Portadown Panthers Disability Tag Rugby Festival

Aim

We want to hold a tag rugby festival that is inclusive for all abilities, ages and backgrounds from throughout the island of Ireland.

Who are we?

Portadown Panthers is a disability tag rugby club that was founded in 2013. The club was started with only six players taking part in our weekly sessions with the aim of fulfilling the following four objectives:

• Promote health and fitness.
• Offer an inclusive sporting activity for children and young people to develop social interaction opportunities.
• Improve the social wellbeing of people with learning disabilities.
• Provide opportunities for competitions and tournaments which will help to promote self-esteem and confidence in those children and young people involved.

Due to the continued expansion and adoption of tag rugby as a grass roots sport in the Portadown area for children and young people with disabilities, we now have approximately 40 players and 30 volunteers training every Saturday morning at Portadown Rugby Club.

What our project is about:

Up to now, we have only ever been able to play host to disability tag rugby teams on an individual match basis against teams from throughout the province. This year, our ambition is to hold our first ALL-INCLUSIVE TAG-RUGBY FESTIVAL, giving our disability tag rugby teams the opportunity to compete against teams from across all sectors of the community, from both North and South of the border. This will include a full programme of fixtures against not just other disability tag rugby teams, but also mixed ability rugby teams, youth teams, ladies' teams and senior men's teams.

We expect to attract in excess of 250 players on the day participating in tag rugby matches followed by complimentary food and entertainment. This will encourage everyone involved to socialise and interact with one another after a competitive afternoon of rugby.

Impact of Covid-19 on our club:

Like many clubs we were severely restricted during the Covid-19 pandemic especially as many of our players were deemed to be high-risk and therefore instructed to shield from other members of the community.

As a result, many of our players socially regressed, and found this period extremely challenging and isolating. Due to our club being centred around participants with learning disabilities, all of our activities that we would normally deliver, such as training and other social elements, were prohibited until the final phase of restrictions were eased. As a result of this we also lost a number of players and volunteers which put the club in a very disadvantaged position when trying to 'Build Back Better' from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, our fundraising efforts were hampered due to the inability to run events within the club and the local community, as well as restricting the amount of opportunities that we could offer third party contributors to financially support our club.

How we’ll spend the money raised

Hosting an event of this scale comes with a substantial cost to our club. The funding that we raise will allow us to deliver our project without having to ask for financial support from parents and other players, which will be key to the success of the festival due to the current cost of living crisis.

The funding will be used to cover many of the incurred costs associated with the delivery of the project on the day, such as pitch setup, equipment, food and refreshments, entertainment, prizes and participation medals.

We will also be purchasing a new kit for our team, which will allow the players to feel a sense of identity and inclusion, which has been previously lacking. This is due to our kit being outdated and unavailable to re-purchase, and many new participants joining since our last kit was purchased.

Why should you pledge on our campaign:

We are the only disability tag rugby club within the ABC Council area, benefitting the players along with giving respite to parents of learning disability children, as well as opportunities for young people to bolster their CV and career aspirations.

For all of our players, this will be the first time that they have been able to participate as the 'home' team at a tag rugby festival. This will give them a sense of pride and self-esteem as they get to play host to some of their closest rivals throughout the country, as well as compete against some of their local idols from the senior men's and ladies' teams. 

Your pledges will be vital to ensuring we are able to deliver a top-quality tag-rugby festival in Portadown, which will be crucial to improving the physical, social and mental wellbeing of all participants and the wider community.

How you can play your part:

There are three simple ways to help us reach our target and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

This project successfully funded on 20th March 2023