Bolton Rugby Club is launching a mixed ability (MA) team as part of its vision to be inclusive and to promote diversity.

The club is hoping to create a welcoming and inclusive space for the community, and this is the latest step in a journey that encapsulated by its strapline, "rugby for all".

Anyone can play MA rugby regardless of barriers faced in the past such as through disability, gender, age, background, or self-confidence. Teams tend to be adults with and without disabilities.

MA rugby is played to the same regulations as mainstream rugby with competition against local social sides encouraged to spread the MA model of inclusion.

This ensures that MA teams remain within the mainstream structure and are not segregated to only play against other MA teams. It is therefore inclusive for all player regardless of ability or disability.

Chair of Bolton Rugby Club Mark Brocklehurst says the club has been keen to do something like this for a while.

“The problem with purely disabled teams is that it’s just for people with disabilities but mixed ability us open to everybody,” he added.

“We want to bring in people who haven’t had access to mainstream sport.”

The game is a 15 a-side full contact game played on a full-size pitch with uncontested scrums.

All players should get game time with rolling substitutions.

The contact is managed by the referee with players using their experience and common sense to identify what level of contact is required when making a tackle.

This is the latest in a line of schemes the club has embarked on with the aim being as open as possible to the community.

Mark said: “As a club we try to welcome everyone in an open environment.

"We are an inclusive club.

“The first step was to get women and girls involved and the second was racial inclusion – where we are in Halliwell there’s a large South Asian population, for example, and we are engaging with the local community.

“This is the third phase is including everybody regardless of ability.

“It’s an all-inclusive approach. Not just in terms of playing, it’s a holistic approach. We’re a rugby club that engages with the community.

“If we make ourselves more inclusive, then diversity will follow.”

The club is hosting an online presentation for anyone interested in the MA team.

There will asl be a game played at the club’s Avenue Street pitch against MA team The Bumblebees from Bingley, West Yorkshire, on Sunday, February 26 which will give people the opportunity to see first-hand how the game is played and the social aspects that accompany the sport.

Mark added: “I think everyone will agree that developing mixed ability rugby at Bolton on a sustainable basis will benefit the whole club and wider community.

“We see this as a fully inclusive offer that will open up our sport to those hitherto excluded.”

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