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Countless lengths of the swimming pool, seven days a week, left Niamh Swales wanting a change of sport and purpose.
Swailes, who was 12 at the time, swam at regional level individually but needed something different as she grew older.
“I was a very angry teenager,” she explains.
That is why her father – former Premier League footballer Chris Swailes – could not lure her into playing football like her brother, who is part of Newcastle United’s Under-19 squad.
She needed something “really aggressive”.
“I decided to get into kick-boxing and rugby,” the 19-year-old Sale Sharks hooker told BBC Sport.
“I swam to regional, county level individually and then teams with the nationals. I always did better at team relays than individual because of the team aspect. Hence why I ended up pursuing rugby.”
With her first touch of a rugby ball, Swailes ran half the pitch to score for her local under-13s side. There was no going back.
She was soon spotted by Lancashire county, before joining the England Rugby Centre of Excellence. However, a move from flanker to hooker was required to reach the elite level of the game.
The former England Under-18 North Women’s captain is now in her second year with England Under-20s, and made her debut for the Sharks against Bristol Bears last season.
She says her dad did “not have a clue” about rugby, but the former Ipswich defender got stuck in as a makeshift second row so they could do line-out practice at the park.
And he now shares his daughter’s passion for the game, though still prefers football.
“My dad was a footballer, so he would be kicking it high into the air and I would try and catch it,” says Niamh.
“It was a lot of drop balls. I would do passing techniques and ask my dad for some help when he has not a clue.
“At that time it was still Covid-19 as well, so we would send over videos in our England rugby group chat and ask for advice.
“When I look back on the videos now, it is awful quality but it has got me where I am.”
Swailes Sr may not offer advice on tackle height or scrummaging, but his daughter says his insight on mentality in top-level sport has been invaluable.
“Having a parent in sport helps anyway even if it is not in your sport,” she says. “I hear of people having rugby dads and they give them pressure and all this advice.
“My dad gave a good perspective on sport in general. So there was no pressure and he did not understand what I was doing on the pitch anyway. It was nice to be able to just play it and enjoy it.
“His main advice was: ‘Get stuck in.’ It was more helpful than anything.”
Lack of northern clubs upsets Swailes
Sale Sharks are the only northern side in the Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR), and in August Durham-based DMP Sharks withdrew from the Women’s Championship 1 North because of a lack of available players.
Swailes, who grew up in Chester-le-Street, played for DMP at 17 and 18, and the lack of high-level opportunities in the area disappoints her.
“Participation in the north can be improved but there has been an increase,” she says.
“When I played rugby at the grassroots level, it was girls coming from an hour and a half to two hours away to come play for us as we were the only team who had a good standard and more than a few people at the club.
“The north isn’t just Manchester and there are a whole load of girls now who don’t have an aspiration. If they want to play rugby where do they go?
“If people want to go and play high-level rugby they have to drive three and a half hours to Sale. It is frustrating and a shame and it does upset me.”
By Alastair Telfer
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