I’m really pleased to tell you about a new podcast that I’ve been working on; it is downloadable from all good podcast providers.

Ed Slater and I worked together for a few years on the Official Gloucester Rugby Podcast, while he was a player at Kingsholm. I got to know him quite well and admired the way he thought and spoke about the game. We were all deeply shocked and saddened to hear about his MND diagnosis last year and I know how the rugby community has rallied around him.

I saw all of the different and brilliant ways people were trying to raise money for Ed and his family and I wanted to help. I also used my knowledge of Ed to try and come up with my own way of raising awareness and money: he loves talking about rugby (he’s very good at it, too). It’s a passion that lives very much at the heart of who he is, so I wanted to bring that out.

I was also very aware of the state of the men’s game at the moment. Rugby doesn’t have too many positive stories floating around right now; you could say it is in a bad way. It isn’t a good representation of the sport I love.

Rugby is an incredibly rewarding, humbling and connecting sport. It is called Rugby Union for a very good reason: because of the strong and lifelong ties it creates within us. I wanted to focus a podcast series on that idea: the gifts the game gives us. And so the idea of inheritance came to me. However long we have played the game, at whatever level, we are all given an inheritance by the sport. I wanted to hear the account of that legacy from those at the top of the sport. I knew it would uncover stories, insights and memories that would celebrate this wonderful sport of ours. I knew Ed would want that too. And so this series was born.

This podcast is about memories and experiences that show how much in debt we all are to this sport. Stories that show we are all basically the same, experiencing the same highs and lows, but all coming out in credit.

In this first episode, Ed talks to me one on one. We will co-host the series but I thought it was important we give Ed a chance to tell us about his inheritance. One idea he articulates is around the people of rugby. The many, many, many people of rugby who have reached out to him, and who continue to reach out to him, since and because of his diagnosis. I should think that you are one of those people. The ‘rugby family’ is a deep, wide and voluminous church. This podcast is for you: every one of you. I hope you enjoy it. It is just another example of the gift that the game gives.

Find the podcast on Apple Podcasts here – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-rugby-inheritance-podcast/id1676152009

Find the podcast on Spotify Podcasts here – https://open.spotify.com/show/3jvZ1S4nh4cupTh0yMM2yZ?si=b96949fa117a4b88 (or listen to it below on this website)

Search it up on pocketcasts, podcast index, amazon music, podcast addict, podchaser and player fm. It is there.

Can I ask a favour? If you do listen and like what you hear – please leave a review. That’s how podcasts get noticed and how we can continue to get the word out about Ed’s wonderful cause. Thank you.