In amongst the darkness, a bit of light!Tigerbeat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:46 pm Home for Christmas....great news!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union ... PZVUw0uU04
Surely this should of been on the Tigers Website first though?
Taylor Gough
Moderators: Tigerbeat, Rizzo, Tigers Press Office, Tigers Webmaster
-
Wayne Richardson Fan Club
- Super User
- Posts: 3867
- Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:53 am
- Location: The Salt Mines
Re: Taylor Gough
Surely this should of been on the Tigers Website first though?
To win is not as important as playing with style!
-
kk20gb30
- Super User
- Posts: 2893
- Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2017 1:01 pm
- Location: Over The Hills & Far Away
Re: Taylor Gough
Glad to hear.Best wishes....
Seemingly heading rapidly toward senility .....Not long or far to go now , in fact, getting worse daily.....
-
TigerFeetSteve
- Super User
- Posts: 7521
- Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 6:23 am
Re: Taylor Gough
Just seen on the club's Twitter that it's Taylor's birthday.
Happy birthday to him! Hope he has a good one.
He's a Tiger now & forever!
Happy birthday to him! Hope he has a good one.
He's a Tiger now & forever!
Used to run around with an 11, 14 or 15 on my back.
Re: Taylor Gough
Yes, happy birthday Taylor, you are an inspiration to us all!
Formerly of Burbaaage (not Inkleh), now up north at uni
-
kk20gb30
- Super User
- Posts: 2893
- Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2017 1:01 pm
- Location: Over The Hills & Far Away
Re: Taylor Gough
Best Wishes.
Seemingly heading rapidly toward senility .....Not long or far to go now , in fact, getting worse daily.....
-
tigerburnie
- Super User
- Posts: 8343
- Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:46 pm
- Location: Scotland
Re: Taylor Gough
Best wishes
"If you want entertainment, go to the theatre," says Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill. "Rugby players play the game to win.15/1/21.
Re: Taylor Gough
Best wishes!
"Rugby isn't a contact sport,ballroom dancing is a contact sport. Rugby is a collision sport" Heyneke Meyer
Re: Taylor Gough
Happy Birthday Taylor, I have read about your attitude and approach to your injury and it’s absolutely inspirational. Have a great day young man and I hope your rehabilitation continues to improve every day. Keep looking forward because you will always be a Tiger!
-
Tigers86asw
- Gold Member
- Posts: 891
- Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2020 6:46 pm
Re: Taylor Gough
Extract from Telegraph on Droglites walk for Taylor Gough. Behind paywall.
There is nothing outlandish about a group of ex-rugby players with big bellies and bigger hearts rekindling friendships while trudging up a modest Yorkshire hill. But when the cohort consists solely of former Leicester Tigers – with England’s World Cup-winning captain, Martin Johnson, among them – raising money for one of their own, that offers a unique, familial slant.
The one of their own is Taylor Gough, the former Leicester starlet who was paralysed from the waist down after a car crash last year; the promising back-row forward has not walked since his accident. And this yomp up Nab Hill, west of Bradford, organised by Leicester’s past players’ association, the ‘Droglites’ – an anagram of ‘Old Tigers’ – was in his honour. The branded kit was embroidered with the maxim: ‘Doin’ a bit for Taylor’.
The aim of the ‘bit’, of course, was to add some much-appreciated pennies to Gough’s JustGiving page which is within a generous donation or two of hitting £50,000. But it became evident from the outset, from the moment that the group – featuring two more former England captains in Neil Back and Dusty Hare – assembled at the rally point, the phenomenally generous farm shop, Robertshaws, that there were far deeper forces at play than the crudeness of cash.
These men, some of whom had not reconnected in years, gathered for the love of a club and a game to which they had given, and from which they had been given, so much. Among the group of 50 and 60-year-olds, some had made 50 appearances for Leicester and some had made more than triple that, some were internationals and some were Lions – but that was irrelevant. On Wednesday, all were equal and committed to the common cause: Tigers.
“It's great to do our bit for Taylor,” Johnson tells Telegraph Sport. “But it's also just great to catch up. It's always the same, it's always so tough because everyone has their lives and it never happens until someone organises it. But when it happens we all say: ‘Wow, we should do this a bit more often.'
“They're all getting a bit older and their bodies took a pounding doing what they did. But no one moaned and said they wished they hadn't done it. We will all pay a bit of a price for what we did but we wouldn't change anything - because we loved it.”
Rugby’s mythical values are often maligned but it was comforting, for one, wind-battered morning, to be able to forget the infantile pettiness that has plagued the sport’s modern landscape – the in-fighting, the hypocrisies, the financial sordidness, the player-release quibbles – and to recall the reasons for falling in love with the game in the first place. Those of camaraderie and kinship, of honour and pride, of unity and coming together as one.
