London Calling

With the appearance of the movie Murderball a few years back, wheelchair rugby in the U.S. has become well-known. As it turns out, it's just as popular in other places across the globe.

With the affable appearance of a salesman, London (England) Wheelchair Rugby Club (LWRC) Development Manager Alan Coran relays the history of wheelchair rugby to me. All the while, eight specially adapted wheelchairs whiz around on a basketball court in front of us. There is the sound of metal colliding with metal; I look up from my notepad toward the game that has abruptly come to a halt. One of the players is strapped into his chair, which has tipped over onto its side. As two women make their way onto the court and stand the chair up, I glance at Coran with a look of mild concern on my face. He shrugs.

"They don't care," he says.

It's all part of the game.

LWRC Club Secretary Neil Roffey is a 0.5 player. His handshake reveals his limited hand movement, but on-court ball-handling nuances crafted at training disguise it. He wheels over to me during breaks in the three-hour training session I have come to watch, and is apologetic each time.

"We have a tournament next weekend, so we're going through a lot more routines and drills than usual. You should see a game before the end."

Roffey is endearing. If his demeanor is not sharp with a competitive, winner's edge, it is because he is warm and friendly. He has been playing for five years.

"I'm not gonna be a GB (Great Britain National Team) player or anything," he admits, "but this is the fittest I've ever been."

Roffey was injured and started using a wheelchair in 1989. His first experience with rugby was five years ago when he saw some photos of a game.

"I decided to try it," he says—and, like most people who try it, was hooked. "Everyone who comes here once comes back."

All Invited

And anyone is welcome to try it. There is no age limit—no segregation based on ability. Men and women share a court. As long as you are quadriplegic, you are welcome.

The session kicks off at midday with a warmup: laps, stretching, and sprints. The squad goes through its passing drills for ten minutes before spending time on attack versus defense.

Cones are laid out, and offensive players charge defensive players within a confined area, trying to get past them by maneuvering or spinning around the defensive athletes. In some cases they simply barge their way through. The speed of directional adjustment is often staggering and occasionally breathtaking. With a hardened gracefulness, a female offensive player spins out of a block. It is a move worthy of an acknowledging nod from Steve Palmer, or Archie, as he is known to everybody.

Archie wheels around dispensing advice and encouragement and, in one instance, a playful clip around the ear when Ricky, a new player, gets a cone tangled in his wheel during the drill.

Archie's not in a customized chair; he's not playing. He's itching to, however. It's been four months since he sustained a couple of injuries, and for the time being the British assistant team captain is confined to a tactical coaching role at LWRC.

A former semi-professional footballer, Archie has "grown into being a rugby fan after the support staff at a spinal unit threw me into the Belgian Wheelchair Rugby 2nd Team back in 1988."

Twenty-one years of experience is telling, and his underpinning knowledge of how the game should be played, on team and individual levels, is clear.

"There are chair skills and ball skills," he explains. "It is important to be very aware of how big the chair is. It is spatial awareness."

He identifies blocking off the ball as an element of the game that is hard to instill in players in England.

"It is a hard game for the English to learn. It is fairly hard to play when the game is going on around you and there is a necessity for good communication between players. We try and drip-feed the players tactics and skills—eventually it will click."

Archie began coaching at LWRC shortly before the team began its most successful period—one that hasn't yet abated.

"I took over when the club was just finding its feet," he says.

Right place, right time then? Archie grins bashfully—he's not ready to concede entirely to coincidence.

"In '98, '99, there were no team tactics, and a drinking culture existed among the players. We started laying down structured sessions. We've taken this club into the professional era."

The structured sessions take place three times a week at the Aspire Centre. Each lasts three hours. LWRC is comprised of two teams: the Kent Crusaders and Stoke Mandeville Storm.


Check out the complete article in the November 2009 S'NS. 

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