This feature originally appeared in the Match Programme ahead of the Gallagher Premiership fixture between Leicester Tigers and Gloucester Rugby on Christmas Eve 2022 - which doubled as the first Slater Cup meeting between the two clubs.
Leicester Tigers and Gloucester Rugby fans will fondly remember Ed Slater and his efforts in their respective colours on a rugby pitch for years to come.
Tough, uncompromising, tactical, physical, clever, hard-hitting are just some of the traits associated with his playing days for both clubs.
One that is not was a wicked sidestep.
However, ask Slater who he will be cheering on today at Mattioli Woods Welford Road and the second-rower shows better footwork than we might see out in the middle this afternoon from Anthony Watson or Louis Rees-Zammit.
A laugh is all he offered, obviously contemplating the best way to sit on the fence, before responding with: “You know what, I might do what some of those football fans do and wear a 50-50 scarf.”
Slater spent seven seasons at Tigers, captaining the club for two, before moving to Gloucester in 2017 where he played up until announcing his diagnosis with Motor neurone disease (MND) this year.
More than 200 top-flight games in rugby’s toughest competition in the second row for two of its proudest clubs, with the weight of expectation from two fan bases who demand more than most.
It was some journey, some fight.
But nothing compared to what he is now taking on – with the help of those characteristics which gave him a twelve-year professional rugby career.
“You don’t realise it in yourself and probably only do when you talk to other people in the MND community that, with a sportsman’s attitude, we are all a little bit selfish by nature” says Slater.
“For me now, that comes in handy when you’re facing a challenge like this because you are determined to do everything you can to help yourself.
“We have an ability to look short-term; week on week playing games, performing well in one and not so much in the next, it means you are constantly adapting on a short-term basis.
“That’s not far off what I have to do with MND now.”
“My body is changing regularly, I am having to adapt and change how I do things.
“There are some things I still want to do, but I just can’t do properly now and so my approach is to find another way to do them.
“There is a bloody-mindedness about it that you maybe take for granted, which was built up during my time as a rugby player - we have that mentality towards challenges.”
Since going public with his diagnosis, Slater has shown that giving up is not an option.
First, alongside a host of former team-mates, he took on a 350-mile Cycle Challenge in a round trip from Kingsholm and back – via Mattioli Woods Welford Road, Milton Keynes and Twickenham Stadium.
If that wasn’t enough, he boarded a plane to Australia – where he played Colts rugby in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney – to meet up another group of former team-mates for what would be a more than 1000km ride.
It might seem a lot. Bluntly put, it might seem too much for someone with MND.
Ask him why and it makes perfect sense.
“If you just roll over and die, because you can’t do something anymore, then what’s next for you?” Slater replies.
“What else will drop off in your life?
“It’s about finding a different way of doing things, so you keep going and you don’t find yourself in a hole.”
Today’s return to Mattioli Woods Welford Road for the former Leicester lock is in celebration of the inaugural Slater Cup – a trophy now to be played for between Tigers and Gloucester in league fixtures.
Before finding out how he feels about a trophy in his name, Slater chats about his time at the historic venue – in both the home and away changing rooms.
“There are a fair few memories, on and off the field,” admits Slater.
“On a personal level, my first start at home for Tigers was massive, and then there were the European nights – home and away to be honest – they were always such big occasions.
“But the best memory would have the Premiership Final win over Northampton.
“Just the build-up and having lost two finals on the bounce - the relief around that - as well as beating your arch-enemies.
“The whole thing was a perfect story.”
Slater returned in the 2017/18 campaign as an opposition player, after a summer move to Gloucester, and sums up the first experience in one word.
“Horrible,” he quips back with almost immediately.
“It was just horrible!
“I never really left on my own terms, so the first time coming back – for a different side and in a different strip – and walking past the home changing room felt very unfamiliar and uncomfortable.
“It was interesting to see the other side of it; hearing the crowd above you and then Smoke on the Water being played while already standing on the pitch, it was a very different experience.
“I never won, so that says a lot.”
Ed, while Smoke on the Water was playing. Did you…
“Yes, I was humming along.”
Just checking. Thanks.
As for today, the 230th meeting between the clubs and first Slater Cup, he says it’s a humbling but challenging accolade to accept.
“It’s a massive gesture and, admittedly, a difficult one for me to have something so big in my name,” he says.
“This is something between two clubs that I care deeply about, had a massive impact on my life and shaped my character and personality.
“It’s a very big thing about someone who just played rugby for two clubs and, hopefully, made supporters proud of what he did for them.
“Leicester was my first love and now I’ve settled and made a home in Gloucestershire.
“For the two teams to recognize me, it’s such a big gesture for me and my family and something that is probably bigger for my wife, my kids and wider family to proud of for many years to come.”
Fair enough then, we’ll accept the 50-50 scarf on this occasion.
