Category: Wheelchair Rugby News

Lions players at the Invictus Games

We congratulate our Lions player Jules Allen and past team player Dave Wilkinson on their amazing achievements at this year’s Invictus Games in the Hague – coming home with the silver medal for Team UK, narrowly missing out on gold to the team from the US.

When asked about what it meant to Jules, his response was, “Wheel chair rugby changed my life when Paul Jenkins (who was holding a help for heroes sports tester day at Bath university) and said the magic words ..you have potential .. from that moment I started to learn and love this amazing sport because it freed me from my mobility issues due to 3 spinal operations. I see the smiles from team mates and teams playing this great sport. To be part of Invictus Team UK wheelchair rugby squad was an amazing inspirational experience and to play as a team was even better. Yes we achieved the silver medal but we all won gold by just being selected to represent our country again. Thanks to Help for Heroes, the Royal British Legion and BAE Systems who supported us. We were all able to achieve our goals and now is the time to reach back and help others.”

The wider team at Bournemouth Wheelchair Rugby is now set to benefit as Jules has agreed to help coach at Bournemouth Lions. Becky Hill, Chair of Bournemouth Wheelchair Rugby said, “We are delighted to have Jules as part of our coaching team, so we can all learn from his experience and expertise. The camaraderie shown at the Invictus Games is so compelling and we certainly agree with Jules’s sentiments and share his love of the sport.”

If you’d like to find out more about wheelchair rugby and Bournemouth Lions, do get in touch. We are always open to new players and would welcome anyone with any kind of physical disability to come and give it a try. Our senior team trains on a Sunday between 10am and 1pm, at Rossmore Leisure Centre in Poole, followed by our juniors until 3pm. Anyone, both male and female, aged 8 and above (no upper age limit) is welcome and any new player can get 4 free taster sessions. Volunteers welcome too, to come and help out with physio, coaching and general lifting and shifting!

Job Opportunity – Business Development Manager

Business Development Manager

Bournemouth Rugby is an established Community Rugby Club, offering Rugby to all ages from watching to taking part. Over the years since its foundation in 1893, Bournemouth Rugby has built up a reputation for being accessible to everyone. Currently the club has 24 teams from Little Lions starting at 2 years old, Youth, Girls, Adults, Ladies, Touch and Wheelchair Rugby

We are seeking a Business Development Manager to join our successful team. The successful candidate will be responsible for the generation of partnerships for the club, in line with budgets and club strategy.

The successful Business Development Manager will need the following qualifications, experience, and attributes:

  • Proven Business Development Manager, capable of achieving sales goals and targets
  • Highly personable character who builds long term relationships
  • Able to produce new sales opportunities through lead generation and lead conversion
  • Long term and big picture thinker, considerate of club wide objectives
  • Contacts within key organisations that can be utilised to create business development prospects will be advantageous

Role Summary

  • Pro-actively sourcing potential partners
  • Sustain and grow partnership revenue income
  • Developing and presenting creative and bespoke partnership proposals
  • Seek opportunities for existing partners to increase levels of engagement and partnership
  • Management, direction, and delivery of all incumbent partners’ contractual rights
  • Ensuring all partners are integrated and achieve their business objectives
  • Establishing a permanent market presence
  • Ongoing management sales leads to help achieve annual business objectives and revenue targets

️Key Tasks and Activities

  • Develop leads with prospective contacts across the industry network
  • Create activation proposals for partners that align with their strategy
  • Represent Bournemouth Rugby at Networking Events and attendance at 1st XV Team Home Match Days
  • Creatively use partnerships assets to build and demonstrate innovative marketing programs and materials which add genuine value to potential clients
  • Develop bespoke presentations, including market research and data to build powerful and persuasive proposals based on the marketing objectives and the business needs of potential clients
  • Keep abreast of all actions being undertaken by others in connection to partnership activities
  • Be a point of contact internally and externally for the management of all partner related activity
  • Ensure all internal teams are fully aware of all campaign activities of sponsors
  • Manage all contractual rights and work with sponsors to deliver their activation rights
  • Oversea the sponsorship team, (as or when people are in post), in line with Bournemouth Rugby policies, procedures and values

