Thank You!
That’s the message from Rugby League Cares to everyone who supported the first sport-wide Charity Round over the Bank Holiday weekend – including the cyclists who pushed themselves to the limit to raise money for the Seriously Injured Players Fund.
Three long-term beneficiaries of the Fund - Jimmy Gittins, Ryan Glynn (pictured above with Sam Burgess) and Pete Stephenson - defied their injuries and the traditionally grim Bank Holiday weather to pedal Batec armbikes around the Rugby League heartlands over five gruelling days.
In total they visited more than a dozen clubs from all levels of the sport from Haydock to Hull, and Wakefield to Workington - with Jimmy accompanied by his teenage son Jed throughout the ride, and John Power and his son Jordan joining the team on Friday and Saturday in West Yorkshire.
The Just Giving donation pages are still open for the cyclists Seriously Injured Players Fund is fundraising for RFL Benevolent Fund and the invitation for Rugby League fans to donate £2 to the Fund over the Charity Round Seriously Injured Players Fund is fundraising for RFL Benevolent Fund
Thanks to the generosity of separate bucket collections and initiatives around the sport over the weekend – Wigan on Thursday night, Castleford on Friday, Dewsbury, Wakefield, West Hull and Hull FC on Saturday, the Cumbrian derby at Workington on Sunday and the 1895 Cup Final on Bank Holiday Monday – more than £11,000 has already been raised.
Francis Stephenson, the General Manager of the Seriously Injured Players Fund, said:
“After a week or so to reflect on the Charity Round – and to recover from a pretty hectic weekend – we think it’s been a massive success.
“Obviously there was a fund-raising focus, and we are so grateful to the Rugby League family who clicked on the links, or put their hard-earned money in buckets, to show their support for the tiny minority of players who will inevitably suffer life-changing neck and spinal injuries in such a challenging sport.
“But we had other aims in introducing the Charity Round. We wanted to raise awareness of the Seriously Injured Players Fund, 21 years after it was launched as the Rugby League Benevolent Fund – and especially to make the point that it’s there to support the whole sport, and that the majority of the players it has helped have suffered their injuries in the community game.
“And that’s why our other priority was to bring the sport together, over the August weekend when we also celebrate the birth of Rugby League through the Northern Union breakaway in 1895. For everyone involved in the cycling challenge around the heartlands of the game, it was the warmth of the welcome we received from community clubs – Siddal, Sharlston, Thornhill, West Hull, Orrell St James, Haydock and Lowca up in Cumbria – which will stick in our minds as much as the privilege of signing the condolences book for Sir Billy Boston in Wigan, or for Jimmy Gittins to carry out the match ball for Wakefield’s game against York.
“It’s been truly uplifting for us to receive such great support from clubs and fans at all levels of the sport – a reminder of the unique qualities of Rugby League.”
The Seriously Injured Players Fund was launched as the Rugby League Benevolent Fund in 2005, and for the last 21 years it has raised significant funds to assist in the rare instances of life-changing neck or spinal injuries occurring on the field of play, at any level of the sport.
It sits alongside a number of other Funds also administered by Rugby League Cares including the Brain Health Fund, which was launched in 2023 with a focus on research into issues around brain health in Rugby League, and also provides free consultations with Dementia UK for all current and former professional players.