Inclusive Rugby Programme nominated for URC Community Impact Award

• 6 Dec 2022
• News

Edinburgh Rugby and its Community Team has this week been nominated for the inaugural United Rugby Championship Unity Awards which recognise the great work done by players and teams within their communities and for charitable causes.

The club’s Inclusive Rugby Programme has been put forward for the Community Impact Award with the Edinburgh Rugby Inclusive Team now in their second season at DAM Health Stadium.

Inclusive Rugby involves both able bodied players and those with a physical or learning disability, playing in one unified outfit.

The Edinburgh Rugby Inclusive Team train and play their fixtures at the home of Edinburgh Rugby – DAM Health Stadium – while the squad is backed by Main Club Partner, Scottish Building Society.

The Unity Awards are sponsored by the CVC Foundation and the new awards are part of URC’s Take on Tomorrow campaign, which looks to inspire change through the power of rugby.

The winners of these awards will receive £5,000 from the CVC Foundation to invest in their community programme.

With the Community Impact Award, the nominees are the Cell C Sharks, Dragons RFC, Edinburgh Rugby, the Ospreys, the Vodacom Bulls and Cardiff Rugby for various programmes they have undertaken in their areas.

The Cell C Sharks set up the Hands of Hope campaign to help rebuild communities affected by the civil unrest in KwaZulu-Natal, while Dragons RFC are running 18 programmes through “Family of Provisions” encompassing sport, education, inclusion, community outreach, health and well-being.

Edinburgh Rugby’s Inclusive Programme involves both able bodied players and those with a physical or learning disability playing in one unified team, while Ospreys in the Community has positively impacted nearly 300,000 people’s lives through outreach programmes.

The Vodacom Bulls are supporting the Cancer Association of South Africa and PinkDrive by using rugby as a vehicle to address the need for easily accessible and more frequent cancer screenings, while Cardiff Rugby have established a Visually Impaired team, which plays in matches and inclusion festivals against a range of mixed ability teams.

The judging panel features World Cup final referee Nigel Owens, the CSR Manager at CVC Jane Howard, Sports Broadcaster Emma Dodds and URC Head of Operations Amy Monaghan.

The winners will be revealed on Wednesday 21 December, with the award presentations to the winning club or player taking place ahead of games in Round 10, just before Christmas.