Gravesend Dynamite
FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/RUGBYCLUBMAG
Gravesend
Dynamite
Wheelchair Rugby Club
Gravesend Dynamite Wheelchair Rugby Club is part of Gravesend RFC
and does a fantastic job of providing people with an opportunity to
play the game in a safe and enjoyable environment. We recently caught
up with club representative Jason Owen to find out more.
He told us, “I formed the club in
September 2013. It all happened very
quickly. I was a coach at Gravsend
RFC mini and youth and one Sunday
morning whilst there, I was walking
past an U8’s training session when one
lad stood on the side (on a walker) was
heard saying, ‘Go onnnn. Yessss. Great
try’, to his brother... ‘I wish I could play
rugby with my brother’.”
“I decided I would make it happen
by forming Gravesend Dynamite
wheelchair rugby club. The club is quite
44 Issue 73
unique in that anyone can play; men,
women, boys, girls, adults, youngsters,
disabled and able bodied all participating
together. It’s so inclusive. And yes, the
two brothers now play rugby together.
“We use a real rugby ball (unlike
the equally exciting wheelchair rugby
murderball version which uses a round
ball) and the game replicates the rules of
rugby union with passing back, scoring
tries, scrums (yes, wheelchair scrums -
must be seen) and even conversions by
punching the ball off a raised tee.”
“The most challenging aspect is
coping with our own success. We have
grown so so quickly. We started in Sept
2013 with eight players but now we
have 45 regular players so we’ve had
to broaden out to have more sessions,
more nights, more venues and more
equipment.
“We’ve an excellent mix of people
so for example, we have three siblings
that participate together (one plays
running rugby, the other two, one male,
one female do not but in our sport all