West Wales sides lead way for integrated rugby

The Llanelli Warriors has been named the winner of the Ability Rugby International Participation Championship.

Ability Rugby International is the Federation of mixed ability rugby sides who include players with and without disability.  Last season, 21 teams from across 7 nations were involved in the Championship, the Llanelli Warriors edging out Yorkshire side the Bumble Bee Barbarians and local rivals Swansea Gladiators who came third ahead of teams from Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Argentina.

The competition is unique in that it rewards participation higher than winning, and the Warriors, who played 21 times including the Mixed Ability Rugby World Tournament, were clear winners.

Warriors Captain Andrew Davies said “It’s fantastic, it’s a great reward for all the effort the boys have put in.  We’ve worked hard across the season but this has made it all worth it.”

Coach Gwilym Lewis said “We feel we’ve set a bench mark for what integrated sides can achieve and hopefully this will encourage other teams to set up and play frequently.  The Warriors is all about giving people rugby experience and the trophy is an acknowledgment of how well we’ve done. It’s a lot for a young one team club like ours to manage 21 fixtures and we also held our annual 7s tournament.  It wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our families and sponsors like Perthyn and Shoreline.”

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WRU Head of Rugby Participation, Ryan Jones, presented the trophy to the side following their game at Betws RFC. He said, “This is a fantastic achievement for Llanelli Warriors. They are a tremendous example of rugby at its inclusive best, showing what rugby can bring to players with and without disability, and uniting communities.”

Gwilym Lewis added, “Integrated teams have found that not only has rugby helped with obvious benefits to fitness, strength and coordination but has had many other benefits for the players involved. The social aspect has been important.  For players with a learning difficulty, social exclusion is a big issue and for non-disabled players, it can be difficult to meet people with a disability.  Rugby has a strong social tradition with teams mingling after games.  Respect has been learnt from team mates who rely on each other, from opponents who witness first hand someone’s ability and from the wider rugby family, which at all levels has a mutual respect for anyone taking part in such a physical game.   The emphasis changes from what disability someone has, to what abilities they have – running, jumping, passing tackling.  From this respect, players have gained confidence and social skills.  Their social and support network expands and they become known, not as, ‘the disabled boy’, but – ‘the wing’, ‘the prop’ or even ‘the singer’.”

The club has established a reputation as a side that wants to play, organising an extra match for themselves at the Mixed Ability Rugby World Tournament and playing on consecutive games on their Yorkshire tour. The award has set the seal on the club’s 20th season which also saw them featured on the Scrum V TV program and play their 250th fixture.

The Swansea Gladiators almost made it a Welsh double, narrowly missing out to the Bumble Bees. The Gladiators are the oldest integrated club and are about embark on their 25th season.
This is the second season of the championship but the number of teams involved has jumped from eight to 21, and there is interest from several other clubs and groups in setting up a mixed ability side.