The Salford Red Devils Foundation has received Capital Grants Programme funding to develop its wheelchair rugby programme.

The funding comes from the Created by Rugby World Cup 2021 England Organisation and the National Lottery.

The foundation offers top quality facilities for extra-curricular sessions with experienced coaches.

They are also visited by Salford Red Devils players and other representatives to help during the sessions.

The foundation has been offering wheelchair rugby sessions for free to attempt to combat the fact that over 50% of children with disabilities do not enjoy PE, according to an English Federation for Disability Sport (EFDS) report from 2015.

Craig Fisher, whose role within the foundation is to help create pathways for disadvantaged people to get more sporting opportunities, said: “It’s a really worrying statistic. People with disabilities only access sport for about one hour a week.

‘We want to try and combat that and get people out of their homes.’

With the Rugby League World Cup captivating the nation in recent weeks, Fisher believes now is “definitely the right time to launch”.

Despite the funding’s full use yet to be decided, it has allowed more plans to be put in place ahead of the new year with a Salford Red Devils wheelchair rugby league side already confirmed.

There is currently no confirmed date for the start of training, however it is expected to be around the start of 2023 when things get up and running: “We will be running open training sessions for anyone who wants to be part of the wheelchair team in the new year.

“We’ll see how well received it is and go from there.”

The funding is set to change the landscape of wheelchair rugby in Salford, with more opportunities than ever before expected for all age groups.

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