RUGBY LEAGUE is a business as well as a sport, as James Meadows knows well.
The London halfback is combining a Super League campaign on the field with studying for a degree in business and economics at the London School of Economics.
He began the course four years ago and hopes to finish this year.
“I worked pretty hard at school and got some decent results out of it. I didn’t want to just leave it there, I knew I could study something else,” said Meadows, 24.
“Being a Rugby League player, you train hard and it’s very all-consuming, but you can only spend so long on the pitch. You do have a lot of down time.
“Combining it with my rugby now is pretty good. There are times when it’s tough; sometimes you’ve worked hard in training and the last thing you want to do when you go home is open a textbook. But it gives you something else to think about.
“I love sport, it’s my passion, so everything I do in my degree, I try and relate back to sport, particularly Rugby League. Everything is connected, there is a lot of economics in Rugby League, and business and marketing.”
While that’s a potential future career path, for now his role with the Broncos is as their number seven following a return from Batley to the club he developed at.
“It’s what we dreamed of coming through the Academy,” he said of their Super League return.
“I think that serves the club really well, having a core of lads who know what it means to play for the club, who love the club.
“It’s such a unique circumstance in Rugby League, being so far away from all the other teams. In some ways we’re isolated, and that creates really strong bonds.”
