Listen to the recording of the last in our winter webinar series, Give Wellbeing a Sporting Chance, when we speak to Scottish rugby sensation, Stafford McDowall. 

Stafford had his name down to study agriculture at Newcastle University as an 18-year-old, but he deferred the place while he tried to break into the professional rugby ranks, juggling training sessions with farm jobs. 

The chance to make rugby his livelihood did come knocking during that gap year out and Stafford headed for the bright lights of Glasgow and a life away from the family farm which stands a stone’s throw from the Irish Sea at Kirkcudbright, in Dumfries and Galloway. 

Now, whenever he gets some time off, Stafford enjoys returning home to the farm and has started studying for a business management qualification, which he hopes will be useful in the long-term when his playing career is over, and he comes home to take over the reins. 

Of course, with luck on his side, that won’t be for a long while yet. After all, Stafford is still only 26 and is playing the best rugby of his life as a back in the Glasgow Warriors squad. 

But what does it take to play rugby at such a high-level, keep your foot in the door at home and manage expectations of succession in the future?

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If you are concerned about yourself or someone else, talk to someone. Contact your doctor, RSABI’s (24-hours) helpline: 0808 123 4555, Breathing Space: 0800 838 587 or Samaritans (24-hours): 116 123