My Life in Rugby: Dave Baldwin – former Sale lock

Despite being a proud Yorkshireman most of my playing days were spent on the other side of the Pennines, with Sale. John Bentley cajoled me into it under the promise of a lift. But after the second journey he told me he’d signed for Leeds RL and that I’d have to make my own way there.
There were a lot of Yorkshiremen at Sale when I joined in 1988 – people like my county team-mate and good friend Martin Whitcombe.
Club rugby in England was getting stronger at the time and Sale were the focal point for a lot of the talent in the North. For me, the turning point was when Paul Turner joined. I liken him to Danny Cipriani: a maverick who could do things that no other player could do.
We won the Second Division title in 1993/94 and then finished fourth in our first season in Courage League Division 1. In 1997, we reached the final of the Pilkington Cup, losing 9-3 to Leicester. Brian Campsall refereed it, so there was no rugby played whatsoever. I was named man-of-the-match which shows you how dire the game was.
Professionalism had arrived and while players like Charlie Vyvyan continued to combine work with rugby for a couple of years, I opted to go full-time straight away, earning twice what I was on in the printing trade. But money wasn’t the main motivator for me, it was the chance to better myself as a rugby player.
I had England ambitions and came very close to fulfilling that goal when picked to tour Argentina in 1997. Jack Rowell only took four locks and when Nigel Redman was called up for the Lions, I thought I’d get a chance in the second Test. However, disappointingly for me, Jack opted to go for a largely unknown player by the name of Danny Grewcock. He obviously went on to have a great career.
Playing for the North against the All Blacks at Anfield was a special occasion. Thanks to the boot of Paul Grayson we ran them close, and I played quite well until picking up a knee ligament injury which saw me replaced at half-time. As a Leeds United fan, I would have loved to have played the touring Springboks at Elland Road, too, but that one passed me by.
At 36 I decided to hang up my boots. I’d had 13 thoroughly enjoyable years at Sale and had the honour of playing in the club’s first Premiership match, against Saracens. Wasps was my last game. I think they helped make my decision for me, because they were playing such a fast-paced game and had taken rugby onto another level.
After a season as player-coach at Fylde I moved into coaching full-time with Manchester. It went well initially and I was asked to coach England Counties, which I did for six years, but then the RFU decided to cut National One from 16 clubs to 12 and that meant five teams instead of two, including us, would be relegated and receive virtually nothing in central funding.
It looked like professional rugby might be saved when the chairman got a call from an interested benefactor but he turned out to be a fantasist who’d probably had a few beers too many. Having told the players one minute that all might be okay I had to ring them again to tell them the bad news. That, and all the inter-club politics, did it for me and I went off to France to get away from the game for a year.
Preston Grasshoppers persuaded me to return to England and they were just what I needed: a really friendly and well-run club with no ideas above their station. From there, I joined my hometown club Leeds and spent four years coaching the forwards. During that time, we reached three play-off semi-finals and a B&I Cup final.