Doug Howlett: From white line to bottom line
“I don’t have to be lacing up my boots to help the club,” he says.
“On dealing with retirement after a lifetime playing the game...
There was no more I wanted to achieve and the way I left it, I could just close the door and say ‘that was a great time in my life’.
Doug Howlett joined Irish investment outfit OCI at the end of last summer.
oug Howlett may no longer be a Munster player but he is doing his bit to keep his adopted province punching above its weight on the European rugby stage.
It was 53 weeks ago, in Glasgow on March 29, 2013, that the former All Black wing scored his 35th try for Munster in his 114th appearance and then suffered the shoulder injury that would end his illustrious career. Not a playing career cut short as far as Howlett is concerned but a natural progression from one world into another.
He bowed out, after all, at the respectable age of 34 and has moved on with his life as quickly as he used to skin opposition defences.
He had planned one further season in red before the shoulder injury intervened and “there was just too much risk in playing on,” Howlett says.
“It hasn’t been something I’ve thought about. To be honest I’ve been so busy with another side of my life and with the way I lived the game there wasn’t a whole lot more I wanted to do. I loved it at the time and left it at a good time, where I wasn’t hanging on. I still felt I was playing good rugby, there was no more I wanted to achieve and the way I left it, I could just close the door and say ‘that was a great time in my life’.
“You look at someone like Brian O’Driscoll at the moment, who’s going through something similar, on a grander scale, shall I say, but it’s only when you have time to reflect, it was a wonderful time in your life and now it’s time to plan for the next 30 or 40 years.”
Howlett joined Irish investment outfit OCI at the end of last summer having done some business with company founder John O’Connor during his playing career, including investing in former Munster team-mate Federico Pucciariello’s bio-diesel plant in the prop’s native Argentina.
Now OCI have taken him from dressing room to company boardrooms as he searches for new business for their renewable energy, minerals and mining interests. And he has also been lured back to Munster, the province he served as a player since leaving New Zealand in 2008 and now represents with equal passion as a corporate ambassador.
“Munster recognised the threat of some of the French clubs, the French league, even the English Premiership, some of the budgets that these clubs have and how were we to compete with that. So they put their heads together and put a commercial board together.
“Niall Fitzgerald is the chair, Leslie Buckley, Patrick Coveney, John Herlihy from Google, Ken Murphy from Boots, Tony Keohane from Tesco and David Cronin, who runs the University of Limerick Foundation. All successful business people in their own right, all brought together through the common thread of Munster; all Munster people and fans, and the idea was to put their heads together and help Munster commercially.
“My job is with them, I see it as broadening Munster’s business network and commercial opportunities.”
The role was created for Howlett last December with a mission to secure corporate support for the province and “help Munster Rugby remain at the forefront of European rugby”. It is one he had little hesitation in accepting.
“I had such a fantastic five years on the field and often people say, ‘good on you, thanks for coming up’, but I flip that around. I got so much more when I came here in terms of the experience, not only for myself but as a family, that it’s hard not to buy into, hard not to give back a little bit.
“I guess this is a role that keeps me involved in rugby, which I love and I’ll always be involved in at some level. And it’s a way of helping at all levels, not just the professional team but the next generation, the young players and some of the other players through the mentoring as well.
As Munster gear up for their Heineken Cup quarter-final showdown with Toulouse, one of the sport’s economic powerhouses, the challenge facing Howlett and the Commercial Board comes into sharp focus.
Four-time European champions Toulouse have wealthy backers and, like the rest of the Top 14 clubs, enjoy the spoils of a €70 million per season league television deal with Canal+. Having an annual budget of €34m that easily outstrips the four Irish provinces combined clearly allows them to offer substantially higher salaries to prospective transfer targets than anything the likes of Munster can summon.
“That’s pretty well known, I guess,” Howlett said. “It’s common knowledge these clubs, we can’t compete with financially, with some of their backers. It’s about how else can we retain our players, how else we can make it attractive here and your reasons for playing the game.
“You cut all of that away and go back to that 10-year-old schoolboy and ask him, ‘what do you love about the game?’ That’s what Munster has in abundance, backed up with fantastic crowd support and that still counts for a lot.
“It’s unrealistic to put us in the same breath as some of the French teams. I guess all we can do is put our best foot forward and as you’ve seen with examples of players that have gone to France, all we can do is promise a good environment where international players are looked after.
“But one of the over-riding things that I’ve found through my time at Munster is that all the young guys coming through, all they ever want to do is play for Munster. I assume that’s the same in Leinster and Ulster and Connacht and it’s refreshing.
“At the same time there’s a challenge. How we can increase our revenue outside of the mainstream, outside of the playing strip, outside of player appearances. We just have to be creative and come up with new ways of sponsorship, be more inventive in the commercial market.
“Where the economy’s been, money’s been tight for a lot of companies, but a lot of people see the value in sport in these times. They see it as a way of kick-starting things and, if not financially, advice has been free-flowing. The contacts that people have put me into, the different networks, ‘listen, I can’t help but maybe you should try this guy’.
“There is such goodwill around the team and people want to help. They’re a well educated bunch, Munster’s supporters. They know what’s going on and the threats from the French and others and everybody wants to help.”
For all the goodwill there is a mountain Munster have to climb just to keep financial pace with their provincial neighbours Leinster, who last week welcomed them to the Aviva Stadium for a RaboDirect Pro12 clash and will reap the benefits of a 51,000-plus sell-out.
“It’s pretty clear cut. Geographically, they’re in a big city and there’s a lot of commercial money in Dublin. We understand that and we go about our business the best we can. We’re knocking on a few doors and meeting a lot of people and there are a lot of Munster people doing well in the business world. I guess it’s just connecting these people and letting them know what we’re about.
