For some time now we as a sport have been discussing the different forms of wheelchair rugby that have been growing up around us. These forms include Wheelchair Rugby 7s – and we have seen more than one form of this, the Invictus form of the game and Wheelchair Rugby League , I am sure there are more. Many of these forms have benefited from the investment we have made to raise the profile of our game – in effect they have gained from the media we have generated from our various programmes we have delivered around the country and the interest shown in the international game, especially during and post London 2012. This has resulted in the term ‘wheelchair rugby’ becoming synonymous with any wheelchair sport that calls itself rugby and that is not always to our advantage. As we know variants can be radically different from the Paralympic version and at least one variant involves an oval ball and is much more aligned to able bodied rugby union. As our sport continues to attract interest and grow, we can expect the demand for other variations of the game that can be played by people ineligible for the Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby to increase.
None of this is necessarily a bad thing. We as an NGB pride ourselves on being an inclusive sport and our mission as a charity is to provide the game for disabled people – this mission does not restrict the disability groups we can work with and over the past two years, funded by Sport England, we have been delivering our RugbyWheels programme to a wide range of groups. This programme has been incredibly successful in providing fun opportunities to a wide range of individuals and groups but it is not without its challenges. First amongst these is how we provide for regular opportunities to play for those who do not fit the current classification profile of our clubs and also how we train our coaches and staff to manage individuals with wide ranging needs whilst maintaining our commitment to providing safe and sound environments.
The issue of engagement with game variants was recently discussed by the IWRF Board when it met in London to review its strategy. ‘World Rugby’, (formally the International Rugby Board) the international body for rugby union also played an important role in these discussions. Following this the IWRF Board agreed to engage with variants of the game to ensure that the IWRF is the recognised governing body for wheelchair rugby world wide. Since then the International Paralympic Committee has confirmed that “in accordance with the IPC Constitution (section 4, article 4.1.3), the IPC can only grant membership to “an independent sport federation […] as the sole worldwide representative of a sport for athletes with a disability (impairment) that has been granted the status as a Paralympic sport by the IPC”. In addition the IPC has stated “IWRF was granted IPC membership at the 2011 IPC General Assembly in Beijing, China, and is since then the only organisation with the right to represent, before the IPC, rugby for people with an impairment.
In addition, World Rugby has resolved that IWRF will be recognised by World Rugby as the sole governing body for wheelchair rugby and its variants. World Rugby member Unions and the IPC has been informed of this position and any contact from other variants will now be referred to the CEO of the IWRF.
The significance of the above is that there is now an even more pressing reason for we as an NGB to engage more proactively with all other variants of our sport with the exception of wheelchair rugby league which itself is fully integrated and recognized by Rugby League International Federation. We as GBWR will be considering how best to do this and how to build on our current work to deliver more wheelchair rugby in more forms to more people than ever before, without threat to our core game. In doing so it is worth listening to Duncan Campbell, a founder of Wheelchair Rugby and an IWRF Board Member who recently said, “It was inevitable that someone would eventually come up with a game which more closely resembles able bodied rugby. As they develop we need to respect their desire to play the game. The IWRF needs to be involved with these game variants for a couple of reasons. One, to help another emerging sport develop through sharing our experience, and two, to ensure the game we have developed is maintained and protected as the Paralympic Sport that it has become.”
David Pond
Chief Executive
