Forced to retire from rugby, the Welshman emerged from a period of introspection as an adventurer, polar explorer and guide to Hollywood’s A-list
Told by a surgeon at the age of 31 that chronic damage to his right shoulder meant he would never play rugby again, former Wales international Richard Parks “fell off the edge of a cliff”.
“It was like I was in free fall without anything to grab onto,” the ex-Newport and Pontypridd flanker told the South China Morning Post, adding that his self-worth spiralled as his identity slipped away.
“If I wasn’t Richard Parks the rugby player, who was I?” he said. “I always enjoyed being good at something; a big part of that was my physicality, so when my body broke I felt like the human being was broken.”
At his lowest ebb, Parks decided that he needed to earn his place on Earth by “surviving something”, an attitude he readily acknowledges was “really dark”.
