RUGBY LEAGUE supporters and the wider community have been given an opportunity to provide concrete financial backing to the Seriously Injured Players Fund which – as the Rugby League Benevolent Fund – was launched 21 years ago.
Four of the fund’s recipients will, later this month, be undertaking a gruelling handcycle challenge on Batec wheelchair armbikes to help boost the coffers of an eminently worthwhile cause through the inaugural Rugby League Cares charity round.
Jimmy Gittins, Ryan Glynn, John Power and Pete Stephenson will visit twelve clubs, and take in five matches in three competitions, on the five-day adventure, which will open at the Betfred Super League clash between Wigan Warriors and Hull KR on Thursday, August 27 after the quartet have set off from St Helens’ Brewdog Stadium earlier that day.
Full details and timings of the route will be released over the next two or three weeks by the RFL. Current information is that, following the Wigan-Hull KR game, the party will cross the Pennines and, after visiting Sharlston (where Rovers player Gittins sustained his life-changing injury in 2002), Castleford Tigers’ OneBore Stadium and Featherstone Rovers’ Millennium Stadium, will head to Halifax-based Siddal prior to attending the Friday-evening match between Huddersfield Giants and Leigh Leopards.
On Saturday, August 29 – the birthday of Rugby League, the Northern Union having been launched in 1895 – the four will depart from Thornhill Trojans (the junior club of Gittins and Glynn) and pass Dewsbury Rams’ ground en route to Wakefield Trinity’s DIY Kitchens Stadium.
From there, the party will depart for Hull (and West Hull’s Johnny Whiteley Park) before moving on to the MKM Stadium, where Hull FC host Warrington Wolves in a Saturday-evening fixture.
Stephenson, a Hull FC supporter who played for West Hull for more than six seasons before sustaining a serious spinal cord injury in 2005 in his third game for Hull Dockers, has (like his three colleagues) responded in inspirational style and now holds a key administrative role as the RFL’s salary cap and registrations manager.
On the Sunday (August 30), the quartet head to the far north-west where, after visiting burgeoning grassroots outfit Lowca, the huge Cumbrian Betfred Championship derby between Workington Town and Whitehaven will continue a trip which will take in the latter’s Ortus REC ground.
A long weekend will be completed on Bank Holiday Monday, August 31, when a journey from Orrell St James via the Haydock club will end at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium for the 1895 Cup final between London Broncos and Widnes Vikings.
The Rugby League Benevolent Fund was formed following serious injuries suffered in 2004 by Danny Scott and the late Matt King OBE, while the Rugby League Cares charity round has been launched in partnership with Rugby League Commercial and the Rugby Football League to bring the sport together in support of both the Seriously Injured Players Fund and the Brain Health Fund.
Stephenson said: “As soon as we heard about the new charity round, we wanted to get involved. When we suffered our injuries, the Benevolent Fund was there for us and our families. It still is, through the Seriously Injured Players Fund, and it’s so important that the support remains available for players who suffer serious injuries.
“We all know Rugby League isn’t the richest sport, but we also know from personal experience that it has a unique spirit.
“We’ve seen that so many times over the 21 years since the Benevolent Fund was launched, and this charity round is a fantastic way of bringing the whole sport together – especially around the birthday of Rugby League on August 29.
“It’s going to be a tough challenge for us, but we’re excited by the prospect of getting around so many clubs and matches.
“Saturday is going to be special for me, especially the ride from West Hull to the MKM, and I know Jimmy’s just as pleased we’ll be going to Sharlston, Dewsbury and Wakefield.
“I think the whole weekend is going to be a celebration of the spirit of Rugby League.”
A Just Giving page has been opened and can be found here.