Role Commercial Terms

Location
Home Working, with travel required to meet all stakeholders

Hours
As required

Contractual Status
Freelance (Attractive Commission Terms)

Find out more and apply

To apply and find out more information email our Operations Manager Gemma Buchanan with a convering letter and CV at operations@bournemouth-rugby.co.uk

Cycle Paths support the team with maintenance of chairs

Bournemouth Lions Wheelchair Rugby are delighted that Cycle Paths have come on board to support the team, helping with maintenance of their rugby wheelchairs. With many of their chairs being over 5 years old the club’s chairs are in dire need of an overdue service and repair. Being a dynamic contact sport, the rugby chairs take quite a bashing and the team can go through multiple tyres and inner tubes during a training session and even more at competitions. Becky Hill, Bournemouth Wheelchair Rugby Chair said, “The assistance and sheer man hours provided by Cycle Paths is a god-send, meaning our chairs will be fit to use for many years to come. New chairs cost over £3k so maintaining our current stock is an utmost imperative. On behalf of the club I’d like to thank Matt Banks, Company Director at Cycle Paths, for supporting us, getting our chairs fit for purposes again and for sourcing parts at competitive prices for us.”

Round 2 WR5’s Premiership

Last Sunday saw the Lions take to the court again in the second round of the WR5’s Premiership League at Stoke Mandeville. The Lions improvement between the last two rounds has been huge and tremendously pleasing with the performance across all games. Our results were very much closer this round, taking all teams close and recovering from a 7 point deficit against the Maulers at half time.

Results from Round 1:

Lions V Ospreys – 14-21

Lions v Maulers – 14-19

Lions v Hawks – 6-21

Lions v Leicester Tigers – 9-21

Results from Round 2 (Sunday 31/10/21):

Lions v Ospreys – 10-16

Lions v West Country Hawks – 18-20

Lions v Stoke Mandeville Maulers – 16-18

Lions v Tigers – 10-19

Rob Emery said “They can have more talent and speed but it’s proper hard to beat someone that doesn’t give up. It’s like Rocky Balboa says, it’s not about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep getting up. That’s how winning is done!! Our time in the sun will come soon, let’s keep hustling Lions.”

Tremendous efforts yesterday at Stoke Mandeville. Much improved performance and so we look forward to the final leg at the end of this month.

The WR5s Summer League runs during the Super Series off season, meaning that wheelchair rugby is played throughout the year. Those that are observant will see numbers of the back of the players chairs in the image above. This is to categorise the players into functional ability. The WR5’s has a different system to that of the Paralympic version, allowing more abled players to play, the principles are very similar

In Paralympic wheelchair rugby, players are assessed into seven classes: 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 points. The lower level points indicate less functional ability and the higher points indicate greater functional ability. Men and women both play the sport, and they play on the same team. There are no separate events for men and women.

Only four players are on the court at any given time. The total points on the floor for a team cannot exceed 8, but this maximum is increased by 0.5 points for every female on the court. This is done in order to insure parity in athletic ability on the court at any given time.

In the WR5’s, 5 players allowed on court at anyone time with a total of 10 points allowed.

This Sunday the Lions are hosting a taster session for both Senior and Cubs players. We welcome anyone with any disability, you don’t have to be a wheelchair user! The taster session takes place at Rossmore Leisure Centre, Poole. The Senior’s (18 and over) starts at 10:30 whilst the Cubs (8-17) starts at 1pm.

We will be welcoming members and veterans from Help for Heros some of which will be trying wheelchair rugby for the first time. Lastly we would like to make a give a special thank you to our sponsors Grinning Dog records. We look forward to seeing you.

Lord’s Tavernier’s Junior Festival

Sunday 3rd October saw our Lion Cubs head off to Stoke Mandeville for the Lord’s Taverners Junior Festival to enjoy our first ever Juniors Festival. Playing against great Northampton Saints and Gloucester sides.