Piggy-backed on those principles, the walk began. And, as with any rugby fitness session, an immediate hierarchy was established: the former back-three players, Hare, with former wings Barry Evans and Steve Burnhill, naturally gravitated to the front while the forwards brought up the rear, requiring a bit more puff to reach the peak – but they managed it. When former prop Wayne Richardson was asked if he was enjoying himself, “Honest answer?” came the sardonic reply before the half-time beers were cracked.
‘Courage, honour and looking after your mates’: An afternoon with Martin Johnson shows real rugby values never die
Some of Leicester's 'Droglites' have come together to support Taylor Gough and help fundraise Credit: CHARLOTTE GRAHAM
As the ramble progressed, it became clear just how dearly Johnson still holds this club and his former team-mates in his heart. Johnson was the youngest of an ensemble – evidenced in him encouraging a shirtless picture at the peak – who all remember him coming through at Leicester. He once looked up to these elder statesmen, watching them on the Welford Road terrace as a boy, and upon the suggestion that they venerate him, he is bashful.
“I don't think I am revered among those guys,” Johnson says. “I am still a young whipper-snapper to them. They were thinking: 'Here's this lanky youth who once turned up at youth-team training'.
The beauty of the bond between these past players, however, of the depth of respect, was that Johnson, the Leicester Lionheart, the most magnificent player that the city has produced, reciprocated that reverence, too. Like Gough, Johnson is and always will be a Leicester lad. “There is no grander thing than the Tigers,” Johnson adds.
There was a non-Tiger in attendance, but with good reason. Harvey Witzer, a friend of former scrum-half Darren Grewcock, is an Essex rugby stalwart who was blindsided by a brain-tumour diagnosis at the end of 2020. “It could be six months or six years – no one knows,” Witzer says. He has no international nor top-level caps, but his Tiger courage in conquering this hill was so impressive that some participants were not even aware of the seriousness of his condition until after the event, which has also yielded some wholesome donations to his fundraising page, alongside Gough’s.
Gough might never be able to walk again but the importance of events like these for his rehabilitation, which takes place at the Matt Hampson Foundation’s Get Busy Living centre, is vital. Last year, if the 21-year-old had a spare 30 minutes, he would not have been able to sit on the sofa; the time it took to manoeuvre in and out of his wheelchair meant that it was not worth the hassle. Now, it takes him five minutes. The crash saw Gough lose 22 kilograms, too, but he is now back to a healthy 95kgs. For him, the support has been overwhelming.
“It's massive,” he says. “These guys are all legends. For them to do this for me is absolutely amazing.
“The Matt Hampson Foundation has helped me so much. But it's not just me, it’s every wheelchair user who has improved their quality of life there. The motto is 'Get Busy Living' - these things have happened and you either get on with it or you mope around for the rest of your life.”
Within rugby’s vast ocean, beneath the battleships’ surface politicking, a vibrant pool of goodness does exist. The Droglites got busy living and did their bit for Taylor, but they did their bit for rugby, too.
There is nothing outlandish about a group of ex-rugby players with big bellies and bigger hearts rekindling friendships while trudging up a modest Yorkshire hill. But when the cohort consists solely of former Leicester Tigers – with England’s World Cup-winning captain, Martin Johnson, among them – raising money for one of their own, that offers a unique, familial slant.
The one of their own is Taylor Gough, the former Leicester starlet who was paralysed from the waist down after a car crash last year; the promising back-row forward has not walked since his accident. And this yomp up Nab Hill, west of Bradford, organised by Leicester’s past players’ association, the ‘Droglites’ – an anagram of ‘Old Tigers’ – was in his honour. The branded kit was embroidered with the maxim: ‘Doin’ a bit for Taylor’.
The aim of the ‘bit’, of course, was to add some much-appreciated pennies to Gough’s JustGiving page which is within a generous donation or two of hitting £50,000. But it became evident from the outset, from the moment that the group – featuring two more former England captains in Neil Back and Dusty Hare – assembled at the rally point, the phenomenally generous farm shop, Robertshaws, that there were far deeper forces at play than the crudeness of cash.
These men, some of whom had not reconnected in years, gathered for the love of a club and a game to which they had given, and from which they had been given, so much. Among the group of 50 and 60-year-olds, some had made 50 appearances for Leicester and some had made more than triple that, some were internationals and some were Lions – but that was irrelevant. On Wednesday, all were equal and committed to the common cause: Tigers.
“It's great to do our bit for Taylor,” Johnson tells Telegraph Sport. “But it's also just great to catch up. It's always the same, it's always so tough because everyone has their lives and it never happens until someone organises it. But when it happens we all say: ‘Wow, we should do this a bit more often.'
