“Rugby doesn’t pay the bills in Portugal”: Tomas Appleton, a dentist captain at the World Cup

2023-09-23 08:52:26

“I don’t know if you know, but actually, most of us are amateurs. » At the end of Portugal’s first match in this World Cup, captain Tomas Appleton had reason to be proud of his men. Despite the defeat (28-8) suffered against Wales, Os Lobos (The Wolves, the nickname of the selection) showed very good things for their return to this level for the first time since 2007. All in a semi-professional selection led by a dentist.

Absolute symbol of this two-speed Portugal, Tomas Appleton. Alongside his position as captain of Wolves and Lusitanos XV (the Portuguese Rugby Europe Super Cup franchise), the versatile three-quarter runs his own dental practice in Lisbon. Holder of two master’s degrees in oral surgery and implantology, the 30-year-old has just started studying medicine, due to lack of income thanks to rugby.

“Rugby doesn’t pay the bills in Portugal,” he recalls in an interview to the British daily The Guardian. A starter at Centro Desportivo Universiatrio Lisboa (CDUL), fifth in the Portuguese championship last season, Tomas Appleton can only play part-time with his club in a national championship made up of 90% amateurs.

“Charisma and talent”

So it’s a whole double life that needs to be organized. “The most important thing is time management. I always lived with that, at school, and in rugby, where I started playing at 6 years old. Whether it was in terms of my studies or rugby, it was more difficult each time. But we are used to it,” he confides in the South West columns.

“At the end of the day, most of our guys are amateur, we don’t play professional. It’s such a big moment to be standing here.

“We just want to inspire young kids to start playing rugby.”

Great words from Portugal captain Tomás Appleton.#WALvPOR | #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/YQXUa8UzYB

— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) September 16, 2023

In 2015, Tomas Appleton attempted the big leap into professional rugby at the age of 22. Head to Darlington Mowden Park, in National League One, in England, for a rather successful visit. But the obligation to complete his studies and his assured place in the national rugby sevens team finally brought him back to his senses in the Portuguese capital. “I knew that if I didn’t try it then, I would never try it again,” he explains today.

Without ever finding this high level again, Tomas Appleton cut his teeth in the country until becoming one of the strong men of French coach Patrice Lagisquet. “He’s a great personality. He has charisma, he is iconic, and he is talented on all levels. And then it takes me back to the time of my own amateurism, when I started. I manage to make the connection, to understand these issues,” says the French coach, always for South West.

“Getting young people to play rugby”

But he is far from being the only one. Next to him we find an insurance broker, or other senior executives. “Enlightened amateurs who earn a little money”, as the coach likes to describe them. With fewer than 7,000 members, rugby in Portugal continues to look gloomy, despite the return of the Wolves to the forefront. Rugby in this country is struggling to expand beyond a “closed, somewhat elitist environment,” notes journalist Antonio Aguilar, a reference in the discipline and commentator on matches broadcast on television.

“Rugby is a practically family sport, which passes from father to son or between friends,” continues this former player, whose son, also named Antonio, was present at the 2007 World Cup. Proof of this is also found in Tomas Appleton, who joined the Portuguese elite thanks to his older brother Francisco, who finally abandoned the selection for a position as a lawyer in London.

“In the end, we just want to inspire the new generations, and push young people to play rugby (…) We are more proud of the presence of our supporters in Nice, and of what we have built over the years than of the result this evening”, assumed the captain of the Wolves at the end of the first match lost against the Welsh.

An objective shared by the president of the Portuguese Rugby Federation, Carlos Amado Silva. “In terms of visibility and interest of the population, the recognition of this sport is not what we would like,” he regrets. According to him, nearly 20,000 more licensees would be needed to reach a milestone. So this World Cup and the performances of Tomas Appleton’s teammates take on a particular dimension: “The sporting objective is to go to the World Cup in Australia. Internally, it’s to raise awareness of rugby. »