Will former Hawk Tom Philip follow in the footsteps of former Hawks coach Rob Ackerman and pull on the Whitehaven jersey


from the archives
"A rugby league professional himself for three years at Whitehaven, before that playing as an amateur at Carlisle, John was at The Recre around the time the club rocked the rugby league (and union) world with the record signing of Welsh ace Rob Ackerman.

The fact that John and Rob were firm friends from college days played no small part in the headline-making capturing during the mid-80s.

Haven’s then chairman David Wigham recalls: “BNFL had just put an awful lot of money into the club, it was felt we needed to come up with a big name signing to promote the sponsorship. Rob Ackerman was one of the stars of Wales and also the British Lions. John Gaffney was playing for Whitehaven at the time and it’s fair to say John’s friendship led to Rob’s attraction to league. I was more than happy to pick up the ball and run with it, but our signing did cause a bit of a stir in union circles to say the least,” David laughed.

Amid a blaze of national publicity, Ackerman forsake the Welsh valleys for West Cumbria and lodged at the Gaffney family home in Whitehaven"

now today

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY REPORTS
Interview: Ex-Scotland centre Tom Philip explains why he loves rugby league

Published Date: 18 April 2010
By Iain Morrison
THE WHITEHAVEN News looks like a typical local rag. The latest edition leads with a story about a baby who miraculously avoided injury when a ceiling collapsed on his pram.


The paper talks of a cruise ship dropping anchor in the local bay, warning the town to expect an influx of visitors, and the sports section hosts an unlikely tale about a former Scotland international who has signed with the local rugby league club for three months. It's wrong. Tom Philip has signed for Whitehaven for one month.

No-one saw it coming. It's another extraordinary chapter in a long-running saga. Philip is making his umpteenth comeback in a career that has been shredded by a series of injuries to a body that looks, to the eye, all but indestructible. This afternoon Whitehaven play Blackpool in the Carnegie Challenge Cup and the coach has left a couple of places on the bench unnamed. The former Edinburgh centre, who won five consecutive Scottish caps in 2004, is hoping to fill one of them. Neither side in the equation, player or club, knows exactly what they have let themselves in for. It's a different world for Philip, a monumental challenge for a player who was once seen as Scotland's very brightest star and who, even now, the pro-team coaches will be monitoring with interest.

"I love rugby league," said the centre last week by way of explanation. "I've always loved league to be honest. I have been working hard in recent months and I see this as a reward to myself for all my efforts. I get to do something I love doing. The contract is only for a month. It gives them a chance to look at me and see if they like what they see. Obviously I'd love to play in the Super League but that is for the future. People say that, while Super League is a faster game, the Championship (one level below the Super League] is actually harder. The big boys run straight, they put in the hits and they slow you down. It's very, very physical."

To date Philip's experience of rugby league is one 80-minute stint last Saturday when he turned out for Whitehaven reserves in an 82-0 demolition of the Dewsbury Rams. He came through that unscathed and now he has the possibility of facing tougher opposition this afternoon. His one reserve match was enough to earn him that month-long invitation and after it Whitehaven's Kiwi coach Ged Stoakes had this to say about the Scot: "He's as green as grass in rugby league but showed he has the capability, and all the skills. He has the desire, background and tool kit and now just needs to learn the game."

Philip had some interest from another league outfit in Wales but he chose the Cumbrian club because it was relatively close and moreover the Championship plays part-time rugby so he can commute from his Edinburgh home. But if he's fit to play rugby league today, was he not inclined to play for Edinburgh Accies, a team he has been coaching for several years, in yesterday's crucial game against Heriot's?

"Yeah, it was tempting, definitely," says Philip. "It was just unfortunate timing that was all. This offer came very suddenly. Last Friday evening I was preparing to go to the Melrose Sevens and I got the opportunity to play for the (Whitehaven] reserves and, because of that, the possibility of playing against Blackpool. It was a chance I had to take. I'd have loved to play against Heriot's but I wasn't going to win that match on my own."

Numerous people over the years have urged Philip to give up his dream to return to full-time professional rugby but he isn't really the giving up type. If he were, the boots would have been in the bin long before now.

It's been six years since Philip played every match in the Six Nations. Afterwards his long-standing groin problem was traced to his back rather than his brain, as some suspected, which then required numerous operations and enough metalwork to make a start on the new Forth bridge. Six years on, the 26-year-old has played only the occasional game, his last one coming against Ayr two years ago, but every subsequent dawn has proved a false one. A meeting of those people that truly believe that the centre can squeeze a season of rugby, league, union or even touch, from his bionic body could hold a meeting in a phone box and still have space for several barrels of scepticism.

"There are plenty of people who offer encouragement," claims Philip, "and there's plenty of them who say to me, 'enough's enough!' This move is daunting and exciting and nerve-racking but that would be just the same if it was union I was playing. I am joining a completely new bunch of lads having only ever played for one professional team, Edinburgh. There is a good atmosphere at the club and I am not too worried about leaving friends and family behind, it's just a matter of getting back into things. I feel that the laws have been holding union back. Who knows what's going on at the scrum? Referees can decide the game depending upon their interpretation at the breakdown. But I am not suddenly against rugby union, it's just that I have always loved league."

It is well documented that Philips suffers obsessive-compulsive disorder and I put it to him that he is never really at one with himself unless it is on the rugby field, never mind the code.

"When my professional career was cut short by injury then, yes, it was difficult to cope with but I think I managed fine," he responds. "I got on with other stuff in my life, like my studying. I understand that there is a life outside rugby and I'm ready for it when that day comes whether it is sooner or whether I have a few years of playing left in me. My body feels like it's time to play, it's as good as it's been for years and you can always look for another excuse to hold off a little longer. I feel that only injuries can stop me and I don't think that they will."

The centre demands respect for the indomitable will and unflinching determination that are his main assets but it doesn't take a clairvoyant to see that those same traits could lead to his undoing.

This article was originally posted on 18-Apr-2010, 06:46 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 18-Apr-2010, 06:57.