‘They say sports professionals die twice,” says Bernard Jackman. “It’s an old adage in sport – that an athlete’s first death is when they retire and the second is when they take their last breath. However, this former Irish international and Leinster rugby player is an exception to the rule.
After hanging up his boots in 2010, Bernard embraced life after rugby with the same determination that defined his playing days, and has built a career that is truly multifaceted. Since retiring from rugby, Bernard has worked as a consultant, coach, speaker, podcaster, writer, and these days, he is an RTÉ rugby pundit. And cattle farming has been there thoughout.
Greeting Irish Country Living at his family farm in Lumcloon along the Carlow/Wicklow border, Bernard says he has found his work life as fulfilling as his playing career – but it is not the same for all sportspeople.
“Even though players are coached on the importance of preparing for life after rugby, and there are people there to help with that transition, the reality is some people still struggle,” says Bernard.
Life afterwards
“Some players are so focused on the rugby or the soccer or whatever, they don’t want to think about life afterwards. And then others do all the prep but they still wake up on a Monday morning and don’t know what to do without a schedule, a calendar. They don’t have a massage at ten o’clock or training in the afternoon.”
Bernard says there is now more support from the industry on how to prepare players for life off the pitch, which is just one of the ways that the game has changed since he played for Ireland.
One other positive Bernard reflects on is the conversation that has started about mental health and wellbeing among boys and men.
“To be honest [in my playing days], we never spoke about mental health in the dressing room. But some of my former teammates who now coach say stress and mental health struggles are very prevalent.
“And these are men and women who are probably doing what they’ve always dreamt of doing. They’re in an environment where they’re fit, they’re exercising. They’re with people the same age, similar interests. They’re getting to travel. When I hear that I think, what about the lads in a factory or failing exams who don’t have access to that support or expertise?”
This June, Bernard Jackman is the ambassador for Men’s Health Week 2025. \ Tom Clarke
Despite its role in bolstering camaraderie and unity, rugby also has a reputation for breeding laddish behaviour and unsavoury ‘locker room chat’.
Attempts have been made to tackle these problems but they are certainly not extinguished.
Successful businesses 'create a thing called psychological safety, where people are comfortable themselves, which wouldn’t have been the case in the past in my game'.
Earlier this year, a student at Methodist College Belfast, Gabriel McConkey, was awarded more than £52,760 (€61,836) in damages after being forced to strip naked and have his head shaved as part of a humiliating ‘hazing’ initiation on an overseas rugby trip in Portugal. Gabriel was 17 at the time and left school rugby because of the environment.
When asked about cases like these, Bernard replies: “It’s all horrific that it has to be high-profile like that, but it is hopefully educating people around how it’s not macho or cool to humiliate people.
“Humiliating people shouldn’t be part of initiation to make lads closer, it’s bananas, really. But unfortunately, for 30 years that was the way, and we have to keep pushing back on these things.”
Interested in what it takes to build a high-performance culture in corporations as well as sports teams, Bernard says that successful businesses “create a thing called psychological safety, where people are comfortable themselves, which wouldn’t have been the case in the past in my game.”
“In the dressing rooms, often the old macho guys used to be the leaders, and anyone who was a little bit more left field in terms of what they were into, in terms of maybe how aggressive they were, would have been dampened down. Now, it’s very much about how we all have to be who we are.”
Men’s health
This June, Bernard is the ambassador for Men’s Health Week, a campaign funded by the HSE that raises awareness of preventable health issues that affect men, including suicide and depression.
“Players now are constantly being educated about mental health and that it’s important that they share it. It’s way better than it was but there’s more to do. Campaigns like this potentially bring awareness, and it’s about not being afraid to speak about issues or how you’ve dealt with them.”
Another goal is to encourage men to be proactive about their health, particularly when it comes to early detection and treatment of illnesses, like prostate and testicular cancer.
“When you’re a professional player, every Monday morning, you just get in the habit of actually sitting down with a GP or going for a scan,” says Bernard.
“Now I’m self-employed, that’s not part of it. But it is about understanding the importance of getting anything you’re worried about checked out.”
This year’s theme for Men’s Health Week, ‘Shoulder To Shoulder’, resonated strongly with Bernard. It’s not just about men bonding on the pitch, they also spend a lot of downtime together too.
“You only train for so long, there is a lot of time together drinking coffee too,” he reflects.
“To be honest, farmers, they don’t have that. Some go to the local mart once a week and often they’re not going to buy or sell cattle. They’re going for the craic. It’s so important to them. It’s such an important social part, even going to the Ploughing Championships and things like that.”
Since returning from France and Wales where he was coaching different teams, Bernard has spent more time on the family farm. \ Tom Clarke
Bernard spent his childhood going to cattle marts with his dad and helping out on the farm. “I was very much into it and then I went to boarding school. My parents were afraid I wouldn’t study at home because there were so many distractions,” he jokes.
When he was playing, Bernard says he “would have kept an eye” on the farm, but “it’s only since I came back from France and Wales, where I was coaching, that I’ve actually started to do more.”
Now Bernard splits his time between Dublin and Carlow.
“I spend a lot more time at marts. Most of my work would be going to marts and trying to buy cattle for ourselves and clients of ours. I’m down in Tullow, Castleisland, Enniscorthy. I’m trying to make sure that we’re keeping our place stocked and our clients as well.”
“The upside of it [farming] is nature and livestock can be really good for your mental health. I guess it grounds me to spend time just walking around with the cattle in the field. I talk to them – most farmers do,” he adds.
Unlike playing rugby, farming is a career that does not exactly end with retirement.
“This will be my last career, farming,” says Bernard assuredly. “The punditry will end and this is the one I’ll finish doing.”