“They're all getting a bit older and their bodies took a pounding doing what they did. But no one moaned and said they wished they hadn't done it. We will all pay a bit of a price for what we did but we wouldn't change anything - because we loved it.”
Rugby’s mythical values are often maligned but it was comforting, for one, wind-battered morning, to be able to forget the infantile pettiness that has plagued the sport’s modern landscape – the in-fighting, the hypocrisies, the financial sordidness, the player-release quibbles – and to recall the reasons for falling in love with the game in the first place. Those of camaraderie and kinship, of honour and pride, of unity and coming together as one.
Piggy-backed on those principles, the walk began. And, as with any rugby fitness session, an immediate hierarchy was established: the former back-three players, Hare, with former wings Barry Evans and Steve Burnhill, naturally gravitated to the front while the forwards brought up the rear, requiring a bit more puff to reach the peak – but they managed it. When former prop Wayne Richardson was asked if he was enjoying himself, “Honest answer?” came the sardonic reply before the half-time beers were cracked.
‘Courage, honour and looking after your mates’: An afternoon with Martin Johnson shows real rugby values never die
Some of Leicester's 'Droglites' have come together to support Taylor Gough and help fundraise Credit: CHARLOTTE GRAHAM
As the ramble progressed, it became clear just how dearly Johnson still holds this club and his former team-mates in his heart. Johnson was the youngest of an ensemble – evidenced in him encouraging a shirtless picture at the peak – who all remember him coming through at Leicester. He once looked up to these elder statesmen, watching them on the Welford Road terrace as a boy, and upon the suggestion that they venerate him, he is bashful.
“I don't think I am revered among those guys,” Johnson says. “I am still a young whipper-snapper to them. They were thinking: 'Here's this lanky youth who once turned up at youth-team training'.
The beauty of the bond between these past players, however, of the depth of respect, was that Johnson, the Leicester Lionheart, the most magnificent player that the city has produced, reciprocated that reverence, too. Like Gough, Johnson is and always will be a Leicester lad. “There is no grander thing than the Tigers,” Johnson adds.
There was a non-Tiger in attendance, but with good reason. Harvey Witzer, a friend of former scrum-half Darren Grewcock, is an Essex rugby stalwart who was blindsided by a brain-tumour diagnosis at the end of 2020. “It could be six months or six years – no one knows,” Witzer says. He has no international nor top-level caps, but his Tiger courage in conquering this hill was so impressive that some participants were not even aware of the seriousness of his condition until after the event, which has also yielded some wholesome donations to his fundraising page, alongside Gough’s.
Gough might never be able to walk again but the importance of events like these for his rehabilitation, which takes place at the Matt Hampson Foundation’s Get Busy Living centre, is vital. Last year, if the 21-year-old had a spare 30 minutes, he would not have been able to sit on the sofa; the time it took to manoeuvre in and out of his wheelchair meant that it was not worth the hassle. Now, it takes him five minutes. The crash saw Gough lose 22 kilograms, too, but he is now back to a healthy 95kgs. For him, the support has been overwhelming.
“It's massive,” he says. “These guys are all legends. For them to do this for me is absolutely amazing.
“The Matt Hampson Foundation has helped me so much. But it's not just me, it’s every wheelchair user who has improved their quality of life there. The motto is 'Get Busy Living' - these things have happened and you either get on with it or you mope around for the rest of your life.”
Within rugby’s vast ocean, beneath the battleships’ surface politicking, a vibrant pool of goodness does exist. The Droglites got busy living and did their bit for Taylor, but they did their bit for rugby, too.
-
MurphysLaw
- Gold Member
- Posts: 1945
- Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 2:14 pm
- Location: Oundle
Re: Taylor Gough
Thanks for posting this Tigers86asw. That is a great, and emotional, read!
-
TigerFeetSteve
- Super User
- Posts: 7521
- Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 6:23 am
Re: Taylor Gough
That is amazing! Everything that Tigers stands for 
Re: Taylor Gough
Thanks for sharing, a really heartwarming read.
Formerly of Burbaaage (not Inkleh), now up north at uni
-
kk20gb30
- Super User
- Posts: 2893
- Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2017 1:01 pm
- Location: Over The Hills & Far Away
Re: Taylor Gough
'Droglites ' post a truly touching read.....
Best wishes Taylor G .
Best wishes Taylor G .
Seemingly heading rapidly toward senility .....Not long or far to go now , in fact, getting worse daily.....
-
kk20gb30
- Super User
- Posts: 2893
- Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2017 1:01 pm
- Location: Over The Hills & Far Away
Re: Taylor Gough
I have not come across this article before , I'm sure many would want to take a look......
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news ... ct-5671239
Best wishes Taylor.
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news ... ct-5671239
Best wishes Taylor.
Seemingly heading rapidly toward senility .....Not long or far to go now , in fact, getting worse daily.....