Dave Attwood: Retired lock says players and clubs have a 'responsibility' to help rugby
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Lock Dave Attwood played for Bristol, Bath, Gloucester and Toulon during his 18-year playing career
Former England and Bath lock Dave Attwood believes players and clubs need to take more responsibility to help rugby generate more revenue and grow.
The 36-year-old retired at the end of this season, ending an 18-year career.
Attwood made more than 350 Premierships appearances playing for Bristol Bears, Gloucester and Bath and was capped 24 times by England.
He described the sport as currently in "a cloud" regarding its finances and future.
"At the minute it's in a really rough place," Attwood told BBC Radio Bristol.
"Obviously the finance, the cost of living crisis, suddenly the Covid issues are coming to roost with some of the clubs. There is, rightly so, a lot of scrutiny on what clubs, players, organisations can do to make rugby a more viable pastime.
"It's not like football where it's virtually self-sustaining. We need to work at making this game viable, we need to work at generating revenue, and I think there needs to be more responsibility on the players and clubs to do that and not the broader organisations like BT Sport or the RFU [Rugby Football Union] or PRL [Premiership Rugby].
"I think we need to take a lot of responsibility because the truth is a lot of clubs are struggling."
Wasps and Worcester both went into administration last autumn midway through the Premiership season, while London Irish have been issued a deadline by the RFU to complete their takeover by the end of this month amid concerns regarding their finances.
Bristol-born Attwood made his professional debut for his hometown club during the 2005-06 season and has seen the sport change during his career.
"Participation is down, [in] junior leagues the rule changes are turning a lot of people away. I think we're in a bit of a cloud at the minute," Attwood added.
"The values of rugby, the reasons why people want to play rugby, I still see that. You go down the local park and watch the kids play, people still love the game, and they love the values it instils in them whether they play at grassroots level or right at the top.
"That's the important thing we need to cling on to and help it to grow."
Coaching the right mindset
Attwood returned to Bath this season where he ended his career after making more than 150 appearances for the club over two spells
Attwood made a total of 175 appearances for Bath, having returned to the club for his second spell at the start of this season.
Yet he has been preparing for life after rugby for a while, completing a law conversion course during his playing days and long-term that is where he hopes his future lies.
In the short-term though, Attwood has has signed up to swim the English Channel this summer but also wants to use his rugby experience to help the sport better its own future.
"I'd like to give back to the game in some way. I feel like there's so much room for growth.
"The game is struggling, the game is not in financial health, and I feel like I've got a good sense of how we can move things in the right direction and I'd like to get involved in some capacity to drive the mentality of what's great about the game and push that forward," Attwood continued.
"I do have a decent mindset of the game and I think there's so much space to coach the appropriate mindset, how we get more out of ourselves, how we get more out of each other.
"There's so much room for growth there. Possibly some work with the RFU, possibly some work in other sports - they're the avenues I'm looking at.
"Hopefully that will either take me straight into rugby or bring me back full circle to rugby where I can have a bigger impact."