City Centre , livre ebook

Troubador Publishing Ltd - Simon Halliday

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176 pages

English

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Simon Halliday has tackled everything that life has thrown at him, be it on the rugby field, or in the City. He has been hit hard in his time, now he is hitting back. In his candid and lucidly written autobiography City Centre, Simon Halliday, a former England rugby international takes the reader on a roller-coaster trip along Twickenham's corridors of power and lifts the lid on the departure of, not one, but two chief executives, as the game's rulers fought among themselves for control of the RFU. He is scathing about England's descent from World Cup heroes to zeroes after proving they were the best in 2003. He slams the game's rulers for driving Sir Clive Woodward out of the game and for eschewing the opportunity to welcome him back to Twickenham a few years later. Halliday transcended the world of amateur and professional and he delivers a crushing analysis of the twin pressures of existing at the top of business and international sport. In addition to analysing his rugby career, City Centre is also a personal account of the fateful morning in September 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed, triggering a global financial crisis. Except that Halliday tells it from the inside, on the trading floor where he worked with thousands of others. Halliday also details the truth behind the ruthless mid-90s merger of the Swiss banking giants UBS and SBC, and the appalling behaviour of Crdit Suisse in their ill-fated acquisition of his beloved DLJ at the end of the tech boom. It was while he was playing for Bath's all conquering rugby team of the 1980s that the double Oxford Blue in cricket and rugby suffered a horrific injury a week before his England debut. He describes the injury and talks movingly about how he was able to put this into perspective while lying in his hospital bed. That he played again is testament to his indomitable will - and his reward was to wear the Red Rose of England. In City Centre Halliday talks about some of the greatest players he has played with and against, and provides a shrewd analysis of the genius coach Jack Rowell, who transformed the fortunes of Bath, turning them from a minor West Country club into one of the best outfits in Europe. There are also assessments of Will Carling, a close friend, and the brilliant Jerry Guscott. Today Halliday is a parton of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and Help For Heroes and used his business and sporting profile to raise awareness of both these charities. This book does not pull punches. Halliday talks honestly and unashamedly about key people in his playing and business careers. This is an open book - just like the man.

Sujets

Lettres et linguistique

Rugby football

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Publié par	Troubador Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	01 octobre 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781783068784
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0400€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