“It’s a competitive market, I get that. The GAA is obviously big in the country but we’re out and about and we’re climbing.
“A lot of these things are relationship-building exercises and there’s been a lot of good conversations had and I think we’re on the right track. I can only speak for the things I’m working on but there’s a lot of interest there and we’re on the way to nearly subscribing the academy [patrons’ programme], we start redeveloping Musgrave Park soon and the next one is the single training base at UL.
“The great thing at the moment is that rugby is the hot topic again and that’s a result of what the Irish team have been doing under Joe Schmidt. The provinces are successful and the Heineken Cup’s coming up and we’re getting back to full stadia, full hospitality and the signs are all good.”
Howlett has been planning for these times for quite a while but before he got on with the rest of his life he spent a re-energising summer with his family.
“My family and I, we packed the car up and drove around France for a couple of months. That was part of being in Europe for us, to see the place. So we caught the ferry over, took the kids and went from camping to mobile homes to hotels to chateaux, the whole works, and it was a wonderful experience and one that you rarely get the time to do when you’re playing because you always have to be back. So that, as a family, was just a super time.
“I guess [retirement’s] always in your mind, once you get up over 30. I retired at 35, so those last five years in particular, you’re always thinking about what’s next. Ask most rugby players and it’s something they do think about and having made the transition I would certainly tell contemporaries of mine there’s nothing to fear.
“Having been through the life that we’ve had for so long there’s a lot of crossover into the business world.
“Through that time in France I knew I would be coming back to do something and through OCI, John [O’Connor] was always offering some great advice along the way. I dipped my toe prior to the time and I did understand what the business was about and was interested to learn more. So that was something I was interested in pursuing.”
Howlett is content to have served his time on the pitch and is happy to leave others to play the game he loves. “You miss running out at Thomond Park, those sort of things. You miss celebrating with your mates, the camaraderie. You know, I was at it for so long but I can go to a game and really cheer the lads on and I don’t wish I was there. I just hope that they do well. I had my time and now it’s somebody else’s. I know what the journey is like and I just want somebody to have the same journey, just a super ride.
“It’s early yet but no, I don’t miss it.”
Even the prospect of facing Toulouse this afternoon does not stir the player in Howlett, six years on from beating them in the 2008 Heineken Cup final.
“That was one of the highlights of my career, winning the Heineken Cup against Toulouse, and there are always going to be those moments but, at the same time, I don’t wish I was playing. I think I am removed enough to understand that. I had my turn and it’s somebody else’s go now.
“I was almost softened having been through it once before having left New Zealand. You go through that, ‘I’m not going to be an All Black again, I’m not going to play for the Blues again’.
“This was, ‘I’m not going to play for Munster again’, so I guess I was a little bit prepared.
“As a sportsman you’d be blind if you didn’t understand it was going to come to an end. Once you get to 30 you’re looking at other things. You give so much to it, you care about it a lot and it’s hard walking away but I had a few other things to go into and I think that’s important for any retiring player.
“Sometimes you don’t get to choose your exit. Sometimes it’s made for you, through injury or selection, and it’s not easy. I think my outlook on life changed when I began to have children. Prior to that, rugby certainly was my life but as I got older and especially coming away from home as a family, you become responsible for a lot more than yourself and that gave me perspective in terms of rugby.
“So I’ve gone on from player to something else. You’ll always be an ex-player but whether it’s Munster commercial ambassador or working with OCI, you’re title changes but you always look back and that was a great time.”
Doug Howlett says rugby will always be a part of his life but that does not mean he is ready to move into coaching in a new-look Munster backroom.
The All Blacks’ leading all-time try scorer, who retired last summer after six seasons on the wing with Munster, has been linked with a role in Anthony Foley’s coaching team when the current forwards coach succeeds Rob Penney as head coach this summer.
Yet while 35-year-old Howlett is interested in coaching, he would prefer to stick to his new life in business, including his role as Munster’s corporate ambassador, for the time being at least.
“No, the timing’s not right for me. Having started this role, I’m someone who likes to see things through. I came into what was a new role and we’ve started momentum with it and we’re building and I’d like to see that through. I’m at all the Munster matches anyway, watching, offering advice, but the timing’s not right.”
Howlett believes Munster have progressed in the two seasons since Penney took over and have a bright future ahead of them under Foley.
“The results speak for themselves and that’s what it comes down to. I was glad I was part of the first year of the progression and we’re starting to see some of the fruits now. With some of the talent that’s been uncovered — Tommy O’Donnell, James Cronin, Dave Foley, JJ Hanrahan, these guys — I’ve always known they’ve had the ability. So in that instance I do feel we’re travelling in the right direction.”
For now, though, he has happy to watch Munster’s on-field development rather than help to guide it.
“I was 17 years as a pro so rugby is part of me and I’m always thinking tactically about a game when I watch it. I often talk to coaches and try and understand ideas so it’s certainly something that is a part of me. I guess I’ve been so long in the game I wanted to explore other things, step back and explore the business of rugby, initially, but also some of the stuff I’m doing with (Irish investment company) OCI. That in itself gives you a little bit of perspective, it has for me anyway. I’m not ruling it out at all, it’s a great game but at the moment I concentrate my energies on my six-year-old son.”
Six-year-old Charles Howlett, playing club mini-rugby in Cork, is giving Howlett all the rugby satisfaction he needs at this point in his life.
“He’s starting to get it. You strip it all back, that’s what the game’s about, out on a Saturday morning with your mates and it brings a smile to everybody there.”
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