Living
the
New
York
Dream
SImonMiall
ANEWCHALLENGE
Simonhow is life treating you in thebig smokeof NewYork?
Life is perfect over here inNewYork. It’s a brilliant citywith a terrific
lifestyle and a fantastic culture. The public transport is quick and easy
and it literally takesme about 15minutes to get frommy home inWest
Village tomywork office.
What exactlydo youdo forwork inNewYork?
I work for a financial services company calledUBS.My role is sellingUK
and European government debt toUS Institutional clients. I often get
into the office at about 6:45am eachmorning to catch up on the four
or five hours of UK and European trading that I miss overnight.
Have youhad any experience in this kindofworkbefore?
Yes I joinedUBS seven years ago after I finished playing rugby for
Harlequins in 2007. I originally started at thewealthmanagement side
of the business in London, where I worked for two years beforemoving
over to the investment bank in 2009. From there I startedworking on
the trading floor, looking at government debt and interest rate sales for
the company. I spent four years in London, selling toUK and European
institutions before deciding tomove over toNewYork.
Howdoes you role inNewYorkdiffer to the role youheld in
London?
It’s a very similar gig to the onewhich I had in London. Instead of selling
government debt toUK and European clients, I now tradewithUS
clients. As I mentioned earlier, everything is the other way round, so
instead of being stuck half between theAsian andUSmarkets, I’m
now catching upwith theUK and Europeanmarketswhen I start work
in themorning.
Whydid youwant to leave London andmoveover toNewYork?
Plain and simple, I just wanted a change. I wanted to hit the refresh
button andmix things up and start a newway of life inNewYork.
I tend to live by the five year cycle rule, meaning after five years
I normally feel the need tomix things up a bit.
Players’ Room
speaks
exclusively to former
Harlequins lock, Simon
Miall, about his new
life inNewYork, his
transition from rugby to
Investment Banker and
his decision topublically
discuss his sexuality.
Howdid youfind the transition from rugbyplayer to city trader?
Well I pulledmyself out of the final year ofmy contract at Harlequins in
2007, feeling I had achieved everything that I set out to do in rugby. To
me it was the perfect time tomove on and step into a new challenge.
Throughoutmy career I achieved an undergraduate degree in business at
BathUniversity and aMSC andMBA at OxfordUniversity, therefore I felt
equippedwith a decent amount of skills to startmy life in the business
world. I thenworkedwith the RPA to helpwritemy CV and find some
suitablework experience, before applying for the role at UBS.
MOVINGON
Whatmade your decision in 2013 the right time todiscuss your
sexuality?
It’s a very good question, but it just seemed like the right time. I wasn’t at
all uncomfortable about theway I felt or too nervous about how people
would react. But the time felt right tomove onwithmy life. I want kids
and a family like every other person and I just felt that ismore likely to
happenwith amale rather than a female. Since then I haven’t looked back
atmy decision in a negativeway, I don’t regret anything about it at all.
I’m a proud person and someonewho doesn’t feel different in anyway.
Did you think itwouldharm your career if youhad comeoutwhilst
playing rugby?
No, not at all. The thought of coming out at a particular time never really
crossedmymind to be honest. I never thought it would hurt eithermy
rugby career ormy new career in businesswhether I came out whilst
playing rugby or whilst embarking on a new career after rugby. It just
so happened that I decided to open up about it in 2013, six years after
I finishedmy rugby career. Yes you have to be a fairly strong individual
to come out in public, but forme it was never about being not strong
enough.
Do you think sport ingeneral needs todomore to tackle the issue
of homophobia?
To be honest I haven’t really thought about it toomuch. I think it’s hard
to generalise sport as one. I think in rugby the issue isn’t as significant
rvices
mily
because I feel the players and supporters aremore open to homosexual
players. Football I thinkwill always have a few problems, there’s been quite
a few cases documented in the past and they’re trying to do their absolute
best in ruling homophobia out completely. Unfortunatelywhether it’s the
sporting pitch, in a restaurant or in a bar, homophobiawill always happen
and I think you just need to be prepared to deal with it. Yesmore should
be done but what the right thing to dowill definitely take some time to
work out.
WESTRIVE TOBEOURSELVES
What advicewould yougive to anyplayers going through a similar
situation?
Hunter Thompsonwhowas anAmerican journalist and author, wrote
something that we really resonatedwithmewhen hewas asked about
the purpose of life. He said ‘We strive to be ourselves’. Taking that on
board, I think your ultimate goal in life is to feel comfortable and happy
within yourself. If you think it’s important to you and you think youwould
be happy andmore content with the changes, then you shouldmake it
happen. But whatever way youwant to handle it, it’s entirely up to you
and no one is pushing you to do anything. It’s your life and youmake
the decisions.
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RPA
.co.uk
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RPA
.co.uk
