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Harry Ellis Forced to retire

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Agreed there alot of injury related retirements in 1 go but I was never a fan of Ellis but did respect him as he was a gutsy character and wish him well
 
Harry Ellis Quits

Leicester and England scrum-half Harry Ellis has been forced to retire at the age of 28 because of a succession of knee problems.
He had a reconstruction of his left knee in 2007 before suffering a second injury in the same area last season.
"All last season I was taking a hell of a lot of painkillers and I was constantly having blood and fluid drained from my knee," said Ellis.
"I have had so many operations on my knee I knew it was time to retire."
England manager Martin Johnson, a team-mate of Ellis with Leicester and England, said: "Harry has been an excellent player who always gave everything for Leicester Tigers and England.
"From the first time he was involved it was obvious to everyone in the Tigers squad that he was a special talent and that he'd make a big impact.
"I'm sure that if he'd been fit Harry would have continued to make a huge contribution to his club and country for many years to come. On behalf of the England squad I'd like to wish Harry all the best for the future."
Ellis, a product of the Tigers academy, consulted highly-respected orthopaedic surgeon Andy Williams before making his decision.
"I was gutted and really upset when I found out and it took a while to get used to," Ellis, who won 27 international caps, told the Leicester Mercury.
"It took a lot of soul-searching to decide to retire but when someone like Andy Williams says you should call it a day, you have to take his advice.

"It was a very hard decision to make, but it was also easy on the basis of what it had been doing to me.
"As well as my rugby, there was also my health to think about. The amount of painkillers I was taking every day was causing my stomach real problems."
Ellis was sidelined for 10 months after rupturing anterior cruciate ligaments in 2007 and made just 24 of his 173 Leicester appearances in the three years since.
Ellis was capped on last year's Lions tour to South Africa but his progress was halted by another injury to the same knee last season.
"After the knee reconstruction, it was always hard to get back to the levels of fitness that I wanted to be at. But then there was a new injury," he said.
"I have a history of problems with that knee and it got almost impossible to play on. I was battling through the pain barrier all the time. It was even affecting me when I wasn't playing.
"I physically could not do it any more because the demands of the game are so great."
Ellis made his first-team debut for the Tigers in 2001 and his England debut against South Africa in 2004 at the age of 22.
He suffered his injury in May 2007, playing against Bristol in a Guinness Premiership semi-final play-off, which led to him missing the Premiership and Heineken Cup finals and the World Cup later that year.
He scored five tries for England and his last appearance was in the 26-12 win over Scotland at Twickenham in March 2009.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/leicester/8800108.stm

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Normally I'm quite respectful when a players career is over, but as I hated the arrogant thug so much...


:bana::bana::bana::bana::bana::bana::bana::bana::bana::bana::bana::bana::bana::bana::bana::banana-doob:
 
Shame really. He was a good player. Saracens had a similar situation recently with one of their back rowers, so I do feel for him.
 
Not totally unexpected, but still a shame. May leave Tigers a bit short if anything happens to Grindal, but Sam Harrison can't be too bad if he was at the JWC.
 
Ye, just heard about this, more sad news, especially just after the news that Michael Owen has retired. Ellis was a good player in my opinion
 
It's an awful shame that he has to retire so young.

While I don't particularly rate him as a player, I'm not going to revel in the fact that he's essentially lost his job. Rugby doesn't pay nearly enough for Ellis to lead a comfortable existence- I hope he has some sort of qualifications which will help him outside the game.
 
I wonder if we are seeing the end result of 14 years of professional rugby where the physical demands on the players has taken them beyond their capacity to cope. Not only have we seen this raft of retirements, but the England injury list reads like an A&E casualty schedule on a busy Saturday night.

The NH club season runs for 8½ to 10 months (depending on the country) and consists of anywhere from 30 to 40 matches (and then Tests on top of that). Yes they get rest time, but I don't think its long enough for them to recover from the rigors of playing week-in week-out for 40 weeks.

I wonder when the penny is going to drop that there is too much club rugby being played.
 
smartcooky said:
I wonder if we are seeing the end result of 14 years of professional rugby where the physical demands on the players has taken them beyond their capacity to cope. Not only have we seen this raft of retirements, but the England injury list reads like an A&E casualty schedule on a busy Saturday night.
Click to expand...

Nah, in Ellis' case it's Karma coming back to bite him. The amount of knee-breakers he's attempted over the years finally come back to get him in a beautifully ironic twist.

Players who tend to condition themselves properly don't suffer nearly as many injuries as those who don't. Half the problem is "professional" players have the conditioning of amateurs.
 
smartcooky said:
I wonder when the penny is going to drop that there is too much club rugby being played.
Click to expand...
I completely agree. If a team is to win the Premiership and Heineken Cup in the same season, a player who plays every game would take the field in 33 games. Add to that 10 possible internationals and a couple of LV= Cup games and it's possible to play around 45 games in a season. That's 15 too many and will result in more injuries due to fatigue. Not only will it lead to fatigue and injuries but a lot of the games that are played are of a relatively low intensity which doesn't prepare players for games in the Southern Hemisphere. The end result is depleted squads getting 40 point thrashings in NZ and SA (but not Oz 'cos they're ****).

The European season needs a radical overhaul. I'm keen on an expanded Heineken Cup with no domestic leagues bringing a maximum of 24 or 25 games per club including playoffs. Less pointless games, more fixtures of a higher intensity, bigger crowds, probably fewer injuries, less squad rotation to combat fatigue and thus smaller squads (helping clubs wage bills) = better preparation for games versus Southern Hemisphere opposition, content fans and sponsors and a TV ratings winner. It's a no brainer.
 
24 games per season, so only a maximum of 12 home fixtures a year.... At £200-300 for a season ticket, nobody is going to pay that for 12 games. Therefore attendances will go, the money will dry up and LESS will be available for wages (remembering most cannot afford it as things already are), Players will go off to use their educations or play league and the quality of the sport will actually decrease.

Idea fail.
 
Bullitt said:
24 games per season, so only a maximum of 12 home fixtures a year.... At £200-300 for a season ticket, nobody is going to pay that for 12 games. Therefore attendances will go, the money will dry up and LESS will be available for wages (remembering most cannot afford it as things already are), Players will go off to use their educations or play league and the quality of the sport will actually decrease.

Idea fail.
Click to expand...
Clubs get most of their revenue from TV and not from season ticket sales. More high octane fixtures each weekend makes TV happier. A happy Sky, ESPN, Canal+ and, eh, Eurosport means more money for clubs not less.

The IRFU, FFR and RFU entered preliminary talks with a TV network a couple of years ago about setting up a new competition to usurp the Heineken Cup (the company was believed to be Setanta who at the time were agressively trying to expand in the TV sports market). The reason? A European league is more profitable. Mark Evans, CEO of Harlequins who has turned their finances around wants fewer games in an elite European league since it'll boost crowds (more games moved to bigger stadia) and TV revenue. The much maligned former CEO of the WRU David Moffett who turned them from a massive loss making Union into a very profitable one wants a system akin to that of the NFL since it will, guess what, increase revenue.

All of this info is available on the internet- educate yourself by doing a quick google search and you'll discover this.
 
One the one hand I do think it's a shame that a players has to retire early.

On the flipside I agree with Bullitt. Ellis was a toerag and I'm glad I won't see his face on a pro rugby field.
 
While, it's always sad to see someone retire, I can't say I'll miss him except when Tigers/England are playing Welsh sides. Arrogant off the pitch and so horribly slow on it, he always sat on my 'Players I'm not really a fan of' list.
 

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