Asked by Clare Balding if there was a highlight of the Invictus for him, Prince Harry replied, ‘it would have to be Friday night’s wheelchair rugby final’. By any standard the wheelchair rugby tournament was an incredible success. Arguably the two most important indicators of success in sport is athlete experience and spectator satisfaction and Invictus triumphed at both. We saw wounded and injured service men and women from six nations playing a version of the game at an intensity and competitiveness which was no less than anything I have experienced at any other international wheelchair rugby event. The noise and the sheer joy of the Copperbox crowd took me back to the London 2012 experience. And the sport presentation was inspired. The celebrity match ahead of the final provided great entertainment for the crowd as they watched the likes of Prince Harry, Mike Tindall and Dame Kelly Holmes battle it out with other big name stars such as Jason Robinson and Denise Lewis. The presenters also played a key role involving the crowd and building their excitement. Having a strong GB team helped of course and you could not have scripted the final any better with GB taking the USA to the wire and winning by one point in the closing seconds. The crowd went wild and as Prince Harry commented, we saw the public at its best. The purists will say that it wasn’t the real game – classification was crude – matches were only 8 minutes each way on a running clock and the whole tournament was played over one day, but the truth is it worked, for both athlete and spectator and it is a brave person who ignores this fact. Invictus is here to stay, it will grow stronger and along with it the wheelchair rugby variant will also grow as nations play different versions of our game alongside the internationally recognised game we are all used to. The gauntlet of athlete and spectator satisfaction has been thrown down and as a sport we now need to grasp this and harness it for the wider benefit of the game before others who recognise its attraction and commercial value do.
GBWR played a major role in supporting the delivery of the Invictus wheelchair event and a big thank you to all who helped with this. I won’t single out individuals because many people helped in many different ways but I do want to congratulate Mike Spence and Paul Jenkins for coaching the GB Gold medal winning squad and also Rob Tarr and Ross Morrison for coaching Bronze medallists Denmark – a real achievement as they only had the team for a limited number of practices. Thank you also to Richard Allcroft who provided me and the organisers with his event and technical expertise.
Invictus has set the scene nicely for WWRC15 and along with Martyn Salt our Event Director I am working to ensure this event is another amazing experience for everyone who takes part or comes along to watch. Martyn has already got a WWRC15 website up and running which will continue to evolve over the coming weeks and months as tournament plans develop. This is a good place to point people to who are interested in the event: www.wwrc15.com.uk. He has also registered a Twitter account – @wwrc15. Invictus has proved that the Copperbox is a tremendous venue for such an event and all our clubs will get the chance to experience what it is like to play there as it will be the venue for the National Championships in May 2015. Alongside WWRC15 we will also be delivering a wider community programme where we will be working with London partners to build on the success of our RugbyWheels, youth and military programmes. I am pleased to report that we have been successful with our business case to Sport England who have agreed to help fund this programme. In the coming days we will be advertising for a new full-time role as WWRC15 Community Programme Manager. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who is passionate about our sport’s development and who is not afraid to deliver against some demanding targets.
Away from Invictus, the IWRF has announced the new divisional structure for Europe with three sanctioned tournaments. These will take place in 2015 with the ultimate goal of Paralympic qualification. GB automatically qualify for Division A and will play in a final competition in Pajulahti, Finland between 13-20 September 2015. This is a Rio 2016 qualification tournament with the top 2 teams going through so it is an important one for our GB squad who will be seeking to consolidate their current top European ranking.
Finally can I remind you that this year’s AGM is on 8 October in Leicester. The formal notification will be sent out on Wednesday 17th September but it is worth you noting your diary now. The AGM will be an important one as amongst other things we will be discussing changes to our Articles and Membership and Club Affiliation processes. This impacts on everyone and so it is important that we hear as many views as possible so that the sport continues to be shaped by you the members.
David Pond
