Rugby players are the most robust of sportsmen, well able to withstand a battering on the field that would shatter the body and spirit of lesser mortals. But some of the game’s finest players have taken a hit in the property market hard enough to make even the stoutest second-row forward double up with pain.

Few professions have embraced property investment as whole-heartedly as British sports stars, and England’s rugby squad is no exception. Insiders estimate that nine out of ten players in the present line-up have put their money into property, in Britain and abroad, which is seen as safer than shares by those who are thinking ahead to their retirement.

“Players have a limited career span of between ten and 15 years and they are keen to invest with a strong degree of predictability,” said Ian Battersby, a wealth manager for Kingsbridge Asset Management, whose clients include Lesley Vainikolo, 30, the player from Tonga who joined the England squad for the Six Nations championship. Vainikolo has invested in a couple of properties in the southern hemisphere and a couple in Britain. “They like the touch and feel of property, they understand the mechanics of it,” Mr Battersby said.

Some players have merely dabbled in property while others have sunk large amounts of money into developments. Pat Sanderson, for example, an England international who also plays in the back row for Worcester, “owns half of Cheltenham”, according to his agent, Abe Kerr, and recently bought another 17 flats in the town. “He buys up land and sends in builders to put up properties,” Mr Kerr said.

Likewise Lee Mears is said to have a “hefty portfolio” of buy-to-lets, and Simon Shaw, of London Wasps, has just finished renovating a large home in Central London.

Lewis Moody, a forward in the England 2008 Six Nations squad, set up a property development company three years ago with a friend, buying land to build new homes. He said: “By the time you’re 30 you just have the money and you can’t afford to make mistakes when you don’t have the income from rugby to back you up.

“Five years down the line me and my business partner thought we’d be millionaires, but things haven’t been as easy as we thought.”

Property developers approach the players, pitching investment opportunities in the hope that an idea will catch on. Dan Scarbrough, a back for Saracens, who played in the England squad last summer against South Africa, said that his team-mates were being bombarded with offers from property developers last year.

Players will often invest in groups of six to ten, following each other into developments.

Scarbrough has property in Leeds and London, but has been lured into riskier investments in the United States and the Caribbean. He was one of six Saracens players who invested in a development in Tennessee, paying $410,000 (£205,000) for a four-bedroom log cabin. “It may not have been the best investment so far considered the way the American housing market is going,” Scarbrough admitted.

Moody said that players were as worried as any other investor as house prices continue to fall: “For the past ten years it has been easy for players to make substantial gains buying a property and selling it a year later. Now, just the fact that you’ve owned a property for a year or two does not mean you’ll make money by selling it.”

Sporting moguls

Robbie Fowler The third richest footballer in Britain is as much of a property mogul as an ace striker, having built up a vast portfolio of rental homes around the country. Such is the empire of the former Liverpool and England player, fans used to chant, to the tune of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, “We all live in a Robbie Fowler house”

Kimi Raikkonen The Finnish Ferrari racing champion recently invested a six-figure sum in a luxurious beach front villa in Phuket, Thailand

Gary Neville The Manchester United and England defender is another Premiership star who has shown business acumen by running a buy-to-let property company. For private use, Gary Neville’s property portfolio also boasts property on Malta and an apartment in swanky city centre development No 1 Deansgate

Sir Alex Ferguson The United boss is also a “part-time landlord”. He is a major shareholder in Active Investment Management, a footballers’ property consortium that buys up office blocks around the country

Simon Shaw England and Wasps rugby player, has renovated property in Central London

James Simpson-Daniel The Gloucester and England rugby player has buy-to-let properties

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