Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby 28/2/09
I was invited to photograph one of the meetings of the GBR Wheel Chair Rugby league this weekend in Nottingham.
Consisting of eight teams from around the United Kingdom the league regularly meets to compete with multiple games throughout the day.
Players must cross the ball over the opposition players line to score a “try”, but as with able bodied rugby the players can be blocked from scoring as most chair to chair contact is allowed.
Players are classified on their arm and hand function and strength and assigned a rating from 0.5 (less able) to 3.5 (more able)
The team can field 4 players at any one time, but they must not have a combined strength rating higher than 8, giving the game a equally tactical element to compensate for the fast passed aggressive nature of the game. This style of play has earned the sport to adopt the nickname “Chess with violence.”