My Passion With James Knox

It was an awkward fall. I knew straight away that the injury was serious. And it was – a chondral tear on my right knee and significant meniscus damage, which all-in-all meant I was going to be out for a long time.

When rugby’s been such a major part of your life since the age of seven, it’s hard to have to sit by and watch.

Rugby is a very popular sport among farming communities and my mum and dad are both big supporters of the game.

They took me along to Wensleydale RUFC to see if I would enjoy playing – I took to the game right away and haven’t looked back since.

It’s something I’ve come to live and breathe, and I’ve worked hard at my game to be able to play First XV rugby for Yarm School, Darlington, Vale of Lune and Lancaster University before eventually signing for Darlington Mowden Park in the national leagues that I’d always aspired to play in.

There’s never a good time to get injured, but 2012 was particularly bad timing.

Darlington Mowden Park is a rugby club with very big ambitions, with competition for the back-row places – namely my preferred No 8 and blindside flanker positions – fierce.

Especially so in light of the fact that we’d not only be pushing for further promotion up the national leagues into the big time but also that plans were afoot to move into the 25,000-seater Darlington Arena.

The club eventually bought the stadium – making it the highest capacity stadium in the UK – and played its first game there in great running rugby conditions in January 2013.

You might be forgiven for thinking that I might have been envious of my teammates playing out there on such an historic occasion but the point about rugby is that it’s such a team game, with little or no place for selfishness.

Of course, I would have loved to be playing, but it was a brilliant day and a terrific performance that made me feel really proud to be part of such a great club and project – and I really was made to feel part of it by my teammates, which was great.

I’m ambitious as a rugby player and was encouraged to be so by my mum and dad, hence the reason I’ve moved on from clubs I’ve really loved playing for – such as Wensleydale, just down the road from the family farm – but which I knew I’d have to move on from if I was to develop to play rugby to the best of my potential.

But at the very heart of rugby, whatever level you might play at, is the camaraderie, the banter, the great atmosphere and the feeling of family.

It’s these things – even more so than the great hits, the offloads and the turnovers – that I miss the most when I’m playing. And I can’t wait to get back to it all once the injury has properly healed.