“It’s different from a rugby environment, definitely. It’s one of my first proper jobs in a while.”
The second half of 2019 was tough going for Leah Lyons but things were looking up in 2020.
The Ireland international had overcome shoulder and hamstring injuries and was back with Harlequins Women in London for her second season. She missed the start of the Six Nations championship but had returned for the away date with England and was raring to go for the Italy and France.
Lyons was coaching the senior women’s team at Surrey University, too, and was looking forward to the Varsity Series and the final few league games of the season. The Covid-19 pandemic took a little longer to impact every-day life in the UK but when it did, just about everyone on the island, and in Norther Ireland, has been affected.
Lyons was placed on furlough by Surrey University and had to scramble to find alternative employment in order to pay her bills and the rent in the Guildford house she shares with three friends.
In early April, after two weeks of searching for work and filling out job applications, the Cork native got a job in the Click & Collect department of her local Tesco supermarket. While Ireland’s male professionals have agreed to pay deferrals between 10 and 50% (dependant on earnings), the country’s female amateurs are in an entirely different boat.
“The coaching job finished up then because we were put on furlough,” Lyons tells us, “just because they couldn’t have anyone in and the college was shut… So we didn’t get to finish the season with the girls, unfortunately, and we were in a good place. But, look, next year that’ll be something we’ll look at again. I suppose, with that too, having to find a job after that was the next thing to look forward to.”
With the Tyrrell’s Premier 15s on pause, too, there were no upcoming games for Harlequins. In effect, the 25-year-old had to switch her focus from the Surrey coaching job and Harlequins to the Guildford branch of Tesco.
“There’s a few other people working with me that have been put on furlough or they’ve been axed from their job,” says Lyons.
“It just depends which one it is. They’re all coming in and, basically, trying to make money for themselves and make a living at the moment.
“I’m starting at 6 o’clock in the morning. 6am until 12 at the moment. It varies from time to time.
“I’m working in the Click & Collect area. So, it could be going out in the morning, early, doing some picking. Picking the food that goes out for the people at Click & Collect.”
Having previously worked as a chef and in a West Cork bar, Lyons is not averse to a hard day/night’s work but it has been a while. During her day, Lyons will also do a couple of hours at the pick-up section, outside the store, where customers come to collect the shopping they have ordered online.
The 24-times capped Ireland international recalled a moment, recently, when a customer went out of his way to let her know how much he appreciated the work she was doing.
“I was working with one other lad that was with me. We were just giving him his shopping; it’s what we do every day. He said, ‘I’ve left a little tip inside there. Thank you very much for what you’re doing. A lot of people would be in a very different situation if this wasn’t here’.
“For us, it was kind of a ‘thank you’, that kind of way. I suppose you don’t really get that in many places. Everybody does say thank you, though, and a lot of people do appreciate what people are doing around the area. It’s just one of those things but, yeah, it was a nice little gesture to get at the end of it.”
Started working last week in tescos, something that put a smile on my face, a man after collecting his shopping from us, told us he left a tip in a basket he took his shopping from for my co worker and I. Little things are sometimes a lot #workingtogether #greatful pic.twitter.com/g5IgPRnGvN
— Leah Lyons (@LEAH__LYONZ) April 9, 2020
Lyons made the move from Munster to Harlequins to give her rugby career a push and try to get into the sport full-time. She was on the right road until Covid-19 bumped her in a different direction, but she has been pretty quick to set herself new goals.
The aim is to get a full-time job at Tesco for the next while and get a weekly schedule she can work around. Rugby may be gone for now but it won’t be gone forever.
For the coming weeks she has a new routine to focus on. 6-12 at Tesco then home for a spot of training – she is dreading and enjoying the weekly ‘Zoom Challenge’ being set by IRFU Athletic Performance Coach Orlaigh Curran – and catching up with her housemates and TV shows after that.
“It’s just a matter of going from day to day,” says Lyons, “trying to stay positive and checking in on people to make sure everything is okay.”
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