Chatham’s Chad Nolan heads to Ireland for rugby
Chatham’s Chad Nolan is the epitome of the old saying, “It’s never too late.”
Nolan first stepped on a rugby pitch at age 27.
Nearly 22 years later, he’s headed to Ireland to compete in the very physical sport.
Nolan is now a forward for the Canada Grizzlies masters rugby league team, rucking and mauling at the international level.
At age 48.
“I’ve been playing about 22 years. I’m a grunt work guy, a power player,” he told The Chatham Voice recently. “This is a trip of a lifetime.”
It’s also a trip his doctors probably prefer he didn’t make.
“After so many injuries, doctors said I was done with rugby. I laughed. They said my only goal should be walking without a limp,” he said. “But I know what I’m capable of in my mind.”
That determination is what has Nolan playing, and competing, at a high level, even as his half-century mark looms two years into his future.
“I was never a good athlete. I had to work twice as hard to get twice as good,” he said.
Nolan was introduced to the sport, and the Kent Havoc Rugby Club, more than two decades ago. He quickly fell in love with the game.
From there, Nolan went on to play for London and then Niagara. He never let age slow him down.
These days, he plays for the Brantford Broncos and the Ontario Greybeards when not suiting up for the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies field a masters team, with the age threshold set at 35, something Nolan passed 13 years ago. But he’s not the oldest man in the team.
“We’ve got players who are in their mid-to-late 60s,” Nolan said. “The masters, what we’re doing now, is all about promoting the game. You only grow old when you stop playing.”
Rolling substitutions, something not allowed in rugby union play, is allowed at the masters league level.
Nolan leaves this week for Ireland and will spend two weeks in the British Iles. The Grizzlies are there for 11 days, but Nolan and a few of the other players are slipping over to Scotland for a few days as well.
