Alan Evans

Eighteen years ago today, Alan Evans ran out on to the rugby pitch, but a spinal injury during the match meant he has never walked again. He talks to Sue Austin.

Eighteen years ago today, Alan Evans ran on to a rugby pitch in Birmingham as the proud vice-captain of Oswestry’s first team. One tackle changed his life for ever that day. He was carried off the field, and was never to run or walk again.

Over the years since November 23, 1991, when he suffered a spinal injury which left him wheelchair bound with only limited upper body movement, Alan has achieved enormous goals . . . but also sunk to the most despairing depths.

Even today he has not accepted being in a wheelchair, but has learned to live with it.

Last weekend Alan was awarded a Certificate of Achievement by Rugby Football Union president John Owen at the home of English rugby, Twickenham.

The award was given for his success in rugby whether on the pitch before he was injured, playing wheelchair rugby or, more recently, earning his level one rugby coaching certificate.

But whilst celebrating, 50-year-old Alan still wonders whether all the pain, frustration and sadness over a life wasted, is worth it.

Ending his own life is something he tried to do in 1992 when his girlfriend had an affair and left him. And it is something he thinks about to this day, talking through the possibility of travelling with his next of kin to a clinic in Switzerland, where assisted suicide is not against the law.

It is not that he is terminally ill; he is finding it hard to face his life of constant pain. There are endless operations to deal with, secondary complications of a severe spinal injury, and he lives much of his life in his bungalow in Oswestry with only a carer for company.

“I seem to go two steps forward and four steps back all the time,” he says.

Alan is rightly proud of his sporting achievement before and since his horrific accident and his achievements in overcoming his severe disabilities.

Photographs adorning his walls show some of the rugby stars he has met since his accident, and he is proud to have played alongside such names as Will Carling, Dave Egerton and Richard Hill, Roger Uttley and Paul Rendall.

Sheer perseverance and a pioneering operation gave him back enough use of his hand to be able to write his own Christmas cards, use the kitchen and with the dawn of the internet enable him to use computers and keep in touch with the outside world.

Different

Ironically is was his attempt to take his own life, in 1992, that saw him back playing a very different game of rugby.

“My girlfriend had an affair and we split up. If she had left me as soon as I had had the accident I think I would have coped with it better. But when she went, my head was so messed up I could see no other way than to end it all.”

Alan Evans receives an award at Twickenham - he is pictured with John Owen (RFU President), Jim Pickard (Oswestry RFC) and Nic Scott (RFU Equity, Inclusion & Safeguarding Manager).

He attempted to take an overdose, but was discovered soon enough for a hospital to deal with it, and in the dark days that followed Alan was recommended to contact Sportability, an organisation providing exercise to those with disabilities.

He travelled to Sportability at Stroud with the help of funding from the Rugby Union Players Injuries Association charitable trust. That led to training in wheelchair rugby and, despite his high level of disability, he earned a place on the Bandits team.

It was a team that found great success, but Alan’s happiness was cut short when in 1996 and 1997 an infection put him in hospital and out of action for 15 months.

He returned to training with the Bandits in 1998 and the following year went to Belgium to play in the European Cup for wheelchair rugby. He was also part of the team to take the national “Wheelpower” team of the year award.

“We won a bronze medal at the Stoke Mandeville games the one year and a silver the next they were good times,” Alan recalls.

Another operation on Alan’s bowel restored much of his dignity, and his life had new purpose.

But never ending medical problems, including fears still today that he could lose his leg, and a battle to get benefits and his Army pension, brought his new life crashing down.

“I found I could not afford the petrol to travel to training and I spent more and more time in hospital every time I tried to get back to training something else went wrong.”

He turned to rugby coaching, and found he had a talent for passing his knowledge on to others.

“I understand and can read a match, and after rugby has given me such a lot in my life, I would like to put something back into the game.

“I know I can help teams, do one-to-one coaching and pass on skill techniques.”

He is frustrated, however, that he can find nowhere to channel those skills.

“Life has never been easy since the accident. It has been a constant battle. But now never a day goes by when I don’t think ‘what is the point? what is there for me?’

“I am 50, I spent a lot of time alone and my disabilities and my recently illness mean that relationships are difficult. I have achieved a lot in the rugby world and I know there is much, much more that I can give. I just want to be given a chance to use it.”