Welcome to Our Rugby Friends

It would be difficult for you not to have noticed that the BT World Wheelchair Challenge 2015 is almost on us. This week we have seen some fantastic promotion of the tournament on ITV, capped with the studio appearance of Steve Brown talking about the sport before the start of the Fiji Uraguay RWC match. The national media is also getting behind it and we should see more in the papers and magazines over the next few days. Tomorrow the Australian ‘Steelers’ arrive, the first of our guests, followed by Canada and then the USA and Japan. By Sunday all the teams will be with us at Stratford and I know you will join me in welcoming them to the UK and wishing them a great stay and a great tour...
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BT Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby Take Gold!

BT Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby are the new European Champions defeating Sweden in a truly nail-biting final by just one point! Our young and determined team held their nerve throughout to win a very tight game in which the teams matched each other point for point, right up until the final second. In winning the tournament, GB also qualified for the Paralympic Games in Rio next year and so have again met all of their performance targets this year. At the after match dinner Johnny Coggan was crowned the best 0.5 of the tournament and Jim Roberts the best 3.0. So ended a very successful tournament for GB who put in some strong performances, looked supremely fit, and demonstrated a composure ...
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A Fantastic Day and a Great Week to Look Forward to…

If ever there was a day when we wanted to showcase the core values of our sport, yesterday was the day! I joined Julie Bunnage, Stuart McLindon, Luke White and the development team from the Harlequins Foundation at St Mary’s University, Twickenham where they were helping a group of young people to play wheelchair rugby. The children, of various ages all faced different and sometimes complex challenges in their own lives, with a range of physical and educational needs. The way our team managed this was an inspiration to anyone who watched. This is our BT youth programme in action and there is no question that this programme has the potential to provide enjoyment and development opportunitie...
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The Rugby Family

Today we have been at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff where the first of our BT Youth teams were presented to the media. The team is part of the Ospreys club and is also being supported by the Welsh Rugby Union who kitted them out in the famous red of Wales. It was great to experience the sheer joy and the confidence that wheelchair rugby is giving to the boys and girls and also to see how excited they are about taking part in the BT Community Festival in October. It was also very special that the GB coaches and squad joined us for the launch. It meant a lot to the young players to be able to throw a ball around with our international athletes, and at such a busy time for the GB squad it w...
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Lots of Summer Fun

Some of you will have seen the news today and the discussion which has started about the future funding of sport //www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/33767555. Although there is lots of talk about disappointing participation figures and a failure of the 2012 legacy, we are bucking the trend, and achieving our growth and increase in clubs through the success of our strategy and the hard work of our development team and many volunteers – thank you everyone! We cannot be complacent though. If we want to enjoy the benefits of exchequer and lottery funding it is important that we continue to look ahead and find new ways of attracting new faces into our game, an...
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European Championship Squad Announced

Congratulations to Jim, Ayaz, Jamie, Mandip, Ross, Gavin, Coral, Chris, Alan, Bulbul, Johnny and Mike, all who have been selected to represent GB at the European Championships in Finland. Chris Ryan will captain the squad with Gavin Walker as Vice-Captain. This is a strong line up and we wish them well as they prepare themselves for the most important tournament GB has played since ...
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