It may not get the coverage that traditional rugby gets outside of the paralympics, but for the members of the Cardiff Blue Dragons Wheelchair Rugby League Club, wheelchair rugby deserves top billing. A young club, catering for players of a wide range of ages and ability, in just over 18 months they have raised more than £400 with easyfundraising. We spoke to team manager, Karen, to find out more.
Tell us all about your team and the sport of Wheelchair Rugby League
We set up the team 4 years ago to introduce one of the most inclusive sports to South Wales. We’re one of only a handful of teams playing wheelchair rugby league in Wales, although it’s played more widely in England and Australia. Wheelchair rugby league is a closer relative of the running game than the other form of wheelchair rugby also known as murderball. It’s played with a size 4 rugby ball, requires backwards passes, and tries and conversions are scored. Tackles are made by removing tags from the shoulders of opponents.
It allows people of all ages, gender identification, disabilities (including mental health and neurodiversity) as well as able bodied to play on one team as long as they can self propel a wheelchair. This makes it one of the most inclusive sports available and allows families and others to play on one team with others around them. We have gone from an initial 3 players to 22 players now and are still growing. We believe strongly in not only physical health and putting the best team into fixtures, bit it’s also about mental health and wellbeing and enjoying the sport. We have some people attend that struggle even leaving their house day-to-day but they do come along regularly.
Currently our youngest member is 8 years old and oldest is 60. We have members who are able bodied, diabetics, neurodiverse, ME, hypermobility, amputees, loss of movement in lower limbs, asthma, COPD, anxiety, depression and other lesser known disabilities. The fact that we have whole families involved in the team as well as couples and individuals means it has allowed them to find things they can do together bridging the gap between ability and disability.
What do you need funding for?
Our estimated running costs based on all the thing we would like to do for the team are in the region of £16,500 per year. But as we currently don’t have access to anything like this amount it’s important we raise enough to get by and do the bare essentials as we currently are. We also need to raise funds in the future to purchase our own team wheelchairs at a total predicted cost of £25000. We fundraise in many ways on a small scale to keep the club running and do all we can to promote ourselves and do what grant applications we can in the hope of accessing funding. Annual runnings costs at the moment include:
- Hall hire alone is over £6,000 per year
- We offer reduced sub rates for children, students, couple and families
- Specialist wheelchairs for hire, on loan from Wales Rugby at a cost of £2,500 each
- Maintenance of the chairs is over £150 each year for tyres, bearings etc.
- Travel to fixtures – with limited teams playing the sport we have to travel quite far for matches, including van hire and fuel
Why did you join easyfundraising?
We train all year round to offer continuity and routine for those who find these things challenging, but we find accessing grants challenging due to the fact many don’t support hall hire costs and others only offer it to those clubs/teams catering to specific areas of need i.e. one age group or disability type. Therefore being inclusive hinders that access. We also are in one of the most deprived areas of Wales as well as working with some people depending on benefits.
I have personally used easyfundraising for many years, previously for a PTA I was part of. It provides a free source of income for us with minimal effort. We do all we can to promote it to get more people shopping in support of us.
What have the funds raised to date made possible?
To date our money raised has helped towards hall hire, our largest overhead. It has helped us be able to continue to offer sessions over the winter months at a time when many people find them dark and isolating. This has allowed them to access a source of physical and mental wellbeing to be accessed by people who may otherwise not have that vital support.
Is there a project or fundraising target you are raising towards currently?
Our next big project is to raise funds to start purchasing our own team specialist wheelchairs so we are not dependent on the loan equipment. At £2,500 each this is a big requirement as we can’t train or play without them but we will start trying to purchase one initially and work from there.
How do you promote easyfundraising around your team community?
We promote on our social media accounts. We have made use of the easyfundraising provided QR code to our cause page and have it on our exhibition boards and flyers. We also have wallet size cards made purely to promote easyfundraising. We find the best way to get people signed up though is word of mouth, we make sure we talk about how easy it is when at publicity events and networking sessions. We try and keep people updated with how much we have raised to keep them motivated.
What advice would you give other causes using easyfundraising?
Be open about what you offer and the challenges you face. Speak about how easy it is to sign up and use easyfundraising and promote regularly on social media using various different posts that are a mix of sharing from that which easyfundraising provide and posts specifically about the club and what the funding is going towards.
How you can support Cardiff Blue Dragons
What an incredible team, providing such an important activity and sense of community for all members and families. If you would like to get behind the team, you can support them every time you shop online by signing up to support them.
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