THEOLIVERADDIS, from TacklebagChat, speaks to Ehize Ehizode
When I rang Ehize Ehizode, he’d just finished a day at work and was about to head to the post office. It wasn’t for rugby. He had boxes to send.That told me most of what I needed to know. He’s a Champ rugby player at Blackheath, but he’s also a recruiter, the founder of Hyzod Aromatherapy, a man who has just sold out of one colour of his own diffuser range, and a big Arsenal fan. I’d planned to ask about the rugby and ended up writing about the hustle.
From full-time rugby to a 9-to-5 and training at night
Ehize joined Blackheath this season from Doncaster, where he’d spent two years as a full-time player. When Donny went part-time, he had to think about what came next.
Now his day starts in an office. He works in recruitment company, a job he started around August, so he still counts himself a novice. He finishes at 5.30pm, gets on a train, and then trains with his teammates for an hour.
“It’s a big change,” he told me, “but it’s a good change.”
I’m a former corporate person, so I wanted the inside story on recruitment. Are people chasing him constantly, asking where the job is? “Character building” was his phrase, and he told me about one very colourful conversation with an American.
It isn’t for everyone, he said, but you reap the benefits if you stay in it.
That’s why so many athletes move into it: there’s money in it, but there’s also the rush of chasing something.
He’s been deliberate about it, too. He’s put a lot of emphasis on preparing for life after the sport, and he knows rugby isn’t a career forever.
The diffuser business
Ehize’s other project is Hyzod Aromatherapy, his own diffuser brand, and it’s doing well. He’s just sold out of one colour.
The idea came from wanting something of his own, and from a love of selling something and shipping it to someone. But the heart of it is the connection between smell and memory, which works the way a song does for most of us. Hyzod is built around two ideas: scent your journey, and remember the moment. He wants his product to take people back somewhere. It’s premium and minimalist, and it took a long time to settle on what was good and what wasn’t.
He isn’t expecting it to blow up overnight. “I like a slow burn of things.” Because it doesn’t need his full commitment, he can fit it around rugby and work. After our call, he was heading to the post office to send boxes. Rugby, a day job, an e-commerce side business, and an interview with me, all in one evening.
The Arsenal bit
I’d noticed on his page that he’s an Arsenal fan, and that unlocked twenty minutes of the call. He told me about the Everton game, the Bournemouth and Man City night, and the stress of watching it from his house in Doncaster. We agreed that losing a Champions League final on penalties hurts less than losing it in 90 minutes. His worry for this season is PSG and Barcelona, who are scary in attack. Our defence is unbelievable, he said, so it comes down to that old line about defence winning championships.
Doncaster and the northern welcome
Ehize grew up in Holborn in central London, and he told me it’s hectic. After two years in Doncaster, he’s got a soft spot for the north. Everyone’s friendlier, he said, and you can walk down the street and say hi to people you don’t know. In London you get a smirk. He says it’s where he grew as a player, and he’s fond of the place.
How he ended up at Blackheath
After Donny he played for Ealing, where he says he wasn’t getting much luck, and then for Rosslyn Park. In his first game for Park, they played and beat Blackheath, and the coach kept in touch. So when Doncaster went part-time, Ehize reached out. They talked back and forth, he went to watch a game, liked the camaraderie, and put pen to paper a few weeks later.
Why Blackheath are flying
Everyone expects promoted sides to struggle in Champ, and Blackheath haven’t. So what’s the secret?
Camaraderie.
He said it before the quick fire, and again when I asked directly.
He’s been in squads that were sensational on paper but had a few intricacies where people didn’t get along, and it never worked. You can have the best team on paper, he said, but if nobody gets on, it’s pointless.
Blackheath have a group where everybody gets on, and the results back it up.
They’re competing with the established teams.
This season, the aim is the play-offs. If not this year, then next. For Ehize personally, it’s about adding value, using his experience in the league to help the players around him.
Quick fire
- Hardest player to tackle: Logovi’i Mulipola. “Built like a brick.”
- Best player you’ve played against: Rich Lane when he was at Bedford. “He was magic.”
- Most skilful forward you’ve played with:Jasper Mcguire from Doncaster.
- Best changing room character: Korede Sanusi. “Just funny to get at.”
- Biggest wind-up: Archie Smeaton.
- Strongest in the gym: James Cornish. Stocky fella, looks like he’s going to throw some timber around. (He added that a lot of the lads don’t gym at the club, so it’s hard to say.)
- Worst dress sense: Archie Smeaton again. He turned up to training in Reebok and Ehize had to ask where he’d found the shoes. But he also says Archie styles it well and is a unique guy.
- Who talks the most on the pitch: The scrum-half, Burnsy, though Ehize calls him a silent assassin. Give him a corner and he’ll take it. “The fastest person I’ve ever seen.”
- Who he’d least like to room with: He wouldn’t commit.
- On giving old teammates a nudge: After playing against Donny, he says you have to give them a little bit, just to put them off.
Final word
I came off the phone with Ehize thinking about how much he fits into one day. Office until 5.30, a train, training with the lads, then boxes to post once the rugby is done. He does all of it without any fuss, and with a clear idea of where it’s heading.
That’s the thing I’ll remember. He’s already planning for life after rugby, he’s happy to let Hyzod grow slowly, and he’s found a changing room where everybody gets on. Blackheath are lucky to have him, and I’m looking forward to catching up with him at the Rec.
And if Hyzod really does go to the moon, I’ve told him I’ll be first in line.
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