The Mayor of London Boris Johnson today called on world rugby leaders to embrace wheelchair rugby as a key part of their future plans.
The Mayor’s call for equal billing comes as the England and Japan wheelchair rugby teams came face-to-face at the Copper Box Arena at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, as part of the BT World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge.
2015 represents the first time that wheelchair rugby has been played alongside a Rugby World Cup and the Mayor is keen for the global rugby community to follow suit and ensure both versions of the sport are given an equal billing at future events.
The Mayor made his call today as he joined rugby fans and school children for a game of street rugby on an artificial pitch in front of the Tokyo Square Garden building ,in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, where he is currently leading a three-day trade and investment mission. Street rugby is an increasingly popular concept in Japan, with the sport played on closed public streets as a means to promote the 2019 Japan Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics & Paralympics.
The Mayor’s trade mission to Japan is part of his continued drive to create jobs and growth in the capital by strengthening cultural ties with Tokyo and promoting London to the world as a major investment destination. He has already met with the city Governor Yoichi Masuzoe and later today will meet with the Minister for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toshiaki Endo and share London’s experience of successfully hosting some of the world’s most important sporting events, including the 2012 Games and this year’s Rugby World Cup.
London has an excellent track record of delivering wheelchair sport, with the 2012 Paralympic Games hosting the first-ever sold-out events in the history of the Olympic movement. In 2017, London will become the first city to hold the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Athletics Championships together, once more giving disabled sport the prominence it deserves.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “London set a fantastic example in 2012 with the roaring success of the Paralympic Games inspiring a new generation to take up sport and changing attitudes to disability. Three years later we are now seeing how wheelchair rugby, truly one of the most exhilarating sports around, is having a similar impact hand-in-hand with the Rugby World Cup. I hope that world rugby leaders can see the power of playing both versions of the sport in unison, helping to increase the popularity of this sport and giving new opportunities to disabled people.”
The Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme aims to leverage the success of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games to increase regular participation in sports across the United Kingdom, particularly among under-represented groups.
Since 2009, the Mayor and the private sector have invested a combined £53 million into grassroots sport in London, including the construction of new facilities, introducing programmes like the ‘Make a Splash’ mobile pools initiative, and training up volunteers to run those programmes.
Increasing participation of disabled people in sport is central to this strategy. It is a funding condition of all projects that receive funding from the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme that they agree a plan which demonstrates how their activities will be inclusive of disabled participants.
This investment has already begun to pay off, with London now the most physically active region in the country. Once-a-week sporting participation in London has risen 412,000 since London won its Olympic bid in 2005, an increase of 2.8 per cent of London’s population over the age of 16.
The Mayor has recently announced a further £2.5 million to expand the Legacy Programme funding, including £1.25 million to develop new or refurbish existing multi-sport pitches in areas of London where there is the most need.