You may have heard of wheelchair rugby – the Paralympic version better known as ‘murderball’ but I bet you didn’t realise that there is a version of wheelchair rugby that YOU can play! Yes, you….anyone reading this can play wheelchair rugby. Of course, the Paralympic version (which is also incredibly exciting but some say isn’t really rugby as it uses a round ball) is just for seriously disabled athletes but wheelchair rugby 7’s is open to all.

Anyone can play: male, female, children, youths, adults, disabled, able-bodied, those recovering from injuries, those totally new to rugby, families, experienced rugby players – all participating together. The game is so inclusive and a superb workout for the upper body, especially the arms, shoulders and core muscles.

Would you like to give it a ‘try’?

Wheelchair rugby 7’s incorporates everything we know and love about rugby – the core values, lineouts, scrums, mauls, tackles, scoring tries, conversions, drop goals, grubbers, rugby posts and of course an ovoid shaped rugby ball! France is number 1 in the world with Italy 2nd, Ireland 3rd but England (featuring 2 Kent international players) have made rapid progress over the past 12 months and recently won the home nations beating Ireland in the final game.

There are wheelchair rugby clubs all over the country but only one in the south-east in Gravesend. We want more clubs and more interested people willing to give it a go. You’ll never know how much fun it is until you ‘try’ it and like we said, this game is open to all!

So, get in touch with Jason Owen from Gravesend RFC (wheelchair.rugby@yahoo.co.uk) if you’d be interested in giving the game a try or setting up a club within your club or getting together a group of 6 others from your club (remember – any age, male or female, disabled and / or able-bodied, etc) to enter a South England festival. Not only will this look good for your community links, your club could end up being crowned champions and/or some of your players may get selected for England trials or you’ll just have a great day doing something totally different.