Al Hargreaves


WOLFPACK LAGER

 

interview by Naomi Prakash

ALISTAIR HARGREAVES

 

photography by Oscar J Ryan

Al Hargreaves Rexclub

“Wolfpack means bringing people together and gaining that sense of camaraderie that you get from doing something that’s greater than yourself. More than anything, lockdown has taught us that life is better when it’s spent together.The strength of the wolf is in its pack, and we believe that wholeheartedly.”

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Alistair Hargreaves is a former professional rugby player from South Africa. He retired from the game in 2016 after playing with Saracens, and started planning his next move. He launched Wolfpack Lager in 2014 alongside fellow Saracens teammate Chris Wyles, with the goal of bringing the rugby spirit to the world of beer. We sat down with Alistair to talk about rugby, his international experiences, and his entrepreneurial journey.

Can you tell us about growing up in South Africa? Was sport always a central theme for you even as a child?

Yeah absolutely. In South Africa you’re born with a cricket ball, a rugby ball and a football in your hands! It’s certainly an outdoor life and a lot of your social interactions from a very young age revolve around not only playing sports, but also watching sport with friends and family. It’s a sports-mad country and it’s a real privilege to grow up there.

When did rugby start to emerge as the front runner of the few?

When I was younger we just played everything, whatever you could get your hands on really! Primarily I played rugby and cricket, and as I got a bit older I found that I had more opportunities in rugby, and decided that it was the one sport that I could probably turn into a professional career.

When did rugby start to seem like a viable career path for you?

It was probably around the age of 16. I started to understand where I’d like to study, what kind of union club in South Africa I could sign up for, and I guess the pressures of playing junior rugby in South African teams started to dominate a lot of my time. You start to think, “well hang on, if I’m going to put all this effort in, I better make it count”.

Was it always your goal to become a full Springbok International?

That’s an interesting question – probably not actually, I reckon I grew up wanting to be South African cricketer more than anything! But it’s all about opportunity and of course, getting some luck along the way.

The further your career develops, the more these things start becoming a reality and the Springbok idea started coming into my mind a bit later on. I certainly didn’t sign my first professional contract going, “wow, I could end up playing for the Springboks”.

You first played for your hometown team The Sharks around 2005, and then had your first Super Rugby debut in 2009.

For the uninitiated reader, what was the big difference between these two types of competition?

I played South African schools and under-19s in a few World Cups, and the jump from that under-19s level, even just provincial rugby at a senior level, was massive. I was a tall skinny guy back in those days and I was told that I’d need to find 10kg from somewhere before I was allowed to play for the senior team with The Sharks. They basically locked me in the gym for a year to train and to bulk up. The physical step-up was huge from that schoolboy level into the professional game. My career really started in 2005, and over the next ten years the general physical nick of the players just got extreme, and it’s just kept growing year on year.

When did you first hear that you’d been selected to tour with the Springboks?

I was actually at a friend’s wedding. You always hear a few rumours and I’d had one of the assistant coaches give me a tap on the shoulder saying I had a good chance. But I was at this wedding, speeches were starting, and I thought I’d just creep out just in case it happened. I ended up sitting in a hotel pub myself watching the team get announced on tv! It’s really quite surreal, and obviously being at a wedding I couldn’t run back in and say “hey everyone, forget

the wedding – I’ve just been chosen!”. I tend to be very quiet and very humble, and it was only later in the evening when someone else figured it out and asked if I’d heard the announcement. It’s one of those incredibly rewarding moments, and that feeling of accomplishment quickly changes to the awareness that it’s a huge responsibility. I remember hoping that I’d make the most of it and prepare properly and just thinking, “wow, what happens next?”.

You made your debut against Wales in a very tightly fought win. What are your biggest memories from that day?

The best part of it for me was actually driving in the team bus to the stadium. You drive through Cardiff and you see these crowds filtering out onto the street, just thousands and thousands of people. Obviously driving in the big green Springbok bus, you’re just a target for everyone and everything! It’s amazing just to look at it through that lens, and to see how much passion there is for the game out there. It was something truly spectacular and I’ll never forget it.

After 2012 you made a pretty radical decision to move to England to join the Premiership powerhouse Saracens. What was the main driving factor behind this decision for you?

There were a couple of things really. My international career didn’t pan out with many caps international rugby, I only played four times for the Springboks in test matches. It got to the point where, with my club The Sharks in Durban, I’d lost a bit of passion for the team, the game, and the environment. I was thinking of hanging up the boots. I was about 26 and I had just fallen out of love with rugby if I’m honest with myself.

