THE COFFEE SHOP hums away unabated, steam jets out into cups, music plays in the background and the bottom falls from the stage Michael Allen has been making a living on.
‘Mike, there’s no easy way to say this. The contract’s no longer there.’
Having made his professional rugby debut in 2011, Allen moved from Ulster to Edinburgh in 2015 seeking a change of scenery and a settled position.
File photo; Allen at Ravenhill in 2013. Source: Brian Little
A versatile back boasting electric pace, which took him out of the centre to the wing more often than he would have liked, there was a sense that Allen could even benefit from a three-year residency rule and see international rugby for Scotland before this year’s World Cup.
Whatever the prospects, he felt utterly welcomed and at home in his new club and his new home city and, as he turned 26, was more than happy to re-sign when contract discussions came up in 2016.
In the lead-up to that Christmas, he was under the impression that the deal was agreed and simply awaiting a signature. But Hogmanay came and went, January and February too. Still no word. It fell to Duncan Hodge, Edinburgh’s interim head coach, to bear the bad news that somebody’s opinion of Allen’s future had shifted.
“The whole time I had been thinking things will be fine, happy days. To be hit with that bombshell was pretty horrendous,” Allen tells The42.
“I remember saying to Duncan Hodge that Wednesday morning, ‘I’ve a wife and a baby on the way.
“She’s due in July.’”
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When The42 first got in contact with Allen last month, he was basking in bright Alpine sunshine, wrapped up against the cold of a ski-slope and thoroughly enjoying the sort of time off that seemed so alien to him while he as a professional rugby player.
The turmoil of losing a job and switching away from a career many view as a dream has all been smoothed out.
It worked out for the best and he holds no regrets, but if he wishes anything had turned out differently, it’s the timeline. A little extra warning that a move was necessary to further his rugby career would have given him a level playing field. But three months out from the end of the campaign, most clubs have their business done.
Before that, his flight of fancy had always been to take up a scissors and shears. There was a barbering qualification tucked away in the drawer and the broad strokes of his plan had been to open his own shop and snip away from his mid-30s on. But that wasn’t a serious option any more. Not with a child on the way and no nest egg to kick-start a new business.
The choices were clear: he could chase the dream as a rugby player, up sticks, switch clubs and push for five more years in his current career, or he could get started on the next one.
“And those five years could be a year at one club, a year at another,” adds Allen. “You could be hopping around. I don’t have anything against guys who do that, I just wasn’t up for it and that’s just me.”
His wife Eireann was prepared to hit the road and bring a newborn along. After all, what Pro D2 lacks in on-field glamour, it makes up for with the backdrop of places like Biarritz, Beziers and Carcassonne. However, the prospect of clocking up clubs and kit did not appeal to Allen half as much as continuing to build his life in Edinburgh and doing so around his wife and daughter – rather than the other way around.
That sounded like value and a quality use of his time.
“I didn’t want to drop down a level just to pick up a pay cheque, even if the pay cheque was substantial… it probably seemed a strange decision, but looking back now, I’m happy where I am.”
When the time came to say goodbye to the game in a tux at Edinburgh’s end of season awards, he had already sat an exam and had himself bound for a day job which demanded a suit rather than boots.
Allen was put into contact with Chris Tweed and set about working and studying his way through a different sort of academy system, towards a role in financial services.
“I owe a massive amount to Tweed Wealth Management for taking me on,” says Allen.
“It was a pretty rough time: you’ve got a baby on the way in three or four months’ time, no new contract — what are you going to do?”
Throughout it all, Eireann remained a constant for Allen. Though she was content to move elsewhere if needed, as a doctor studying to qualify as an anaesthetist, the lure of a job in the Royal Hospital was a strong tether to keep roots in the Scottish capital.
“She’s very happy, she’s very good at her job and is well-respected and regarded.”
“She actually did her last exam when she was 36 weeks pregnant. She went down to London for that which was, eh… a bit of a laugh.”
Not all heroes wear capes.
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“I remember standing there thinking: ‘This is Ronan O’Gara!’”
Allen doesn’t have a pre-formed list of go-to highlights to turn to when we ask about his fondest memories of rugby. He genuinely racks his brain and the moments that jump out are not individual flourishes where he is skating around defenders to ground a try. They are collective efforts with just a fleck of a sense of new beginning and fresh starts about them on a personal level.
When he mentions O’Gara, it’s in the context of a ‘made-it’ moment early in the 2012/13 season. Allen was manning the left wing, maintaining the line’s integrity with All Black great Doug Howlett directly opposite him, and O’Gara, the expert at pulling matches from the fire, working in tandem with Conor Murray to probe this way and that in search of a gap and any weakness in Ulster.
Allen tackling James Downey in Ulster’s narrow win over Munster in 2012. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
Munster cranked through 23 phases worth of pressure, but could not turn the 20-19 deficit around. Securing that win gave Allen a sense of momentum in his chosen field as he nods to a win over Glasgow two weeks earlier – though he doesn’t breathe a word of the match-turning try he scored.
A more meaningful win over Glasgow is the second fond memory that springs to mind. The back-to-back successes for Edinburgh in the ’1872′ derby clashes gave him his only medal as a professional, and helped him feel fully embedded in his new club after an ill-timed run of injuries during his first six months by the North Sea.
He donned an Ireland jersey in 2013 and 2014 as part of Emerging Ireland squads sent to Georgia and Romania, where he played with the likes of Rhys Ruddock, Jordi Murphy, Tiernan O’Halloran, Tommy O’Donnell and Ian Keatley.
He believes he was capable of achieving more in his career, yet he’s at peace with that.
“I’m proud of what I did achieve. I’m completely okay with the fact that I think I under-achieved. I always wanted to play international, always wanted to get 50, 100 caps for Ulster. That’s not the case and I’m completely fine with that now.
Green light: Allen in his Emerging Ireland gear in 2014. Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO
“I wasn’t when I was playing. I just have a very different outlook on career, lifestyle and things like that. I’m a much more relaxed person now than I was when I was playing.”
