Warrington-based social care charity, Community Integrated Care, is proud to celebrate a decade of impact through its partnership with rugby league.
With services based in Warrington, Community Integrated Care is one of Britain’s biggest and most successful charities, delivering 8 million hours of specialist care and support across the nation. It is proudly the Official Social Care Partner of the Rugby Football League.
Since 2016, the charity has worked closely with the Rugby Football League, local clubs and foundations to change the lives of thousands of people who draw on social care.
Working together, the sport and the charity have created programmes and opportunities over the decade that address health, social and economic inequalities for people who have learning disabilities, autism, and other support needs, shaping a more inclusive sport and care system.
Partnering with the sport’s charitable foundations, including Warrington Wolves, Widnes Vikings, St Helens and Leeds Rhinos, they delivered it developed a connected network of accessible sports provision, adapted variants of rugby league, dementia cafés, care home outreach, and employment and volunteering support.
In 2019, the relationship scaled nationally when the charity became the Official Social Care Partner of the Rugby Football League (RFL) and Super League. This brought the charity and the sport together in a dedicated commitment to create innovations and opportunities that address societal inequalities, combining strengths to build a more inclusive sport and care sector.
The partnership was marked by the launch of the Community Integrated Care Learning Disability Super League, a pioneering adapted sport that enables people who have learning disabilities and autism, and who require support in their daily lives, to play for the clubs they love. The programme has enabled hundreds of players to perform on the game’s greatest stages, including Magic Weekend at Anfield, St James’ Park and Elland Road, as well as at the Challenge Cup and Super League fixtures.
The partnership was taken to new levels when Community Integrated Care partnered with Sport England to develop the charity’s Inclusive Volunteering model for the Rugby League World Cup 2021, which saw more than 500 people who faced real barriers in their lives access unique personal development opportunities inspired by the sport and tournament, building skills that support greater lifelong independence.
The strength of the partnership shone particularly during the pandemic, as local Rugby League clubs provided practical, life protecting support, storing and coordinating vital PPE supplies and offering hands on assistance to the charity.
In return, the charity supported Rugby League’s charitable foundations to continue serving their communities and develop new ways to support isolated groups. Together, the charity and the sport protected and enriched many lives during the most challenging of times.
Community Integrated Care continues to innovate and change lives with the sport. This includes enabling people who have experienced hate crime and discrimination to co produce “On The Same Team”, a free education programme created to tackle discrimination before it takes root. The programme has already inspired tens of thousands of young people, with York RLFC Foundation alone delivering it to 6,000 children this year.
This diverse range of innovations and impacts, shaped by lived experience and grounded in the charity’s specialist expertise, continues to build more inclusive communities and a more enabling sport.
John Hughes, Director of Partnerships and Communities at Community Integrated Care, said: “Over the past decade, alongside our partners, we’ve created and grown innovative work that addresses deep health, social and economic inequalities, reflecting Community Integrated Care’s commitment to enabling people to live their Best Life Possible.”
“We’re deeply grateful to our partners in the Rugby Football League and RL Commercial, Sport England, the clubs and foundations, volunteers, and the players and legends who have helped inspire and change lives. Above all, this milestone is about the people we support, their families and support teams. We’re excited to reach and support many more in the years ahead.”
Marc Lovering, RFL Director of Performance and Development, said: “The RFL are excited to celebrate the impactful and inspiring work that has positively shaped Rugby League communities over the past decade in partnership with Community Integrated Care.”
“Together, we’ve shown how our sport can change lives by opening doors, challenging inequalities and enabling people to achieve things they may never have thought possible.”
“We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved and are grateful to Community Integrated Care, clubs, foundations, volunteers, participants and the Rugby League Family as a whole, who have made this journey so special. We look forward to continuing this partnership and building even greater impact in the years ahead.”
Viveen Taylor, Director of Equality Diversity Inclusion in Sport at Sport England, said: “Sport England is immensely proud to have supported Community Integrated Care’s game-changing work to support thousands of people through sport .They have tirelessly opened up opportunities for those who often rely on social care and face some of the biggest barriers to being active – giving transformative opportunities to be involved in Rugby League. This is a powerful example of the positive impacts that engaging in sport and the volunteering opportunities within it, can achieve.”