“It’s good to have a certain amount of fear”

It’s quite interesting to reflect now on the space that I was in. I never really had any ambition to move overseas to play rugby. I always thought that rugby was a great part of my life and that I was very privileged to do it, but I was also looking forward to the next challenge. When the Saracens opportunity came about, I already had a lot of South African friends playing with the club. They all said there were some fantastic players, and to give it a try. I said to my girlfriend at the time, who’s now my wife, “what do we have to lose?”. We thought we could spend some time in London, see what it’s all about and have some fun. It was the best decision I ever made. I absolutely loved my time at Saracens and in the UK, and I’m now settled in London with a young family. I’m very pleased I took that leap of faith.

What were your first impressions of England?

I came straight into pre-season so you don’t really have much time to explore anything outside of your team environment and the people that you’re actually playing rugby with, so I just got immersed in the culture that existed at Saracens at the time. I was very lucky that it was a like-minded bunch of people – there’s a kind of policy that Saracens only sign players who had some reference from within the team, so there’s a lot of guys who knew each other and played each other at previous clubs, so I got along well with everyone. I absolutely loved it. I must say it was a tough pre-season, and I had a bit of an eye-opening experience. I got called in

very early to the coaches office just to say, “listen if you think just because you played a few games for the Springboks that you’re going to be a legend at Saracens, think again”. You need to work very hard and earn the right to have a great social life and enjoy the Saracens culture, which I think I did and made the most of. It wasn’t a culture shock because the club did a really good job of helping me fit in, and like I said I really loved the vibe and the atmosphere that they had created.

Saracens have a strong reputation of being a very close-knit family club. Did you feel that straight from beginning?

Yeah definitely. When I left my old club, I felt a little bit disillusioned with the whole thing. I felt that a lot of people say it’s a family atmosphere and that they all love each other and care, but you know at the end of the day, you were there to do a job. And it started feeling like a job to me. Saracens felt like quite a lot more than that, and I thought that people actually did care and they actually did look out for you like your family. They wanted you to have great memories away from the game as well, and for me having that freedom, to not be treated like a machine, really made me feel accountable. There’s a huge lesson in leadership for me there, and I think a lot of those values that I learnt about how to inspire people and motivate people have stuck with me to this day, and apply to my business now.

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You became Captain in 2014 and led the
team to Premiership glory by 2015. Was this your peak in terms of highlights from your time in the Red and Black?

Yeah, like I said when I came over, I had no expectations of even playing for the club, so to lift the Premiership trophy at Twickenham was spectacular. It’s the highlight of my career – I absolutely loved every second of it. We went on to win European Cups and more Premierships, but that first one was something that was truly special because it was so out of the blue in a way. I would never have thought that I would be on that stage, in this country, having a moment like that. To share it with a bunch of people that I absolutely loved was such a massive accomplishment.

You became Captain in 2014 and led the
team to Premiership glory by 2015. Was this your peak in terms of highlights from your time in the Red and Black?

Yeah, like I said when I came over, I had no expectations of even playing for the club, so to lift the Premiership trophy at Twickenham was spectacular. It’s the highlight of my career – I absolutely loved every second of it. We went on to win European Cups and more Premierships, but that first one was something that was truly special because it was so out of the blue in a way. I would never have thought that I would be on that stage, in this country, having a moment like that. To share it with a bunch of people that I absolutely loved was such a massive accomplishment.

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“We just want to create brilliant experiences for social people, and we want to have the most fun we possibly can doing it!”

Concussions in rugby are obviously a very topical subject now. Did they feel serious to you at the time?

They did, and that’s why I’m glad we took them so seriously. It’s good to have a certain amount of fear, because you’re armed with the knowledge that if you don’t treat it with respect then you could get yourself into trouble. That was really the final nail in the coffin for me, when before games I was actually worried about my physical health, and after games I would be relieved if I made it through. I think the most important thing is having awareness and education around what concussion looks like and how to treat it. Prevention is an area we can work on, but I think it’s always going to be impossible to completely eradicate concussion from the game. If we can recognise it and learn how to help people recover from it, then that’s what we should be aiming to do.

Do you think there’s anything we can do to reduce the repercussions of head injuries in rugby?

