Key words: Premiership Rugby, Northampton Saints, Six Nations, British and Irish Lions, England, Sports, Family, BLM, Leadership, The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) In this episode we are joined by one of rugby’s finest international players: Northampton Saints legend, British and Irish Lion and former England Captain Courtney Lawes. When Courtney decided to retire from international rugby after last year’s World Cup, there was some shock – not least because he was still in the form of his life. But the Dad of four was clear that the time had come to be at home with his young family, not on tour or training with his England teammates. That belief in the importance of family is central to Courtney. Having seen up close how life can go wrong without that stable background, he is a passionate supporter of the Centre for Social Justice and their work promoting the importance of family and the value of sport. Serious injuries, a result of Courtney’s uncompromising style of play, have led to long periods on the sidelines. The uncompromising opinions that he holds off the pitch have brought vitriol on social media, most famously when he dared to offer a view around Marcus Rashford’s campaigning. His resilience in those difficult moments, on and off the pitch, is just one of the revealing and useful discussions we have in this episode. My thanks to Courtney for joining me. Full transcript available here: https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/courtney-lawes-on-facing-down-the-haters-fighting-for-family-values-and-refusing-to-take-the-knee/ Links https://twitter.com/Courtney_Lawes https://www.instagram.com/bigcourts89/ https://www.instagram.com/p/C3Cq4f7M4w6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682 Host – Andy Coulson CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Zach Ellis and Mabel Pickering With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global For all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]