Last weekend Witney Rugby football club hosted the prestigious annual festival of tag rugby for special needs rugby teams. Clubs and schools from England, Wales and Ireland met for a weekend of competitive games, coaching and entertainment. Witney RFC have run the Witney Wolves special needs rugby squad for children aged 7-18 years for the last five seasons. Previous years have seen this event hosted at large venues such as Bristol, Belfast and Worcester so it was a great honour for the festival to come to Oxfordshire.
Friday evening saw teams arrive for some training in the rain and wind before a warming meal in the clubhouse. Paul Murphy the RFU President [England] was in attendance, and the club was delighted to have such strong backing from the RFU for the weekend in the form of loan of inflatable obstacle courses, skills games and the RFU dome.
Teams on Saturday arrived to glorious sunshine for a morning of skills training and coaching. Oxfordshire RFU provided their community rugby coaches and society referees to add further to the tournament.
At lunchtime the RAF Falcons swooped out of the sky, parachuting in on to the main pitch and met with the tournament players, parents and carers for photos and programme signing. Eynsham Morris Dancers entertained us through the afternoon including some interactive drumming from the Irish visitors!
Then the rugby really started with over 200 players from the 18 clubs and schools competing. With the emphasis on fun everyone had smiles on their faces, but with it showed determination, speed and skill levels that impressed supporters and visitors, and tries were scored at all levels. Teams are split into under and over 15 years age groups and then into different skill levels so all abilities can be included. A number of wheelchair children with their carers were involved and propelled around the pitches with great agility!
Medals were presented to all by Tony Toner from Airbus Military UK, the main tournament sponsor, Wing Commander Glyn Allcock, and Witney club President Pat Hall. The Fair Play cups went to The Hampshire Hurricanes in the under 15s category and The Newforge Taggers from Belfast in the over 15s category. Teams went on to enjoy a full BBQ banquet and the long awaited annual disco before departing back to their hotels for a well earnt rest!
The festival would not have been possible without a large amount of fundraising to meet the £20K budget for the weekend, and Witney RFC feel deeply indebted to all in the town, county and RFU who helped achieve this. The organisation was masterminded by Ian and Linda Paul from the Witney Wolves rugby squad whose energy and determination saw the festival achieve it’s aim of fun and inclusion for all!