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 was generous of them to support this.
For me today marked the start of the build up to what already feels like a real feast of rugby! With the Rugby World Cup, European Championships, BT Community Festival and BT WWRC15, all to savour over the coming weeks. We came away from the Stadium at lunch time to hear the announcement of the England squad and were delighted, though not surprised, to hear that our ambassador Mike Brown is in! – great news and congratulations to Mike. GBWR is helping to promote the Rugby World Cup and last weekend saw Bob O’Shea and Ian Hosking taking a wheelchair rugby session at Stoke Mandeville as part of the Rugby World Cup Trophy Tour which featured former England players Lawrence Dallaglio and Maggie Alphonsi. We are supporting more of these and also some of the Rugby World Cup Fan Zones where we will be giving people the chance to get in a chair and have a go at playing our game – events at Milton Keynes, Brighton and at St Mary’s Twickenham will be coming soon.
It’s just six weeks now before the start of BT WWRC15 and with still lots to do the pace is pretty hectic. Last week our broadcaster ITV visited the Copper Box Arena with a large production crew to take a good look at the venue and plan for where their cameras and equipment will be placed. The promotional films are now all made and we will start seeing them advertising the event on ITV4 at the end of September. Event Director Martyn Salt has been working with our marketing partners on the court design and colouring and I think we have something very special to look forward to! We now start the all important phase of the ticket campaign. You can help with this! Please take every opportunity to encourage everyone you know to get on the ticketmaster website and buy tickets for the event. Every one of us needs to be a sales person –this will be an incredible event – as good as, or better than, London 2012, but we need to have a venue which is full if we are to create the atmosphere the tournament and players deserve.
I titled today’s blog ‘the rugby family’. It is a special family to be part of, and I am pleased that by starting our youth programme today, we will enable others to experience and enjoy that ‘specialness’ that is unique to rugby, no matter what form of the game.
David Pond
