, it was just something I enjoyed.

“I remember when I got there, I asked them what they wanted to do, and they said they wanted to win the league. I thought they were joking at the time; they were basically at the bottom of the league.

“However, I put a three-year plan together and we went from there, in the third year we ended up winning it. I’ve got to give the players credit, it was basically all the same group of players as when I got there, their attitudes and commitment towards it was outstanding.”

Bradford has stepped down from his Austria roles in recent weeks.

He said: “I always had only a few years in mind there. I had done a lot with the team, and they had improved so much.

“However, now I think I’ve taken them so far, it’s time for them to have a new voice come in and take them that step further again and keep improving them.

“I felt for me it was the right time to move on and explore something else and gain a new experience.”

On what’s next in his coaching journey, he explained: “I’m not entirely sure to be honest, I have had a few offers from around Europe.

“I’m off to the Dubai Sevens this week so I’m concentrating on that for now and then I’ll decide. I think it’s quite likely that I’ll accept an offer I’ve received from out in Italy.”