Warriors Community Foundation have secured a partnership with global design and systems integration company DESign Group which will enable them to expand the pioneering Hugby programme for people with a visual impairment.
Hugby, an inclusive version of rugby, was developed for people with a visual impairment by the Foundation at Sixways and it is now played England, Wales, Scotland, Spain and Germany.
Hugby is now being introduced in South Africa where the Foundation, with the support of DESign, will visit later this year to help to further develop the game.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to become the Official Partner of Hugby,” said Nicholas Karl, DESign Group Engineering Director.
“We have been really impressed with the innovation shown by Warriors Community Foundation to adapt the sport to become fully inclusive to those with visual impairments.
“We are really excited about the partnership with the Foundation and seeing Hugby develop not only in the UK but also in our other business locations such as Germany and South Africa.
“At DESign we have a long history of supporting impactful initiatives and we see Hugby as a massive opportunity to continue this. We look forward to welcoming the Foundation over to South Africa in 2020 to expand the reach of the sport.”
Simon Northcott, the Foundation’s Disability and Inclusion Lead, has led the development of Hugby and has welcomed DESign’s commitment to the programme.
“Hugby was developed from a chance meeting with a rugby player who was losing her sight,” Northcott said.
“We spoke about her lack of future opportunity to play the sport and so the concept of visually impaired/blind rugby was born.
“The name Hugby comes from the tackle area. We spoke to the blind and visually impaired communities and they wanted a contact area. We have a specialist channel for B1 – fully blind players – to play in and all sight loss variables can and do play together”
DESign engineer automated production lines for some of the world’s largest vehicle providers and specialise in providing engineering, robotics, automation and manufacturing solutions.
For more information on DESign please visit their website at: www.des-ign.co.za
For more information on Hugby please contact Simon Northcott at: Simon.northcott@warriors.co.uk or call
07809 676008 or 01905 914397.