sport news England call-up Alex Coles on debates with his vicar parents and skipping ... trends now
Alex Coles squeezes into a wooden pew at St James Church in Northampton. It is a tight fit for his 6ft 8in frame but, as the son of two vicars, he is in familiar surroundings.
‘This is the church where Northampton Saints started,’ he explains. ‘There was a Reverend here, Reverend Wigg, and he set up the rugby club as a way to get young lads out of trouble. The team was originally called Northampton Saint James, after the church, and here we are now.’
Beams of red and gold stream from the stained-glass window on to his forehead as Coles shares his journey through religion and rugby. ‘My parents used to take me to church every Sunday and I wasn’t that buzzing about it as a young kid,’ he says. ‘At that stage they weren’t vicars... that happened when I got a little bit older.
England call-up Alex Cole is the son of two vicars and church is a big part of his life
Coles is an undergraduate student and he balances his studies with his rugby commitments
‘Rugby training was also on Sunday mornings and when I was 10 I asked if they could take me down to rugby training instead. They agreed, so I joined Newmarket Rugby Club and that was my way of getting out of Sunday school!
‘Church was a big part of my life. My parents always gave me the independence to make my own decisions, whether that’s rugby or religion, and I wouldn’t change any of it. You go to secondary school, read things and make your own opinions. I like the church’s sense of community and the compassion. I’m not religious now but it definitely instilled some values that I try to live by.’
As an undergraduate in politics, philosophy and history at Birkbeck College, Coles does not shy away from a theological debate with his parents. He balances studies with his rugby commitments, although his study hours have been squeezed down since his England call-up for the autumn series.
‘I’m meant to go down to London a couple of nights a week but my attendance isn’t perfect,’ he admits. ‘I always wanted to do something alongside rugby. Dad is a doctor with quite an academic background. Growing up I never envisaged rugby becoming a job. It was something fun to do and my idea was to go down the Oxbridge route. I don’t want to stop studying because I’m playing rugby.
‘Politics always interested me. Obviously it’s a complete shambles at the moment. Things went pretty crazy with Liz Truss. Reducing taxes on the most well-off in society at the moment was always going to be suicide. The economic situation is tough in rugby as well at the moment, so there are certainly some parallels there.’
