Wheelchair Juniors Make History

06th June 2013, 9:59

On Sunday June 2nd, history was made at Pent Valley Leisure Centre, Folkestone when it hosted the first ever Junior Wheelchair Rugby League Fixture. Rugby League welcomed a new club into the family in the form of Folkestone Spitfires.

The Spitfires were formed by former Medway Dragon Travis Sharpe in late 2012 when the Sharpe family wanted to spread the game of Wheelchair RL so it was fitting that their first fixture was against the Dragons.

A fantastic spectacle from start to finish was a reward for all the hard work put in to form the new club. Chairwoman Mel Court was delighted saying: “It was a fantastic day. All the youngsters performed really well and more importantly there was smiles on everyone‘s face, we can’t wait to take to the court again!

“I would like to thank the Dragons for all their support in helping to get us of the ground and also AAdam and Trevor Barnett (coaches of Folkestone Spitfires) who have been fantastic all the way through”

The match is believed to be a world first and England Assistant Coach Mark Roughsedge hopes that this will be start of a new trend across the country: “This is a real shot in the arm for the sport, there is no better way of us improving as a national side than to have more people playing the game and growing the talent pool, The fact that the newest club is a junior side is huge, it goes without saying that the longer a person plays a sport the better they become at it.”

The match was played at a ferocious pace and the spectators remained on the edge of their seats throughout, with the game in the balance until the final whistle. The Dragons, led by Ben Richardson, took an early lead with two tries from Dan O’Brien.

The Spitfires hit back with two scores of their own, Pia Sharpe claiming the historic first try for the home side. The teams went into half time tied at 8-8.

The early exchanges of the second half mirrored the first as the Dragons registered an early score. The crowd didn’t have to wait long for the next score as skipper Sharpe went in out wide to level things up once again.

The game was heading for a thrilling climax with both sides exchanging scores and the Spitfires coming close to snatching the game in the last set but it ended all square 16-16.

Wheelchair Rugby League is unique in that it offers both disabled and non-disabled players of both sexes and a wide age range the opportunity to compete both with and against each other on a level playing field created by the use of wheelchairs with some slight adaptations of the rules of Rugby League.

Those rules are:

• Five players in each team with tries scored in exactly the same way as in Rugby League
• Conversions scored by punching the ball from a tee over mini-RL posts
• Tackles are made as in Tag RL by taking the attached tag or flag
• Five tackles are followed by handing over the ball to the opposition
• Offside, knock-on and in touch applies as per Rugby League


Spitfires Training takes place every other Sunday 14.00-16.00 at
Pent Valley Leisure Centre|The Kiln Lane|Folkestone|Kent|CT19 4PB
For more details visit the Spitfires Website: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/folkestonespitfires/

Medway Dragons Training takes place every Wednesday 19.00 at
Medway Park| Mill Road | Gillingham | Kent | ME7 1HF
Dragons website: www.medwaydragons.com Twitter: @medwaydragons

For further information on Wheelchair Rugby League in the South contact Rugby League development Officer Mark Roughsedge 07534986127 kentrfl@live.co.uk
Source : http://www.londonrugbyleague.co.uk