RUGBY LEAGUE will have a birthday celebration this weekend, with the first Rugby League Cares Charity Round marking 131 years since the Northern Union breakaway from the Rugby Football Union in August 1895.

RL Cares has been given permission by the RFL and RL Commercial to work with clubs and fans throughout the Charity Round to boost the Seriously Injured Players Fund.

Founded as the Benevolent Fund in 2005, in response to life-changing injuries suffered by the Moldgreen amateur Danny Scott and the London Broncos Academy player Matt King the previous year, the Seriously Injured Players Fund provides support for as long as it’s needed following such serious injuries.

It has supported dozens of players and their families over the last two decades, and continues to do so in many cases that remain confidential – thanks to the consistent generosity of the Rugby League public.

Beneficiaries include he likes of Jimmy Gittins, who will be one of four beneficiaries of the Seriously Injured Players Fund taking part in a gruelling physical challenge over the Charity Round.

Jimmy was a Trinity junior who went on to play at senior level for Dewsbury and also for a number of community clubs – including Sharlston, whose colours he was wearing when he suffered his own life-changing injury in 2002.

He talks movingly in the video RL Cares have produced for the Charity Round of how he knew immediately that this was serious, and how as he drifted in and out of consciousness, a doctor told him that although his life would never be the same, he must never lose hope.

He will be part of a four-man team riding from St Helens to Wigan this Thursday for the Hull KR game, and from Sharlston to the DIY Kitchens Stadium for Trinity v York on Saturday, in the Handcycle Challenge on Batec Wheelchair armbikes.

The challenge will take them to a dozen clubs and five matches from three competitions in the space of five days.

There will be an additional focus on the Brain Health Fund launched by RL Cares three years ago, which provides support to former players and their families and carers concerned about brain health issues, including appointments with Admiral Nurses through Dementia UK.

Adrian Morley, the Great Britain legend who is part of the Rugby League Cares team, said: “One of the things that’s made Rugby League great all through its history is the way people come together. Now we’ve got this chance in the Charity Round for the whole sport to come together, and to show our support for players who really need it.”