A team stuffed full of captains

I WAS having one final lingering look at that 2003 England reunion picture last week before we banish all such thoughts until the next reunion – 2028 I’m guessing – when I was suddenly struck by something I had never really clocked before. My God, has there ever been a national team with so many Test captains?

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Some coaches will lecture ad infinitum that a good side has captains and leaders all over the park but in my experience that is often a rationale they wheel out when there is no obvious or commanding leader of the group. For that reason, I’m also suspicious of this modern-day tendency towards nominating joint leaders or co-captains which makes little sense to me. You see it in our business as well with a myriad of associate editors on our national newspapers.

There can only ever be one skipper in a team, one central figure that the side revolves around but that doesn’t mean to say that side can’t be absolutely rammed with individuals who have done the job in the past and/or will do the job in the future. The trick is that those players must have the self-awareness and humility to dial down their egos and express their leadership with the maturity of their play or, by prior agreement, taking charge of one facet of the team’s performance and owning that.

It seems to me that England 2003 were the living breathing embodiment of this ideal boasting no fewer than 14 England captains which I am calling right now as an all-time record.