At Rugby School students are taught about service and giving back. The game of rugby football is very much a community sport that helps one another, it is therefore apt that for the bicentenary year Rugby School has established a new bursary in honour of William Webb Ellis:
1823 Bursary Fund
The 1823 Bursary Fund will offer means-tested places at Rugby School for boys or girls who show significant promise and aptitude for sport and a commitment to rugby football, with up to 100% of fees and essential extras available. The 1823 Bursary will open the doors of Rugby to young people, coming from the UK, with a real passion for the sport.
In addition, Rugby School has linked many of the events with a rugby-related charity so as to help them raise awareness and funds. Charities the School is proud to be supporting during this special anniversary year:
Wooden Spoon
The Wooden Spoon is a result of the woeful performance of England during the 1983 Five Nations Rugby Championship is where the story of our history begins.
After watching their side condemned to the bottom of the tournament table with a 25-15 defeat to Ireland at Landsdowne Road, five England supporters seeking solace in a Dublin bar were presented with a wooden spoon, wrapped in an Irish scarf, on a silver platter.
Accepting the gift with good humour and grace, the group – which included Wooden Spoon’s now-president Peter Scott – resolved to hold a golf match to see who would have the honour of keeping the tongue-in-cheek gift.
Just a few months later, the round at Farnham Golf Club in Surrey raised more than £8,500, with the money used to provide a new minibus for a local special needs school.
Stirred into action by a rugby routing, Wooden Spoon was born. Since then, we have been supporting children with disabilities, or facing disadvantage.
Matt Hampson Foundation
The Matt Hampson Foundation inspires and supports young people seriously injured through sport through its unique Get Busy Living centre in rural Leicestershire. The centre provides expert physiotherapy, specialist personal training, support, mentoring and advice to people suffering a life-changing injury.
The centre opened in 2018 and is the brainchild of founder and ex-England and Leicester Tigers rugby player Matt Hampson, who himself experienced a life-changing injury in 2005 leaving him paralysed from the neck down, aged just 20. The Matt Hampson Foundation helps people to recover and rebuild their lives following injury and get busy living again.
Cure Parkinson's
Cure Parkinson’s was set up in 2005 by four people living with Parkinson’s. Frustrated by the lack of progress in research or curative treatments, they set out to find a cure, focussing on research projects with the potential to slow, stop or reverse the progression of the condition.
Since then, the charity they started has made significant progress in the quest for a cure. Cure Parkinson’s has funded millions of pounds of research, made scientific discoveries and opened new avenues of research. Cure Parkinson’s has made enormous strides in involving people with Parkinson’s in research and given hope to many who are living with the condition. Their innovative approach – which has led to collaborations with the world’s leading researchers and their inspirational work, combined with the active support of thousands of people living with Parkinson’s around the world – is bringing us closer to a cure for Parkinson’s.
The Bradby Club
The Bradby Club is a charity youth organisation for young people of Rugby offering many services and voluntary opportunities.
The Bradby Club has supported young people at the centre of Rugby for over 100 years since its foundation by Rugby Schoolmaster Revd Canon Bonhote and retired housemaster G.F. Bradby in 1919. In truth, The Bradby Club was originally founded to provide the boys from the local estate with something positive to do and in doing so, stopping them stealing the fruit from the schoolmasters’ orchard. Times have changed but The Bradby ethos remains and we continue to provide young people aged from 8 to 24 with a safe, stimulating and welcoming atmosphere in which they can take part in education, social, cultural and recreational programmes of opportunities, challenges and experiences.
Dallagio RugbyWorks
Our mission is to ensure that all young people, especially from disadvantaged households, and who have been excluded from school, have an equal chance to be in education, employment or training post-18. Using rugby as a hook, we reengage them in education, and divert them from a life of crime. Above all, we ensure that each young person knows how they can make an impact on society, no matter how small, to leave it better than where they found it.
RFUIPF
The RFU Injured Players Foundation (IPF) provides immediate and lifelong support to rugby players, from grassroot to professional, who sustain a catastrophic spinal cord or traumatic brain injury through training or playing in England. The IPF also funds research into the causes and outcomes of serious injury within rugby, identifying the best ways to prevent and treat it.
Although life changing injuries are rare, when they happen it can be devastating. It is a great testament to the values of the game that when these injuries do occur, the rugby family is ready to offer the support needed for players and their families.
The IPF delivers this support at the time of injury, through rehabilitation and recovery, and if needed for the rest of the players life. At the time of injury the IPF will support by covering travel and accommodation expenses for family and loved ones, or supplying tablets for players to keep in touch with friends. Later, the IPF will support through a number of programmes designed to help injured players achieve their aspirations and remove any barrier to progress. Programmes like…
Living Well – An overarching programme looking at every aspect of an Injured Player’s welfare and wellbeing. Support can include specialist rehabilitation and therapy, to equipment and housing adaptations.
Pathways – Is designed to help injured players achieve their vocational objectives, whether that is returning to work or education, or volunteering and having a higher involvement in their community.
Engage – Aims to encourage injured players to get socially and physically engaged in activities which build confidence and aspirations. Working with other charity partners, it uses a variety of activities, from sailing on tall ships to shooting or skiing.
This level of support would not be possible without the generous support of the whole rugby community. Thank you.
If you would like to learn more about the RFU Injured Players Foundation or to make a donation please visit www.rfuipf.org.uk.
Atlas Foundation
The Atlas Foundation exists to directly care, support and guide deprived children towards a better future. It is a launchpad for good that enables local projects round the world to make a tangible impact on the daily lives of young people in severe poverty and danger.
Children that Atlas aims to help are subjected to horrifying suffering whether it be malnourishment and disease, sex trafficking and rape, and extreme inequality and violence. Through health, education, and gender inclusion programmes and a large number of rugby initiatives, The Atlas Foundation and it’s partners provide safe havens offering food, clean water, teaching, coaching and guidance.
Founded & led by Rugby World Cup Champion Jason Leonard OBE, The Atlas Foundation’s work is led by the core rugby values of Integrity, Hard Work and Respect, and the Atlas Foundation is committed to getting practical help directly to those who need it. Over 160,000 children have been supported in 17 countries.