History of Wheelchair Rugby
Wheelchair Rugby originated in Canada in 1977 and was created by Jerry Terwin, Duncan Campbell, Randy Dueck, Paul LeJeune and Chris Sargent, 5 Canadian Wheelchair Athletes, to be a sport for Tetraplegics. The game was originally called Murderball due to its aggressive, full-contact nature and was designed to allow tetraplegic athletes with a wide range of functional ability levels, to play integral offensive and defensive roles. Wheelchair Rugby was introduced in the USA in the early 80’s followed by Great Britain later.
The first international tournament was held in Toronto, Canada in 1989, with club teams from Canada, USA and Great Britain competing. In 1990, Wheelchair Rugby first appeared at the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games as an exhibition event and in 1993 and having 15 participating countries, the sport was recognised by the ISMWSF as an official sport. Thus an ISMWSF Wheelchair Rugby Sport Section was formed (IWRF).
The first Wheelchair Rugby World Championships were held in Nottwil, Switzerland in 1995. Wheelchair Rugby appeared as a demonstration sport in the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta and was granted full medal status at the Sydney Paralympic Games 2000.
There are currently 23 active countries competing in Wheelchair Rugby with several other countries in the process of developing the sport.
Independence
The General Assembly of IWAS member nations held in Bangalore, India during IWAS World Games 2009 approved the transfer of Wheelchair Rugby governance from IWAS to the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) effective January 1st 2010.
Wheelchair rugby has been continually developing under the IWAS governance since 1992 and has now reached the stage where the IWAS General Assembly to govern all the sport issues including development, competition programme, classification, doping, marketing and sponsorship independently.
“We are looking forward to maintaining a mutual and close cooperation to promote each others programmes´ for the athletes´ benefit” said Maura Strange, IWAS Secretary General after signing of the Transfer of Governance Document.
To visit the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation Website click here