We got to welcome a new face in our side today and he slotted in like he has always been a part of the Pride. Well done Hadley

The cherry on the cake was The Cubs (And Adults) meeting Aaron Phipps GBWR, gold medal winning Paralympian from the Tokyo Paralympic Games. Massive thank you to for coming along to spend time with the Cubs and parents.


Bournemouth Wheelchair Rugby welcome all new players whatever your ability. Come along on a Sunday, adults 10:30 – 1pm and cubs from 1pm – 3pm, at Rossmore Leisure Centre, Poole. Or contact us wr.coach@bournemouth-rugby.co.uk

Thank you to Grinning Dog Records for all your support and keeping us going.
9:00 am

West Country Hawks vs Bournemouth Lions

10:20 am

Bournemouth Lions vs OSPREYS

11:40 am

Leicester Tigers vs Bournemouth Lions

1:40 pm

Bournemouth Lions vs Stoke Mandeville Maulers

Steve Bernard Foundation Charity Draw

Saturday 25th September saw the conclusion for the Charity Draw after the 1st XV home match against Drybrook. Bournemouth Rugby had joined together with the Steve Bernard Foundation to raise money for the club and the foundation. A massive thank you to everyone who supported this and we are delighted to announce that we raised £1,920.

The Steve Bernard Foundation was set up in memory of the affectionately named Stevie B following his tragic passing in a car accident in November 2005. Following his death, his family and friends were inundated with support and donations. It seemed right, even in the earliest stages that these funds should go to that which Steve loved best, Sport.

Since the foundation was formed in February 2006, it has gone on to raise more than £450,000 for sporting projects based across Bournemouth, Dorset and the South Coast. To date, the foundation has supported more than 400 projects covering more than 30 sports and 4 continents.

The foundation, run entirely by volunteers, has offered guidance, financial support and predominantly equipment to a range of good causes ranging from supporting the AFC Bournemouth Ability Counts Team to potential Olympic athletes of the future; from providing new kit to local boxing clubs to funding outreach projects in Thailand, Uganda and Kenya.

Everything which has been achieved has been guided by Steve’s memory and an incredible passion for sport. We love what we do and we would love for you to join us on our journey.

For more information visit www.stevebernardfoundation.com

Prize Ticket Winner
1st Charlie Ewels England Shirt 0552 Leigh Hancox
2nd Photoshoot DK Capture Photography 4531 Edward Foster
3rd £100 Primere Voucher 4513 Charles Browne
4th Johnny Wilkinson Montage 4559 Simon Hortop
5th Rugby Polo Shirt 5013 Warren East
6th Wine and Chocolates 4705 Adam Higgins
7th Ball and Kicking Tee 2053 Tank
8th Ball and Kicking Tee 2122 Laura Sinden
9th Bournemouth Rugby Gift Bag 4194 John Hortop
10th Bournemouth Rugby Gift Bag 5149 Brian Ford

WR5’s Squad for the season

In December 2019 we had 1 young man who joined the Lions as a Lion Cub. Since then we have grown from 1 to 3 to 5 and now we have around 12 kids that enjoy wheelchair rugby as part of The Lion’s Pride. These youngsters got their first taste of game action yesterday after 18 odd months of training through a pandemic. They have persevered and shown their fighting spirit. We are proud of how they played the game and represented themselves and the club with great distinction throughout the day yesterday. Both teams were a credit to their clubs. Thank you to Endeavour Punishers for getting a youth team together to make this happen.
Sunday was a day of epic battles and the ladies were not going to be left out. Our Lionesses played some great wheelchair rugby in a ladies-only game and as always played with tremendous heart. So amazing to see so many ladies enjoying the game we all love and play and who knows maybe another gold medal Paralympian lady in the near future.

Next up is the WR5’s Premiership, playing on Sunday 26th September 2021. It is with great pleasure that we announce our WR5’s Squad for the season.

