GVGjr
17-12-2006, 06:55 PM
This from the Age.
Reality bites
Caroline Wilson
December 17, 2006
Rohan Smith: the former Bulldog has found retirement tougher than expected.
Photo: John Donegan
IF ANY footballer was equipped to fill the void presented by retirement, then that footballer was Rohan Smith. Thirty-three years of age and sociable, surrounded by family and friends, his playing career came to a close with the unexpected bonus of a 300th game and, before the inevitable fall at Subiaco, a thumping victory over Collingwood in a final.
Smith?s seven-year-old son Jacob was on the verge of his first junior football season, nine-year-old Keely would finally have a father on weekends to take her to horse riding and wife Alison, who works for a recruiting firm, had plenty of jobs waiting at the family?s Williamstown home.
And, of course, there was more time to play golf, think about his investments and put into practice a business idea, involving the welfare of young footballers, that began to consume him early in the 2006 season.
But Smith is finding retirement tougher than he expected. ?I thought it was going to be easy,? he told The Sunday Age. ?It?s not easy. Come March next year I think it will be pretty tough, too.?
In one sense, Smith has had no trouble filling his days since his last end-of-season trip ? a four-day jaunt with his teammates in Sydney.
Every weekday morning now he prepares the school lunches before taking his two children to school. Then he returns home to find an extensive list left by Alison.
?It?s very detailed,? said Smith, laughing. ?Hang out the washing, fold the washing, shopping lists . . . ?Lately, by the time I?ve done everything ? I try and cheat sometimes but she always knows ? it?s three o?clock and time to pick up the kids.?
The emptiness Smith has experienced has nothing to do with the absence of a pre-season training routine, the prospect of which pushed him towards retirement, but the absence of his teammates.
?I?ll be outside gardening and I?ll suddenly stop and think, ?I wonder what the boys are doing?,? said Smith. ?So then I?ll ring one of them if it?s close to lunchtime and organise to meet them in between their training. ?I?ll get them in the locker room and I?ll be talking to Johnno (Brad Johnson) or Westie (Scott West) and someone else will realise it?s me calling and they?ll yell out, ?Let it go, old boy, you?re not a part of the club any more?, which is harsh but true.
?I never really realised how it would all stop so suddenly. Suddenly it?s over and you really aren?t a part of it. You can meet them for lunch but you?re not part of all the other stuff they?re doing, like the ride for juvenile diabetes or some other club thing.
?People ask me, ?Do you miss it?? I don?t miss the training ? my body had had enough of that ? but the thing I do miss is my teammates.? And there are more practical concerns. ?I don?t think the loss of earning is something you ever properly prepare for.
Every month your pay goes in and you take it for granted. My pay went in on October 15 and that was it. When November 15 came around it was like . . .? (Smith grimaces half-lightheartedly). Smith did not return to the Whitten Oval, his second home for the past 16 years, after the loss to West Coast because there was no need.
The only thing left in his locker was a photograph of his children and Johnson brought that around for him. And he has been back there only once, last month, to present his No. 5 guernsey to Bulldog midfielder Matthew Boyd.
But Smith has discovered a passion for his legacy to the game that extends the boundaries of his own playing career. With Johnson, he has established a business with the help of at least one leading accounting firm and a banking institution that teaches young footballers to look after themselves.
The two close friends have sold out of their restaurant business to establish Goal Management, which is based in St Kilda and will officially be launched early next year.
Already a number of young Bulldogs have joined a program that forces them to turn up at least once a week, hone their computer skills, pay their bills, establish budgets and, ultimately, look at establishing investment portfolios.
Smith and Johnson dreamed up the concept, which has been established outside the parameters of the AFL Players Association, earlier this year.
While Smith remains coy about his financial backers, he cannot contain his excitement about what is as much about putting something back into the game as it is about making money. ?I know what it?s like for young players,? said Smith.
?They lead a life that is exciting and profitable on one side, but on another side they are totally isolated from the outside world. Everything is done for them and when it ends they have no idea what to do with their lives or how to do it.
