Nic Grimoldby ended his professional Rugby career 30 years ago with a try for the Sheffield Eagles in the last game of the Stones’ bitter championship season. The birth of her triplets – Isaac, Ella and Louis – was imminent. Now that Louis’ own playing career is fading into the background, his father is facing another challenge: Parkinson’s.
NIC has played seven seasons in Professional Rugby League, performing on the old main stages at Headingley, Central Park and Knowsley Road. He also worked as an interior designer, even decorating The Shard and a number of London penthouses. Last fall, when he retired at the age of 62, he decided to follow his youthful dream and enroll in art studies at De Montfort University in Leicester to work on his sculpture as well as cubist and expressionist art..
During the evaluation process, she was diagnosed with dyslexia, which explained the lifelong learning problems. A month after, he received a second, more serious diagnosis that would affect the rest of his life. A brain scan showed something and he had a slight tremor in his hand from pain. Nic went to a consultant. Within 20 minutes, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s health issue. “Blunt as anything,” he says. “It took me a while to process it. I would have just preferred dyslexia, thank you!”
He is determined to be positive. He is training for a mini-Triathlon and considers the hand tremor that forced him to change his artistic style as a “good therapy”. His 6-foot-2 frame remains supple, his steely serious face does not reveal anything until his eyes reveal a smile during a joke. What he thought was a dental problem was actually the starting of Hypomimia – or “sad face syndrome” – and he attributed his loss of taste and smell to Covid: both were actually signs of Parkinson’s health issue. So far, his other symptoms are mainly due to anxiety: “I’ve never worried about this shit,” he says. Although it is not said today, the father and the son know what will happen.
Nic is one of more than 500 players from both Codes who are working with sports lawyers Rylands Garth to prosecute matters against the RFU and the RFL regarding brain injuries. “I’m not doing it for the money,” he says. “I want credit for taking care of the current players, for learning something. I’ve been wearing headgear my whole career, but I don’t know if it’s done anything. Where is the research? In a game, I would probably make 25 hits and 25 tackles and hit tackle bags three times a week in practice. These effects concern me now. I asked the nurse and the Parkinson’s counsellor if Rugby had made a difference. Without hesitation, they both said: “Yes.’”
We discuss the disproportionate number of former athletes who die from Parkinson’s health issue, dementia or MND. Nic already knows two Sheffield teammates with early Alzheimer’s health issue. “Three of us from the same team – I don’t know about everyone.”We assume that maybe several members of each team are suffering now. A large number.
After having revived the Rugby League Players Association in the 1990s, Nic is now actioning for his generation and that of his son. He has a message for Ryan Brierley and his Super League colleagues who are finally trying to make themselves heard. “If you want advice, I can tell you how not to do it!”he said. “The Super League was just starting when I went to Maurice Lindsay and said that we needed a percentage of the TV money. I was at the PFA and I knew that’s how it works in football. We were very successful – about 70% of the players from the first two divisions signed up, but one or two of the top stars did not support it. Maurice did not want to accept that we existed at all.