“As long as I don’t over-do it, things are manageable,” begins Alix Popham, slowly, tentatively, as if heeding his own advice even as he answers my gentle opening enquiry. It is the Thursday before the start of the Six Nations, and we are in an upstairs room of the clubhouse of London Welsh RFC at Old Deer Park, a short stroll from Richmond Station. It is a place that echoes with stories of the sport’s past, of days of Dawes and Davies and JPR Williams – but as Popham and I sit down to talk, it is to confront more challenging conversations over rugby’s future.
It is coming on six years now since Popham, capped 33 times by Wales during a distinguished playing career, was diagnosed with early onset dementia. Doctors estimate that he suffered more than 100,000 sub-concussions during a 14-year playing career. His daily routine now includes a stint in a hyperbaric chamber; he also has a sauna and cold plunge at home. Popham works two days a week – he would like to work three for financial reasons, but past experience has proven that a bad idea.