?We are trying to teach kids life skills, give them a structure that they can take through their life. I?m not sure they should totally rely on their managers to do those things for them.
There are so many young players who would have no idea about how to write a cheque or pay a bill or use a Word program on a computer.?
The other issue for Smith is the sense of restlessness and even isolation that can haunt a former player once he has left the game at the top level.
Having housed Lindsay Gilbee four years ago ? Gilbee moved out of a haphazard share house into the Smiths? home for two weeks and stayed for 12 months ? Smith saw again that life skills are not a prerequisite for playing football. In the early days, Gilbee would return home from training and pretty much eat and sleep, until Smith sent his children to jump on the sleeping footballer and force him to engage in family and household life.
The two parties still have dinner together every week and Smith takes some pride in Gilbee?s on-field and off- field development. ?A happy person off the field is a happy person on the field, as corny as that sounds,? says Smith.
?To see how Lindsay has come on and how these young kids who come in now look after themselves is just so pleasing.?
In the meantime, Smith has taken time to pursue other passions. Returning to the crease last weekend for the first time since 1989, the former junior cricket star made 84 for the Williamstown subdistrict club?s seconds, dressed in brand new cricket whites from his sponsor, which drew plenty of jibes from teammates. (He was unable to bowl during week one after taking on too much at training and hurting his back, but had recovered to bowl yesterday.)
Smith is looking for a small role as a special commentator on radio or television. He thought about assistant coaching before choosing a quieter life during year one of football retirement.
And he has been asked by Leonie Swann, the wife of Collingwood chief executive Greg Swann, whether he would coach the Williamstown under-nines.
He will take Jacob to watch the Bulldogs wherever possible and his parents have already bought their regular memberships. Smith believes the person who will suffer most from his absence from the game is his father Keith, who was too ill to attend games last season.
Rohan Smith knows some tough mental battles lie ahead, as they do for so many in his situation.
?Take my example,? he said. ?I played football for 16 years and I thought I would have heaps to do when I finished, but I was wrong. Once you finish football, football very quickly moves on without you and you get pushed out of it.?
Reality bites
Caroline Wilson
December 17, 2006
Rohan Smith: the former Bulldog has found retirement tougher than expected.
Photo: John Donegan
IF ANY footballer was equipped to fill the void presented by retirement, then that footballer was Rohan Smith. Thirty-three years of age and sociable, surrounded by family and friends, his playing career came to a close with the unexpected bonus of a 300th game and, before the inevitable fall at Subiaco, a thumping victory over Collingwood in a final.
Smith?s seven-year-old son Jacob was on the verge of his first junior football season, nine-year-old Keely would finally have a father on weekends to take her to horse riding and wife Alison, who works for a recruiting firm, had plenty of jobs waiting at the family?s Williamstown home.
And, of course, there was more time to play golf, think about his investments and put into practice a business idea, involving the welfare of young footballers, that began to consume him early in the 2006 season.
But Smith is finding retirement tougher than he expected. ?I thought it was going to be easy,? he told The Sunday Age. ?It?s not easy. Come March next year I think it will be pretty tough, too.?
In one sense, Smith has had no trouble filling his days since his last end-of-season trip ? a four-day jaunt with his teammates in Sydney.
Every weekday morning now he prepares the school lunches before taking his two children to school. Then he returns home to find an extensive list left by Alison.
?It?s very detailed,? said Smith, laughing. ?Hang out the washing, fold the washing, shopping lists . . . ?Lately, by the time I?ve done everything ? I try and cheat sometimes but she always knows ? it?s three o?clock and time to pick up the kids.?
The emptiness Smith has experienced has nothing to do with the absence of a pre-season training routine, the prospect of which pushed him towards retirement, but the absence of his teammates.
?I?ll be outside gardening and I?ll suddenly stop and think, ?I wonder what the boys are doing?,? said Smith. ?So then I?ll ring one of them if it?s close to lunchtime and organise to meet them in between their training. ?I?ll get them in the locker room and I?ll be talking to Johnno (Brad Johnson) or Westie (Scott West) and someone else will realise it?s me calling and they?ll yell out, ?Let it go, old boy, you?re not a part of the club any more?, which is harsh but true.