‘They say sports professionals die twice,” says Bernard Jackman. “It’s an old adage in sport – that an athlete’s first death is when they retire and the second is when they take their last breath. However, this former Irish international and Leinster rugby player is an exception to the rule.
After hanging up his boots in 2010, Bernard embraced life after rugby with the same determination that defined his playing days, and has built a career that is truly multifaceted. Since retiring from rugby, Bernard has worked as a consultant, coach, speaker, podcaster, writer, and these days, he is an RTÉ rugby pundit. And cattle farming has been there thoughout.
Greeting Irish Country Living at his family farm in Lumcloon along the Carlow/Wicklow border, Bernard says he has found his work life as fulfilling as his playing career – but it is not the same for all sportspeople.
“Even though players are coached on the importance of preparing for life after rugby, and there are people there to help with that transition, the reality is some people still struggle,” says Bernard.
Life afterwards
“Some players are so focused on the rugby or the soccer or whatever, they don’t want to think about life afterwards. And then others do all the prep but they still wake up on a Monday morning and don’t know what to do without a schedule, a calendar. They don’t have a massage at ten o’clock or training in the afternoon.”
Bernard says there is now more support from the industry on how to prepare players for life off the pitch, which is just one of the ways that the game has changed since he played for Ireland.
One other positive Bernard reflects on is the conversation that has started about mental health and wellbeing among boys and men.
“To be honest [in my playing days], we never spoke about mental health in the dressing room. But some of my former teammates who now coach say stress and mental health struggles are very prevalent.
“And these are men and women who are probably doing what they’ve always dreamt of doing. They’re in an environment where they’re fit, they’re exercising. They’re with people the same age, similar interests. They’re getting to travel. When I hear that I think, what about the lads in a factory or failing exams who don’t have access to that support or expertise?”
This June, Bernard Jackman is the ambassador for Men’s Health Week 2025. \ Tom Clarke
Despite its role in bolstering camaraderie and unity, rugby also has a reputation for breeding laddish behaviour and unsavoury ‘locker room chat’.
Attempts have been made to tackle these problems but they are certainly not extinguished.
Successful businesses 'create a thing called psychological safety, where people are comfortable themselves, which wouldn’t have been the case in the past in my game'.
Earlier this year, a student at Methodist College Belfast, Gabriel McConkey, was awarded more than £52,760 (€61,836) in damages after being forced to strip naked and have his head shaved as part of a humiliating ‘hazing’ initiation on an overseas rugby trip in Portugal. Gabriel was 17 at the time and left school rugby because of the environment.
When asked about cases like these, Bernard replies: “It’s all horrific that it has to be high-profile like that, but it is hopefully educating people around how it’s not macho or cool to humiliate people.
“Humiliating people shouldn’t be part of initiation to make lads closer, it’s bananas, really. But unfortunately, for 30 years that was the way, and we have to keep pushing back on these things.”
Interested in what it takes to build a high-performance culture in corporations as well as sports teams, Bernard says that successful businesses “create a thing called psychological safety, where people are comfortable themselves, which wouldn’t have been the case in the past in my game.”
“In the dressing rooms, often the old macho guys used to be the leaders, and anyone who was a little bit more left field in terms of what they were into, in terms of maybe how aggressive they were, would have been dampened down. Now, it’s very much about how we all have to be who we are.”
Men’s health
This June, Bernard is the ambassador for Men’s Health Week, a campaign funded by the HSE that raises awareness of preventable health issues that affect men, including suicide and depression.
“Players now are constantly being educated about mental health and that it’s important that they share it. It’s way better than it was but there’s more to do. Campaigns like this potentially bring awareness, and it’s about not being afraid to speak about issues or how you’ve dealt with them.”
Another goal is to encourage men to be proactive about their health, particularly when it comes to early detection and treatment of illnesses, like prostate and testicular cancer.
“When you’re a professional player, every Monday morning, you just get in the habit of actually sitting down with a GP or going for a scan,” says Bernard.
“Now I’m self-employed, that’s not part of it. But it is about understanding the importance of getting anything you’re worried about checked out.”
This year’s theme for Men’s Health Week, ‘Shoulder To Shoulder’, resonated strongly with Bernard. It’s not just about men bonding on the pitch, they also spend a lot of downtime together too.
“You only train for so long, there is a lot of time together drinking coffee too,” he reflects.
“To be honest, farmers, they don’t have that. Some go to the local mart once a week and often they’re not going to buy or sell cattle. They’re going for the craic. It’s so important to them. It’s such an important social part, even going to the Ploughing Championships and things like that.”
Since returning from France and Wales where he was coaching different teams, Bernard has spent more time on the family farm. \ Tom Clarke
Bernard spent his childhood going to cattle marts with his dad and helping out on the farm. “I was very much into it and then I went to boarding school. My parents were afraid I wouldn’t study at home because there were so many distractions,” he jokes.
When he was playing, Bernard says he “would have kept an eye” on the farm, but “it’s only since I came back from France and Wales, where I was coaching, that I’ve actually started to do more.”
Now Bernard splits his time between Dublin and Carlow.
“I spend a lot more time at marts. Most of my work would be going to marts and trying to buy cattle for ourselves and clients of ours. I’m down in Tullow, Castleisland, Enniscorthy. I’m trying to make sure that we’re keeping our place stocked and our clients as well.”
“The upside of it [farming] is nature and livestock can be really good for your mental health. I guess it grounds me to spend time just walking around with the cattle in the field. I talk to them – most farmers do,” he adds.
Unlike playing rugby, farming is a career that does not exactly end with retirement.
“This will be my last career, farming,” says Bernard assuredly. “The punditry will end and this is the one I’ll finish doing.”
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