Rugby legend speaks out on covid

NL: For those of us unacquainted with Welsh rugby, please can you tell us a little about yourself and your sporting achievements?

- NICOLA LUND

IAN GOUGH: I was born in Pontypool in the mid-1970s and my middle name is Mervyn (after Mervyn Davies who played for Swansea and Wales). My father was a huge rugby fan.

I started to play at secondary school, then from about the age of 14, I played at regional level, receiving my first Welsh Youth cap at the age of 18. I had my first Wales ‘A’ cap at 20, then represented Wales internationally from the age of 21 in 1998.

I have played professionally in approximately 450 senior games, plus I played for London Irish for one year around 2013, and have received 64 Welsh caps. Since retiring from playing in 2015, I have been doing TV rugby commentary for Scrum V and Premier Sport, and also radio commentary since covid.

NL: Would you like to share your thoughts on the so-called pandemic and the effect it had upon you, your family and friends?

IG: Before 2020, I wasn’t interested in politics and geopolitics. I was completely taken in by the initial panic, after becoming a dad again in late 2019. However, after around 6-8 weeks, I started to feel that something was not quite right. People were not asking questions and it felt that we were being manipulated by the government and media.

I learned about the Behavioural Insights Team [attached to the Cabinet Office and forming government policy] and then seeing the whole Partygate nonsense – among many other things – compounded my distrust in what we were being told. I had some heated disagreements with friends over what I perceived to be government and mainstream media dishonesty.