Time right to stop playing
Jan 1 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal
FOR sportsmen, "goodbye" can often be the hardest word to say, but Rob Wilson's bad back left him with no other choice.
CHOOSING when to retire is the toughest decision most sportsmen have to make. Some try to go out with their pride intact, others their bodies, while some seek to delay the moment when they wake up wondering what to do next.
Rob Wilson does not need telling how difficult a decision it can be, having made it twice. But the Vipers’ player-coach insists this time he had no choice. This time there will definitely be no going back.
It was 2007 when Wilson (pictured) first decided to drop the word “player” from his job description. Time, and a bad back, had caught up with the Canadian but a mid-season injury crisis forced a rethink and the financial realities of the Elite League kept him on the ice. As a co-owner of the Vipers, Wilson gritted his teeth and played through the pain.
This Christmas he has had to admit defeat and while he hopes to contribute to the final months of the season, it will be his last as a professional ice hockey player. “I’ve been trying to do it for the last couple of years but I’ve been unable to,” says the Canadian. “My back’s so bad it’s definitely the right time.
“I talked to Jaimie (Longmuir, the club’s general manager) and Paul (Ferone, Wilson’s co-owner) and there was no question this had to stop at any cost. I probably came to the decision about six or seven weeks ago. I don’t want to not be able to walk ten years from now trying to do the right thing for the club.”
Doing the right thing by the Vipers has prolonged his playing career two-and-a-half years. “I would have loved to have gone out in the championship season (when the Vipers won the 2006 Elite League play-offs),” he admits. “If this was a Sheffield or a Nottingham with their budgets, I wouldn’t still be playing. My back has been bad since we won the play-offs. I hurt it in the training camp for the next season. I really was in pain. I retired after 2006-07 but at the end of the following season Pascha (Pavel Gomenyuk) and a few other guys got injured and I was forced to come out of retirement.”
This week the club announced a February 25 testimonial match between Willy’s All Stars and the North East All Stars to say its goodbyes. Having been a professional since 1985, Wilson is fortunate to have another job he loves to focus on.
“I will miss playing because I’ve been doing it since I was three,” he reflects. “I will probably still miss it 20 years from now.”
As his physical and financial sacrifices prove, Wilson also loves the North East. He joined Newcastle Jesters in 2000-01 and although their on-going money problems forced him to leave, it was only for a season. To quote former shaving magnate Victor Kiam, he liked it so much, he eventually bought the company, in 2005. “I’d heard things from Lobby (David Longstaff) and my dad said I’d find the people a lot like Glasgow (home of Wilson’s grandparents),” he recalls.
“I signed a two-year deal and unfortunately I wasn’t able to see it out but when I had the chance to come back it was a no-brainer. The fans have been great to me.”
When asked to name the highlights of his playing days, Wilson does not stray far from Newcastle.
“The Findus Cup win (in 2003) was quite an achievement,” he says. “But the pinnacle was our play-off win. No one expected us to beat Belfast in the semi-finals or Sheffield in the final.”
TICKETS for the testimonial are available from Saturday – priced £9 for adults, £7 concessions and £5 children – from the club shop on Shakespeare Street, Newcastle, in the foyer on match nights, by phone on (0191) 261 0909 or at www.vipershockey.co.uk.
