Subscribe Feed (RSS)Cystic Fibrosis team defeat Commons & Lords in Twickenham charity match
April 8th, 2009 by admin0 | 3 Comments | Filed in English Rugby NewsAn annual charity match brought half a dozen MPs including Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, on to the hallowed turf at Twickenham Stadium this afternoon and £20,000 raised for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
Rob Andrew, the Rugby Football Union’s elite rugby director and former England fly half, wore the No.10 jersey for the Commons & Lords RUFC team brought together by Loughborough MP Andy Reed. Each member of the opposing team, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust XV, had raised £500 to take part and the RFU loaned the use of Twickenham for free.
The Commons & Lords team also made personal and sponsored contributions which, together with a £1000 donation from Bowring, and sponsorship of the CFT XV’s jerseys by Prospect Distributors, guaranteed the target of £20,000 had been met by the time international referee Wayne Barnes blew the first whistle for a friendly match of four quarters.
Participating parliamentarians include Lord Addington, Andy Reed MP (Loughborough), Gerry Sutcliffe MP (Bradford South), Mike Penning MP (Hemel Hempstead), John Randall MP (Uxbridge) and Jim Fitzpatrick MP (Poplar & Canning Town). Other guest players included television presenter Ben Shephard, who captained the CFT team, and London Scottish and former London Wasps flanker Paul Volley, on the Commons & Lords side.
“It was a great occasion in aid of a great charity, one which is growing in stature and awareness all the time,” said Gerry Sutcliffe, who joined Andrew in the Commons & Lords back division. “The match was competitive but played in a good spirit and for me as Sports Minister it always a pleasure to see people of all ages enjoying sport. Both sides were a mixture of young and old - some very mobile, some not so - but we all had fun and Jim Fitzpatrick MP, as a Scot, will not forget scoring a try at Twickenham for a long time.”
Alex Grieve, a Cardiff University student and sufferer of cystic fibrosis, played at full back for the CFT XV, who ran out winners by 34 points to 22. “I got the call inviting me to play at Twickenham and did not have to think twice,” said Alex, 23. “Rob Andrew may have retired from playing but he had all the old classy moves.”
The Cystic Fibrosis Trust will put the funds raised by the match towards crucial gene therapy trials at London’s Brompton Hospital which it is hoped will make an impact on the successful treatment of CF, the UK’s most common life-threatening inherited disease whose sufferers currently have an average life expectancy of 31.
“This match is a particularly appropriate way to raise funds,” said Sarah Guthrie, the CFT’s director of fund-raising. “A good many sufferers will have an increased life expectancy if they play sport which can help keep them healthy and free of infection.”
Tags: Cystic Fibrosis Rugby, Twickenham
