PRIME MINISTER Gordon Brown has given his backing to the Rugby Football Union’s Injured Players Foundation.Mr Brown hosted members of the England rugby squad
and the Great Britain wheelchair rugby team at No 10 Downing Street this afternoon to launch the new charity.Although catastrophic injuries in rugby union remain extremely rare (see below), the RFU takes its responsibility to former players who need ongoing support very seriously.The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP said: “I am incredibly grateful to the RFU for their work supporting players and their families when injury strikes and I want to thank everyone involved in the launch of this new foundation. “With a dedicated team at Twickenham working closely with spinal injury units and the NHS, the Injured Players Foundation is a fantastic initiative and one that I know will make an enormous difference to helping injured players to rebuild both their bodies and their lives.” England Team Manager Martin Johnson added: “The Injured Players Foundation is a superb initiative that will advance the previous good work of SPIRE (Support Paraplegics In Rugby Enterprise) and it has the full support of the England Senior Elite Player Squad. “A number of the squad will be visiting the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore tomorrow to meet patients, including injured players, to see the excellent medical care they receive and further visits will be made going forward.” Ian Beer, Chairman of the IPF and founder of SPIRE – forerunner of the new charity – said: “The Rugby Football Union cares about the game it founded and deeply about any of its players who are injured and I am grateful to the Prime Minister for supporting us in this. “The Injured Players Foundation is launched today not only to help any player injured in the future but also to ensure that those injured before them receive the care and support they need.”
Peter Chadwick, a 52-year-old solicitor seriously injured playing for his local team at 25 and a wheelchair user, said: “I’ve had help from SPIRE over the years, with equipment and adaptations, but what I really want to know is when I am 72 and struggling there will be financial support and help there.