Alan Stevenson

Andrew McEvoy

Becky Hill

Craig Beasley

Dave Jolliffe (Captain)

Grace Capaldi

Neelkanth Jadhav

Paul Sutherland

Chantel Emery

Charlie Holford

Congratulations to you all!!! I know you will represent the club and yourselves well. Thank you to Grinning Dog Records for your continued support.
9:00 am

West Country Hawks vs Bournemouth Lions

10:20 am

Bournemouth Lions vs OSPREYS

11:40 am

Leicester Tigers vs Bournemouth Lions

1:40 pm

Bournemouth Lions vs Stoke Mandeville Maulers

Weekend’s matches will be a timely warm-up to the 5s League

After a year of no competitive matches we are super excited to have fixtures back in the diary this month. We always enjoy our Lions vs Endeavour Punishers match ups and as an added bonus we are adding a junior fixture to the derby this time around. Lions play the team from Plymouth on 12th September from 10.30 am at Rossmore Leisure Centre and The Lion Cubs will clash with the Little Punishers, in a day of heightened anticipation, given the successes of our national side in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

This weekend’s matches will be a timely warm-up to the 5s League commencing on 26th September in Stoke Mandeville. The Lions will compete in the Premiership against top teams from West Country Hawks, Leicester Tigers, Ospreys, and Stoke Mandeville Maulers.

Annual General Meeting

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – FINAL CALLING NOTICE

1900hrs – WEDNESDAY 8th September 2021

ONLINE VIA ZOOM

Unfortunately, we are unable to hold the AGM at Chapel Gate this year so the AGM will take place Online via ZOOM.

The meeting will be open to all members. Please register to attend by emailing Becky Hill at secretary@bournemouth-rugby.co.uk, your membership will be verified and log on details will be sent out to you.

We hope you can join us. If you need support setting up ZOOM before the meeting, please do get in touch.

Please find attached:

We would welcome questions in advance even if you are unable to attend the AGM. If you have any questions please send these to Becky Hill secretary@bournemouth-rugby.co.uk

After registering and verification of membership, you will receive a confirmation email with joining instructions and relevant documents. If you have not yet purchased your membership for this season you can log into GMS via the login at the bottom of this email to purchase. If you have any issues with this please email Gemma so we can assist you membership@bournemouth-rugby.co.uk

If you no longer wish to receive information from Bournemouth Rugby please email operations@bournemouth-rugby.co.ukand we will remove you from our mailing list.

Bournemouth Rugby and Grinning Dog Records announce the renewal of their partnership

Bournemouth Wheelchair Rugby and Grinning Dog Records are delighted to announce the renewal of their partnership for the 21-22 season.

Grinning Dog Records, a family-run local record label based in beautiful Dorchester, has generously agreed to a 2nd year partnership with our Wheelchair Rugby team.

Wheelchair Rugby Chair and Honorary Secretary Becky Hill said “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Grinning Dog Records back as our headline partner for the 2nd year running. The support Grace and Nick [Grinning Dog Records] have provided us is fantastic and we are truly appreciative.

It is an exciting time for our Wheelchair Rugby team, we are growing immensely with the launch of our new youth squad which is going from strength to strength. Adding to this, our governing body GBWR has announced Wheelchair rugby is back and we are now permitted to resume training without any restrictions. Which is amazing news for all our players, particularly during the challenges we have all had to face, and will allow us to grow further”

Grinning Dog Records Director Grace Capaldi and Wheelchair Rugby player added “As a family-run record company we are passionate about supporting the club and excited to be growing with them. Like the club, we have sensational times ahead with the opening of our own purpose-built boutique recording studio, set to open this summer, more live events and so many more artists becoming involved.

We have welcomed new artists to the label including Ruffdog Elliott, who has recently released a new album, ‘Letters In The Rain’ in aid of Roy Castle Lung Foundation, and our very own Nick [Grinning Dogs Director and Artist] will be playing live at various local events.

To say it is an exciting time is an understatement, and we are so pleased to be supporting the club again.”

Unrestricted training has resumed at Rossmore Leisure Centre, Herbert Avenue, Poole on Sundays between 10am and 3pm (10am-1pm for adults and 1pm-3pm for juniors) and welcomes new members.

If you want to find out more about the Lions or are interested in joining check out their Facebook page or email: wheelchair.rugby@bournemouth-rugby.co.uk