I don’t think it’s good enough to ever just accept that it’s going to be an essential part of playing the game. There will always be instances, hopefully rarely, of concussions if rugby continues to be played the way it is now. I think there’s a stigma and an old school mentality that you have to be hard and brush it all off and get back up. That has to fall away. We know how severe these

things are, and we see people getting hit time and time again with signs of concussions. But they carry on! So we need to be cautious with those borderline cases. The alternative is banning tackling, which is an absolute disaster. Collisions in rugby are really the pinnacle of the sport.

While you were still playing in 2014, you decided to set up your beer business, Wolfpack, with Chris Wyles. How did this idea first come about between the two of you?

Over a couple of beers, unsurprisingly! The club was really good at exposing us to other industries outside of sport, and Chris was thinking about doing an MBA at the time. We started discussing what we’re going to do after rugby, and through the club we met a few well-respected industry veterans and CEOs. They always told us that the skills we learnt in rugby were pretty useless unless we could demonstrate that we could apply them to real life. That inspired us to consider starting something ourselves, and to tap into the support system of the club. Being rugby players, we’re never too far from a pint or two and at the time, craft beer was growing massively. It started as a hobby and we bought a double-decker bus, and started selling beer from there. We used to turn up at the stadium and sell beer just on the outskirts of where the commercial contracts applied! Seven years later, we’re still going strong

What’s the vision behind Wolfpack?

It’s an extension of our personalities and our experiences in sport. At the very heart, Chris and I are social animals, as are the people we played rugby with. Part of the ethos of any sporting team is that you put in the hard work and then you reap the rewards off the back of it. We really try to create that camaraderie that you get in a team environment around the Wolfpack brand. We just want to create brilliant experiences for social people, and we want to have the most fun we possibly can doing it! Brewing beer and running bars for a living is as fun as it sounds, so we’re just enjoying the journey and keen to keep pushing ourselves as much as we can.

Before the idea behind Wolfpack came about, had you ever thought about starting your own business?

I was always focused on having something for after rugby. You know, when you asked me earlier if I grew up wanting to be a Springbok, I think the reason I didn’t was just because it doesn’t seem like a sustainable job for the long haul. I didn’t necessarily think it would be a brewery or that I’d be in London, those things came about through circumstance and through meeting Chris who really inspired me and gave me the belief that we could really do it.

“Sharing highs and lows in sport prepares you well for being an entrepreneur and running a business.”

How is working with a friend and a teammate? Do you ever wish you were just business partners?

It’s been brilliant. When you play in such a close environment with someone, you go through a lot of experiences together and show a lot of vulnerability. Sharing highs and lows in sport prepares you well for being an entrepreneur and running a business. It comes with a lot of sacrifice and it’s not always an easy ride, but we trust each other implicitly and that’s been the cornerstone of our business relationship.

How did you land on the name Wolfpack, and what does that mean for you both?

It started at Saracens. We always used to talk about having a wolfpack mentality, and we thought it was a great name for a brand that was built from the idea of building bonds within communities. Wolfpack means bringing people together and gaining that sense of camaraderie that you get from doing something that’s greater than yourself. More than anything, lockdown has taught us that life is better when it’s spent together. The strength of the wolf is in its pack, and we believe that wholeheartedly.

Speaking of lockdowns, how did the pandemic affect your business and you personally?

It’s difficult because you lose momentum. We like to be busy, and you want your brand to be constantly growing. Being forced to stay at home for a year was pretty devastating, but I’m actually

really proud of what we’ve been able to achieve as a business in the last year. We started an online store and have been very active on social media. We actually kitted out an old Land Rover with beer taps and drove around giving away free beer for weeks at a time, just to let people know that we’re still here and we’re not going anywhere.

How has the last year changed your business goals?

We’ve always been quite open to change, I think that’s a reason why we’re still going after seven years despite the ups and downs. We always want to make sure that we’re able to adapt to different circumstances, and that’s the beauty of being a small and young business in a very big category of hospitality. Our strength is that our team is four people. It’s a strength that we don’t have a huge marketing budget so we’ve got to think out the box and do things differently. I think after this lockdown, we’ll come out of this stronger. We just have to be open to change.

Our final question… if and when the Lions tour goes ahead, who do you see coming out on top?

Well a lot of it is down to where it’s being played. If it’s in South Africa, you have to back the Springboks. The international season in the southern hemisphere has been basically non-existent, so those guys will be out of practice. Put it this way, if it’s not in South Africa, I think the Lions will come out on top.

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