Autism in Rugby - Alex Lambe

In comes rugby. I’ve been a huge rugby fan since the age of about 9 or 10. I’ve always been an avid spectator since a young age, and at the age of 15 I decided to take up something that would best showcase my passion for the game and that’s refereeing. I’ve been refereeing rugby matches for nearly 10 years now, refereeing for a voluntary organisation called the London Society of Rugby Referees. I’m very passionate about my refereeing and I have aspirations to climb the refereeing ladder to the highest level, whilst maintaining my enjoyment for the game. In my 10 years of refereeing experience, it has transformed my confidence in social situations. I feel the role of referee is very suited to me as an Autistic person. All the rules are black and white, which helps me. My memory retention, the ability to remember small details also helps me significantly when it comes to the laws of the game. I’ve also developed my ability to read people’s body language and also understand social cues better.

My increase in confidence when it comes to social situations has helped me when it comes to being a spectator at games. I’m a big fan of both codes of rugby and I support Esher Rugby in rugby union and London Broncos in rugby league. I’m a very passionate supporter and have travelled up and down the country with both my clubs. I used to find mixing with fellow fans a bit of a daunting experience, I would become very nervous and shy. However, over the last couple of years my confidence in talking to people has come on leaps and bounds. I’m now more confident than I ever have been and I’ll happily mix with the fans of my own club as well as opposition fans. When it comes to the travel, I would particularly venture further afield for my rugby league team London Broncos, travelling up north to the likes of Lancashire and Yorkshire. As a result, I now have many friends up and down the country, in both codes as a spectator and through refereeing.

Another huge part of my journey has been work. I currently work in Waitrose & Partners in Haslemere. My role is a customer service assistant, where I assist customers with any queries they may have, look after the checkouts and all the staff who are part of the checkout team whilst running the line. I have been working for the business for nearly 4 years and Haslemere is the third branch I have worked in. I started working for the business in July 2017, starting off working as a night shift partner at Epsom. I moved onto Esher branch in November 2019 and worked as a night shift partner for there for around 5 months. My confidence and self-belief at this point wasn’t at his highest. In March 2020, I made the decision to change to day shift. This is by far the best decision I’ve ever made. Since joining day shift and becoming part of the customer service team my confidence has reached new heights. In November 2020, I joined Haslemere and my confidence has increased further. As someone who doesn’t live in Haslemere but works here, I have felt welcomed from the get to. I’m part of the private Haslemere Community board group on Facebook and I have introduced myself to people on there, told them I work in the Waitrose and some people have recognised me when they’ve popped into Waitrose.  I have a real passion for customer service and I love chatting to customers. Old me is a shadow of my current self. The transformation I’ve made has been quite seismic.

My journey with Autism has been quite an incredible one. Hard to put into words how much progress I’ve made. I’m in a very happy place at the moment, in all aspects of my life. At the start of this year, I started having hypnotherapy sessions, which have only increased my confidence and self-belief further. I now know myself better than ever before and I understand Autism much better than I ever have done. I’m learning more about Autism every day. There is no limit to what I can achieve. My Autism makes me who I am, but it doesn’t define who I am.

Please visit Autism in Rugby Facebook & Twitter accounts if you would like to know more.

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