Rugby League Cares and Sport Cares are delighted that Jenny Meadows has become a Trustee as part of a significant reorganisation and expansion of the charities.
The election of Jenny, who has become a world-renowned and award-winning athletics coach following her career as a multiple medal-winning middle-distance runner, follows the decisions of Sir Kevin Sinfield and Neville Smith to stand down as trustees for personal reasons earlier this year.
Sir Kevin, who joined the RL Cares Board of Trustees in October 2021 shortly after receiving the OBE, will continue as an ambassador for the charities.
Rugby League Cares and Sport Cares will continue to deliver the range of services across the sport of Rugby League that have developed since the foundation of the Rugby League Benevolent Fund in 2005, and of RL Cares in 2012.
This will include player care across the sport through a network of specialists at the Super League clubs, while the Benevolent Fund as originally founded in 2005 has now been renamed the Seriously Injured Players Fund to provide greater clarity of its purpose – sitting alongside the Brain Health Fund, which was founded in 2023, as part of Rugby League Cares.
The new Sport Cares brand for the charity reflects the expansion of Rugby League Cares into other sports and community and workplace settings over the last decade, including significant partnerships with Movember’s Ahead of the Game programme and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
A number of announcements regarding Sport Cares are scheduled for this autumn, with a special event confirmed for Speaker’s House in the House of Commons in November.
The Rugby League Cares and Sport Cares team has already been strengthened by the appointment of Sarah Rostron to a new role as Head of Personal and Professional Development, working alongside Steve McCormack, who has a new title as Director of Player Care.
In addition James Clare, a former three-quarter with three Super League clubs who has since moved into education with support from the Rugby League Cares transition programme, has been appointed Careers Advisor for the charities.
Ian Hardman, another former three-quarter with Super League experience although the majority of his playing career was spent in the Championship with Featherstone Rovers before he became head of their Foundation, has joined the team of Sport Cares practitioners which is headed up by the former internationals Keith Senior and Bob Beswick.
Tim Adams MBE, the Chair of the Rugby League Charities’ Trustees, said:
“We are thrilled and privileged to welcome Jenny Meadows to our Board. An outstanding athlete in her own right, her success since retirement in a number of fields – education, media and of course coaching, including recognition as Coach of the Year at the BBC's 2024 Sports Personality Awards – is a perfect fit for our priority of player care, whether during or after their careers.
“Jenny is also a Wiganer, as she was quick to remind us at her first meeting, which means she is well aware of the special qualities of Rugby League and its unique place in the communities in which it is established.
“We are hugely grateful to the dedication and commitment which Sir Kevin Sinfield and Neville Smith have shown to the charities as trustees – and we are delighted that Sir Kevin will maintain his relationship as an ambassador.
“We are proud that the development of Rugby League Cares over the last decade has been a huge success story for the sport, and our reorganisation and evolution is a recognition of that.
“The plans and possibilities for the next 12 months and beyond are so exciting, both for our charities and for the sport of Rugby League.”
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