?I never really realised how it would all stop so suddenly. Suddenly it?s over and you really aren?t a part of it. You can meet them for lunch but you?re not part of all the other stuff they?re doing, like the ride for juvenile diabetes or some other club thing.
?People ask me, ?Do you miss it?? I don?t miss the training ? my body had had enough of that ? but the thing I do miss is my teammates.? And there are more practical concerns. ?I don?t think the loss of earning is something you ever properly prepare for.
Every month your pay goes in and you take it for granted. My pay went in on October 15 and that was it. When November 15 came around it was like . . .? (Smith grimaces half-lightheartedly). Smith did not return to the Whitten Oval, his second home for the past 16 years, after the loss to West Coast because there was no need.
The only thing left in his locker was a photograph of his children and Johnson brought that around for him. And he has been back there only once, last month, to present his No. 5 guernsey to Bulldog midfielder Matthew Boyd.
But Smith has discovered a passion for his legacy to the game that extends the boundaries of his own playing career. With Johnson, he has established a business with the help of at least one leading accounting firm and a banking institution that teaches young footballers to look after themselves.
The two close friends have sold out of their restaurant business to establish Goal Management, which is based in St Kilda and will officially be launched early next year.
Already a number of young Bulldogs have joined a program that forces them to turn up at least once a week, hone their computer skills, pay their bills, establish budgets and, ultimately, look at establishing investment portfolios.
Smith and Johnson dreamed up the concept, which has been established outside the parameters of the AFL Players Association, earlier this year.
While Smith remains coy about his financial backers, he cannot contain his excitement about what is as much about putting something back into the game as it is about making money. ?I know what it?s like for young players,? said Smith.
?They lead a life that is exciting and profitable on one side, but on another side they are totally isolated from the outside world. Everything is done for them and when it ends they have no idea what to do with their lives or how to do it.
?We are trying to teach kids life skills, give them a structure that they can take through their life. I?m not sure they should totally rely on their managers to do those things for them.
There are so many young players who would have no idea about how to write a cheque or pay a bill or use a Word program on a computer.?
The other issue for Smith is the sense of restlessness and even isolation that can haunt a former player once he has left the game at the top level.
Having housed Lindsay Gilbee four years ago ? Gilbee moved out of a haphazard share house into the Smiths? home for two weeks and stayed for 12 months ? Smith saw again that life skills are not a prerequisite for playing football. In the early days, Gilbee would return home from training and pretty much eat and sleep, until Smith sent his children to jump on the sleeping footballer and force him to engage in family and household life.
The two parties still have dinner together every week and Smith takes some pride in Gilbee?s on-field and off- field development. ?A happy person off the field is a happy person on the field, as corny as that sounds,? says Smith.
?To see how Lindsay has come on and how these young kids who come in now look after themselves is just so pleasing.?
In the meantime, Smith has taken time to pursue other passions. Returning to the crease last weekend for the first time since 1989, the former junior cricket star made 84 for the Williamstown subdistrict club?s seconds, dressed in brand new cricket whites from his sponsor, which drew plenty of jibes from teammates. (He was unable to bowl during week one after taking on too much at training and hurting his back, but had recovered to bowl yesterday.)
Smith is looking for a small role as a special commentator on radio or television. He thought about assistant coaching before choosing a quieter life during year one of football retirement.
And he has been asked by Leonie Swann, the wife of Collingwood chief executive Greg Swann, whether he would coach the Williamstown under-nines.
He will take Jacob to watch the Bulldogs wherever possible and his parents have already bought their regular memberships. Smith believes the person who will suffer most from his absence from the game is his father Keith, who was too ill to attend games last season.
Rohan Smith knows some tough mental battles lie ahead, as they do for so many in his situation.
?Take my example,? he said. ?I played football for 16 years and I thought I would have heaps to do when I finished, but I was wrong. Once you finish football, football very quickly moves on without you and you get pushed out of it.?