Inspiring tales as wheelchair rugby clatters into Scotland

THE clattering of metal on metal was music to the ears of the latest Scottish sporting star Mike Kerr yesterday as he brought his Great Britain team-mates back to his home city of Glasgow.

The 29-year-old was paralysed diving into a swimming pool on holiday in Corfu 11 years ago, but, sport having been the main focus in his life before then, the former amateur football centre-half has used wheelchair rugby to move to a new level of competition.

After five years battling to win a place in the fully professional Great Britain squad, he finally achieved his dream this year, and the former Uddingston Grammar School pupil is looking forward to competing in the Paralympics in London and claiming a first medal for GB.

He told The Scotsman: “It is fantastic to be playing in my home city because, for me, playing wheelchair rugby has been about four or five-hour trips south.

“I’ve been in chair for 11 years in August past. I had a diving accident on holiday. I say a diving accident, but I dived into a swimming pool at the shallow end and knew from the moment I hit the bottom of the pool that I was paralysed. I just knew. I’m paralysed from the nipples down. When I first had my accident I was really weak and it took me a long time to build up my strength, but wheelchair rugby gave me a real focus. I played football, a little rugby and some other sports before the accident. Sport was all I was ever good at.

“A year after my accident I tried wheelchair rugby and fell in love with it. It was full contact and that was the big draw, and I’m really fit and healthy now.”

The main purpose of Kerr’s and the GB squad’s visit to the Kelvin Hall was to launch a new Scottish team that will compete in the British league, joining the Gaelic Warriors from Ireland, Welsh and English teams. The Glasgow players like the name ‘Warriors’ too, and the SRU and able-bodied Warriors and Scotland skipper Alastair Kellock have offered their support. Scotland attack coach Gregor Townsend gamely had a shot in the wheelchair yesterday and declared it as tough as it looks, while the Wooden Spoon charity are also backing the venture.

The sport is played by teams of four players on a basketball-style gym court, with defenders and attackers graded by their disability, and wheelchairs specially adapted, at a cost of up to £4,000, to mirror their roles in the game. Funding is, therefore, a major issue with this venture initially supported largely by English sport.

What was also launched yesterday, however, was a UK pilot scheme for youth wheelchair rugby. It kicks off next week at Ashcraig School in Craigend, Glasgow. The team will be coached by Steve Palmer, one of the UK’s leading internationalists over the past decade. The former GB captain, who suffered a spinal injury 15 years ago in similar circumstances to Kerr – he was pushed into a pool by friends on holiday in Rhodes – lost his place to the Scotsman in the GB team and has retired at the age of 38.

He said: “After 11 years at the top level I don’t have the same fire now, whereas Mike certainly does and he is really grasping his opportunity.

“But when I was asked to get involved in this pilot in Glasgow and then taking the initiative across the UK, I had butterflies in my stomach again.

“The Paralympics in Beijing was the best three weeks of my life and the memories will live with me forever. I’ve probably had a better life being in the chair and playing wheelchair rugby than I had beforehand. Before, I was just another guy who goes to work; ends up in the pub of an evening. I’m a lot healthier now than I would have been, I’ve travelled the world several times, I’ve got friends in places like Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and all over Europe, and experiences of being part of Olympics, World Championships and Paralympics opening and closing ceremonies, competing on the world stage.

“I tell you what wheelchair rugby has given me as well, the knowledge that I could go into a training session in a bad mood, and in this full-contact sport, you can hit a few people [in chairs], get rid of a lot of bad energy and go home with a smile on your face.

“Although we’re all ‘love your fellow man’ we all love a bit of violence, especially when it’s legal. I know there’s a bit of tenacity in the Scots as well, so I think we’ll get going up here pretty well. Wheelchair rugby has been fantastic to me and I feel I’m a better person for me.”

Palmer is an engaging and ambitious character, and having watched youngsters from Ashcraig having a ball yesterday learning the game – Ashcraig will be the venue for all youngsters and adults interested in playing wheelchair rugby to join up – he sees a future for a Scotland national side, and French and Italian teams leading to a championship that mirrors the Six Nations.

Kerr added: “To get selected for the Paralympics would be the pinnacle. I need to keep working hard and hoping for the best. I’ve never done any other job, so if I lose my place in this team I will lose my job. When I had my accident a lot of people helped me so I’m pleased to be able to give something back. It’s nice to be the face of the sport in Scotland, but my hope is that seeing us performing well internationally and initiatives like this will make more people in wheelchairs realise that they can have fun and a future in sport at a very high level.”

More info: www.gbwr.org.uk