My Sporting Life is The i Paper’s look behind the curtain at what drives sports stars to greatness. This week, we speak to Neil “Razor” Ruddock, the former Liverpool and England defender whose hardman image made him the perfect candidate to go on and have an eclectic reality TV career after retiring from football.
Doing a TV show saved my life
I did Harry’s Heroes in 2019 with lots of ex-pros, getting us back fit to play football again. It was all about getting the message out there for men to go see a doctor, because we don’t, in case there is bad news.
In the end, I got tested when doing the show, had to be rushed to hospital and have a pacemaker fitted. Now, any campaign that gets the message out there I am all over it.
I lost Justin Edinburgh, who was my best friend, to a cardiac arrest. The most shocking thing about it was that he was the fittest 50-year-old you’d ever meet in your life. And it makes you think what could have changed if a defibrillator had been there.
Every football fan should go on the British Heart Foundation’s website at half-time of a match and learn how to use a defibrillator. It is not that hard. If I can learn how to do it in 15 minutes, the rest of the world can.
I am a big softie, really
The thing about me is on the pitch, I would rip your heart out with a spoon. But off the pitch if I hurt your feelings, I would be devastated. The big hardman image is only on the pitch.
You miss the lads, being part of a dressing room. I don’t miss training, training is hard. It is one of the greatest jobs in the world, but it is also one of the hardest.
If you have a bad day at the office, everyone knows about it. But if you have a good one, nothing is said, as that’s your job – you’re supposed to have a good one. Making my dad proud, watching him sitting in the crowd as I was playing for Liverpool, that is what it is all about.
Success is judged differently now
There was no Champions League back then, so we [Liverpool] would play in the Uefa Cup every season. If you finished fourth back then, it was seen as a failure, but teams are happy with fourth now.
You get more chances to win things now. If I had my time again I’d have listened more, drunk less. In my day, my job was to put the centre-forward off in any which way you could.
You could be more aggressive back then. You would always get one free one where I could kick anything up in the air. Those free ones now would see you sent off.
Master Chef tops I’m A Celebrity and Big Brother
Going into the jungle was tough. There was no cheating in the jungle. Rats and snakes and all that. The noises you would hear in the night were terrifying. Big Brother was amazing too, but I think my favourite was coming second in Master Chef.
When they rang me to ask me to go on, I said “I can’t cook” and they said “you’re in”. Being a chef is the only job in the world where if you put your mind to it, you will be able to do it. It is the most accessible profession out there.
Cooking is all about using your ears – when it starts sizzling too much, turn it off!
A ring bearer with a difference
Becoming best friends with Rylan was not on my radar. It is as random as it comes. A big tough south London footballer and a gay icon.
I love him. He was ring bearer at my wedding, and properly camped it up.
VAR has put me off football
I should get to more games these days but I have lost interest due to VAR. It is too stop-start, especially in the stadium. It is still opinion – there are no facts. Anything other than offside is just more opinions. And that just winds me up too much.
Ruddock was speaking after joining fellow hardmen, Roy Keane, Paul Ince, Iain Dowie and Julian Dicks to tackle defib fear, as part of the next phase of the transformative Sky Bet and British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) Every Minute Matters campaign, which has a mission to equip football fans with lifesaving CPR and defibrillation skills. Fans can learn lifesaving CPR and defibrillation skills in just 15 minutes: Search BHF RevivR and/or visit https://revivr.bhf.org.uk/