This individual can be seen at all matches, home and away, sat with the coaches and replacements, sharing the same emotions of the supporters as our team delight and frustrate us.

But before the game, and then afterwards, this individual’s role comes to the fore, as they help the players prepare for and then recover from the rigours of the hard game they play. Some would say this person was in a very lucky position, being as she is just about the only lady directly involved with the squad on a day to day basis. I write, of course, of Vicky Clarke, Massage Therapist to the Saints.

My path first crossed with hers some months ago when my back finally gave up the unequal struggle against my appalling posture, and required some sort of therapy to straighten it out – either that, or the rack. I contacted a well known sports injury clinic in town (which might just happen to have connections with rugby, both Saintly and English) and was advised to speak to Vicky, who as well as tending to the Saints also has her own flourishing private practise. A couple of sessions of muscle manipulation later, and joy of joys, I could stand up straight again.

I suppose it was inevitable that having rugby as a shared interest, it was inevitable that matters Saintly would end up being discussed, and rather than try and remember what was being said as my back muscles were being untwisted, I thought it would be better to speak to Vicky on the record. I met up with her between Christmas and New Year, just after she finished the Friday pre-match treatment session.

Sport and sports therapy run in the family, with her mother, an uncle and a grandfather being osteopaths, and a father who played rugby, and so it was almost inevitable that Vicky would follow a similar course. Although she was born in Guildford, she moved to Northampton at the age of seven, and I reckon this means we can just about treat her as a local! A three-year degree in Sports Science at Liverpool University, was followed by a one year specialist course in sports massage.  Travelling as far afield as Liverpool had clearly given the newly-qualified therapist a taste of wanderlust, and a year working around Australia followed. During this time Vicky worked with several well-known tennis players and an amateur rugby team, but although she enjoyed the experience, in her words, ‘the money ran out’, and she was forced to come home and look for a proper job.

Setting up in private practice in Northampton, her focus on rugby continued through work with both Old Scouts and Men’s Own. A stint with the Scottish Exiles saw her travelling north most weekends. Vicky was treating a few of the Saintsmen privately when she was made aware of a formal vacancy at the club. A trial was followed by a contract with the club, beginning in the last year of Wayne Smith’s tenure, 2003/04.

Vicky has now been at the club for almost five years during which she has worked with a new Head Coach/Director of Rugby each year. Throughout this time, she has been part of Cliff Eaton’s team, and believes this has been a stabilising factor. She tells me that the team spirit flowing through the dressing room this season is stronger than ever, and that she feels more included in the backroom decision-making process. This is attributed not only to the management style of the current incumbent, but also her own longevity. As she has become more established, so she has taken on more responsibility, and with this has come acceptance by the squad.

I asked her whether she felt she stood out as the sole female member of the team. Not at all, I was told. The relationship is so strong that she is simply considered as a vital cog in the machinery that keeps the team turning out week after week.

Although not full time, Vicky goes to the Club most days for about two hours. Typically, Tuesdays are made up of rehab treatment, while the other end of the week is all about preparation for Saturday’s match. Her massage treatments are designed to increase circulation, and after matches or heavy training sessions, to flush out lactic acid and other waste products from the body. Players see her on a voluntary basis, sometimes as part of a routine, and sometimes with specific aches or injuries that need treatment. During the week, she will spend about 15 minutes at each treatment couch, depending on individual requirements.

On a home match day, Vicky will arrive at the ground two hours before kick-off, and the next hour is the most intense of the week. Again, each player comes to see her on a voluntary basis, but given the time constraints, she will spend just five minutes with each individual as part of the limbering-up and strapping-up process. During the game, she can be seen as elated, nervous or upset as anyone of the other thousands of supporters at the game, freely admitting that she comes close to tearing her hair out from time to time!  Afterwards, the switch is made from supporter to professional again, and she is available to tend to bumps and bruises that will benefit from her attention.

Her role is both one of injury prevention and injury cure, and while unable to be strictly accurate, she reckons her time is spent about equally between these two vital jobs. In days gone by, the treatment would have differed between the forwards and the backs, with the emphasis being on backs, necks and shoulders for the big boys, while the little lads liked to have their legs rubbed. These days, with there being far less size difference, and seemingly interchangeable roles – 15 man rugby – many of the players have similar needs. With a sly grin, I was told that one set of players do seem to enjoy the pampering more than the other, but in the interests of dressing room harmony, I’ll leave to you, dear reader, to work our which way round it might be!

Taking to Vicky, I know that I am talking to someone who very much enjoys their job. She tells me she is very lucky. Growing up a rugby lover, and a committed team-player, to work with such a group of elite athletes is a dream-come-true. That said, it makes very little difference whether the team is a small amateur club, or one of the richest professional clubs in the country. It’s still all about the rugby, and the banter; it’s just that the rugby gets a bit harder and faster, while the banter remains the same. Vicky wears the Saintly-logoed training kit of the team, and is a very important part of that team. She shares in the elation after a win, and feels fed up in the subdued atmosphere of the dressing room after a loss – but she did ask me to point out that she isn’t 100% responsible for either losses or poor-performances, and if some of her clients could remember this, she’d be very grateful!

Looking to the future, Vicky is clearly looking forward to a return to top-flight rugby, hopefully next season. Other than the obvious reason of wanting to be part of a Premiership team, the long coach trips to the most southerly and westerly reaches of the country are not to be relished, apparently. Vicky is ambitious and would love to be a full time member of the team at the Gardens. More immediately though, she needs to beat Jim on the squash courts. Prior to his arrival she was undefeated. Let’s hope she can help the team stay that way for the foreseeable future.


Richard Slater
28 December 2007

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