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Published 16:34 25 Aug 2020 BST
Updated 16:53 25 Aug 2020 BST
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"Things happened really quickly," he says, "but we're back in Northern Ireland now and we have done the two weeks of quarantining. Eight of us [at Treviso] either retired or were released. I was obviously disappointed. I had a lot of good friends and got on well with the staff, but it is part and parcel of rugby - in one minute and out the next. "It's a bizarre period of time for a lot of people, including those in professional sport. You can see with Southern Kings [suspending playing activities] and the RFU [in England] letting go of people. Two club sides in Italy have dropped out of their main league too. It's a bizarre, crazy period. "My playing future is up in the air right now; I'd love to give you an answer on that. There are so many things that aren't guaranteed."
For McKinley, this is not the first set-back in his career and he has been through enough to know it will not be the last. He lost the sight in one eye, back in 2011, after catching a stray boot to the face when he was training with Leinster.
While 70% of the vision has come back in that eye, McKinley required protective goggles and spear-headed a campaign for a number of years to get World Rugby to approve them so he could play at the top level. He started off playing third division club rugby before signing with Viadana in 2014. He played a season with Zebre before Treviso snapped him up.
Having to scrap every step of the way to revive and then progress his professional rugby career, McKinley is all about perspective.
"Whenever I retired from rugby first, at 21, I recognised that you can't really rely on rugby. It can be very fickle, at times. I do have a plan, now, about what I want to do when I stop playing. Any sportsperson, whether you are Sergio Parisse or Jack Clifford [forced to retire at 27, this week], you're never fully prepared. But, for me, I do feel more prepared for whenever that day does come. "I love the sport. I've coached for a few years and I have been a part-time coach at every club I've been at."Something McKinley has poured some of his energies into is an initiative that is encouraging sports clubs around the island to send in skills videos to Mash Direct [details in the caption below]. The winning entry can win €5,400 for their club and training sessions with McKinley and former Ireland captain Rory Best. "At all times, and especially in these past six months, I've found that exercise can really help your mental health," says McKinley. "It can help clear your mind sometimes and you can set yourself different targets. We're looking for people from all sorts of clubs - running, rugby, hurling, football, whatever - to send us along their videos. It's great to be involved with it." [caption id="attachment_214939" align="aligncenter" width="2048"]
Ian McKinley is working with Mash Direct to promote its Championship campaign. Over the last number of months there has been a massive disruption to sports teams’ activity levels and so Mash Direct wanted to encourage everyone to get back on the pitch offering teams the chance to win fantastic prizes. More information: www.mashdirect.com/sports[/caption]
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