Great Britain sevens player Heather Fisher contemplating other employment amid contract uncertainty

Great Britain sevens player Heather Fisher has revealed she is contemplating other employment amid growing uncertainty over whether her England contract will be renewed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Fisher, 36, had hoped to retire after the Tokyo Olympics this summer, but with coronavirus pushing the Games back until July next year, her ambitions to wear the Great Britain vest have been thrown a curveball.

The Rugby Football Union is facing revenue losses of up to £107m over the coming financial year and intends to slash its workforce by a quarter.

It remains to be seen whether sevens contracts will be included as part of that cull, with the RFU stating that “all areas of funding are being reviewed”.

“I’m now having to try and find jobs to help towards those Olympics Games because we don’t know the security of the RFU,” said Fisher, who has been furloughed and whose contract expires in August. “That’s really difficult. As a player, you’ve got to survive.

“Where do you go as a female athlete? If you’re in a sport where, financially it pays, you can probably have those conversations with your coach, opt out and come back next season. That doesn’t quite work in a team sport.”

Fisher, who has alopecia, stepped back from the England sevens programme in 2018 to “mentally recharge” and took part in the reality TV show Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins.

The hiatus allowed time for reflection, although she recalls being “so depressed, so anxious, so worried about the future.” Those emotions have resurfaced during the lockdown, especially given how the pandemic has disproportionately affected elite sportswomen, with much of women’s sporting calendars abandoned while elite men’s sport continues.

“The really hard thing if I’m honest, is where I am as a female,” added Fisher. “Obviously, my alopecia plays a massive part because my immune system is absolutely shot, and therefore you ask, how long do I want to go on for?”

“If I wanted to look at having a family, this is where female sport is so different to male sport. Nothing is on hold for a guy, whereas if for a female if you want to pursue a business, if you want to start a family, it’s down to you, no one else can do it for you.”

She added: “I thought we were at a breaking point where [sport] would be equal, but with Covid-19, why should the men’s Premiership go back and not the women’s? I don’t get it.

“I don’t know how women’s sport gets out of this slump, because you’re asking sponsors to support something that actually now you can’t go and watch.”

Despite her devastation about the Olympics postponement, Fisher admits the temptation to target a second Games is a far more attractive proposition than having a pandemic determine her career.

“I can’t finish on Covid-19,” she insisted. “Covid feels like it’s got such a negative vibe to it, so if anyone’s going to pull through Covid, it will be athletes, because they’re the most robust people I know.

“It probably wouldn’t sit right if I didn’t fulfil a second Olympics when I know I’m capable of it. If my body and my mind is healthy, I’d always regret not going for it.”