In City Centre Simon has successfully managed to capture the heady and intoxicating allure of top level rugby in the final years of the amateur era, through his varied experiences as a player.
Rugby s friendships, the selection highs and lows, the desperate struggle with the inevitability of injuries and trying to start a family and a career in the City are issues Simon deals with openly and honestly.
Simon is a thoroughly loyal, intelligent and talented individual. He is the right type of rugby person to take the professional game forward and I would have loved to work with him at international rugby level.
Nick Mallett
CITY CENTRE
HIGH BALL TO HIGH FINANCE
SIMON HALLIDAY
Copyright 2013 Simon Halliday
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents-Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
Matador 9 Priory Business Park Kibworth Beauchamp Leicestershire LE8 0RX, UK Tel: ( 44) 116 279 2299 Fax: ( 44) 116 279 2277 Email: books@troubador.co.uk Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador
ISBN 9781783068784
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd
To my family To all those who smile at adversity
Acknowledgements
My sincere thanks go to Sir Clive Woodward for his foreword; a man who personifies the undeniable links between business and sporting success.
To my dear friend, writer and journalist, David Llewellyn, who encouraged me along the way and provided critical and inspirational support.
Thanks are due to my old friend Nick Mallett for his comments. It was he who pushed me to make the most of myself at a time when it all could have gone the other way.
To David Norrie and Getty Images for access to their amazing store of photos
FOREWORD
By Sir Clive Woodward
It was back in 1983 that my international rugby playing career was almost at an end and I was thinking for the first time about things outside of playing for England. Simon Halliday had just arrived on the scene and was a favourite to take my spot and was clearly destined to play for England for a long period of time. Through our passion to see England win at the highest levels we got to know each other well over the years, particularly during the time leading up to our Rugby World Cup triumph in 2003. I went to have lunch with him on several occasions at Lehman s, not with any agenda but just to discuss everything and anything that was going on, especially in the politics of the RFU.
Simon was a free-spirited player, whether for Bath, Harlequins or England. His career spanned a time when the national team emerged from a lean period to achieve two Grand Slams and a World Cup Final, and his insights into the club and international scene are fascinating. He suffered from the rise to prominence of Will Carling and Jeremy Guscott, and was unfortunate to miss out on a lot of game time as a result. But his value was never in doubt. He was a true exponent of passing the ball out of the tackle and on merit found himself in a World Cup Final on the wing.
I have often wondered about the inner workings of the City s big investment banks. Simon brings them to life and speaks honestly about the pressures in his daily business life, though he clearly enjoyed his time in the industry, notwithstanding the highly personal account of the Lehman collapse.
As the England Head Coach, I regarded it as critical to understand who my leaders were and how their skills could always be improved and coached, and how my team worked with one another to become truly one team : the best in the world - all three of the banks Simon worked for seemed to be aiming for that pinnacle. The difference between success and failure can be a fine line, and self-interest often gets in the way. It comes across that certain characters passing through Simon s orbit held those characteristics of leadership, warrior spirit and a drive for success, but by no means all of them.
I am sure that Simon would say himself that he could have acted less on impulse at times. But he is that person, I can relate to his frustrations with the RFU, and what I do know is that Simon s agenda has always been rugby related and not self-interested. He was very supportive of everything I and the England coaching team were trying to achieve.The fact that he couldn t always deliver on what was needed undoubtedly pushed him into conflict with those who he perceived to be the most obstructive. People like Simon who do question the status quo are the lifeblood of the game but tend to be eventually quashed by the silent majority.
Simon supports two great charities: CRY and Help for Heroes. I am also a patron of CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young ) and totally empathise with his clear commitment. Saving young people from avoidable death from sudden heart failure is a fantastic objective. Simon gives free rein to his emotions on behalf of both.
I have often been quoted making the comparisons between business and sporting ethics, and how they helped the England team move forward and develop into World Cup winners. Simon s book takes us down a road where he tries to analyse how both of these impacted on his life, and Simon s heart is very much on his sleeve as he does so. This book is an interesting read for all rugby and business followers alike.
From a fellow centre, and from someone who shares many of Simon s rugby values, I offer my congratulations on an often light-hearted expos of his many experiences. As he rightly said, he is very much an open book. With Simon, what you see is definitely what you get.
INTRODUCTION
Amateur or Professional
It would be tempting to assume that City Centre is a chronicle of my life, but that would be rather boring and I would be advising you to stop reading now
No, this is a collection of thoughts and memories from a unique period for Rugby Union and International Finance, which covered my adult playing and business life. Whilst the book is deeply personal, there is much in my life which shall remain private. For example, all of my family are dear to me: my late father Gordon and my mother Margaret, brother Christopher and sister Deborah, my children Sophie and Alexander - but my life with them is very separate, which will become apparent as you read on.
I am frequently asked whether I would have preferred to play in the professional era, and my answer has always been the same - no. But then it s easy to say that, as I was lucky to work in an industry which paid me well, and the thought of being paid to play rugby has always been anathema. I wanted the right to say no, or to do something I preferred rather than just turn out for my club. I remember once when I was a current international opting to go on tour to France with Oxford University instead of playing for Bath. My reasons for this decision were twofold, firstly that I fancied a few days in Southern France, and secondly I was helping out Oxford who had been shorn of their international stars David Kirk (NZ), Troy Coker (Aus) and Brendan Mullin (Ire). Part of the tour had been financed with the promise of their participation. I actually scored two tries in our surprise win over Agen, the then French champions, so I suppose I earned my tour
The very thought of a twenty-first century international being given the freedom to make such a decision is unconscionable.
In the two Help for Heroes rugby matches which took place in 2008 and 2011, only one contracted player actually told his club that he was taking part no matter what they said. That was the Rugby World Cup hooker Mark Regan, and it was typical of the man. To be fair he wasn t playing regularly for Bristol, but nonetheless his commitment to the cause was unusual amongst his peers. The simple fact is that for a professional rugby player, this is now the day job, and sits sometimes uneasily with the ethos which has always existed in amateur Rugby Union. There is also the fear of incurring injury during so-called meaningless matches.
The concept of the British and Irish Lions in a professional world is also a marvel, almost like competing businessmen suddenly joining forces after four years of being at each other s throats. You will not find a Lion alive (with the possible exception of Austin Healey) who denies the special attractions of wearing the iconic red shirt over almost any other. Just ask any of the forty members of the triumphant 2013 Lions. Of course the bonuses for winning are significant and no doubt well worth the effort. As a selector for the 2001 Lions Tour of Australia, in the professional era, I was struck by the passion of all involved to maintain the integrity of the concept.
Some of the old values we used to associate with the game of rugby have changed. On-field you cannot really complain - no more punching, high tackles, stamping or raking which would invariably go unpunished in my amateur days. There were some truly awful injuries inflicted upon fellow human beings which were somehow legitimised under the auspices of the rough and tumble of our game: I was once raked on my chest and face and left with deep lacerations and stud marks - I could easily have lost my eye. It was while playing for England against the emerging Wallabies and there was a mass punch-up whilst I lay prostrate on the ground. I didn t go off but went a little crazy for the rest of the match, trying to exact my revenge through a combination of high and late tackles, much to t