Dallaglio Foundation Rugby for Change

Dallaglio Foundation Rugby for Change, a sustainable industry-leading project, targeting young people who lack the support in their lives to make the most of their talents; using rugby as a vehicle to achieve this.  It’s extremely tough to be a young person today.

With the highest levels of youth unemployment in two decades and the spiraling cost of education, it has become all too common for young people to disengage from society and take the wrong path as they develop into adults.  The recent riots in London and across the UK have highlighted the need to offer an alternative to young people coming under the influence of gangs which can fill a vacuum left by lack of self esteem or purpose.  The Dallaglio Foundation has partnered with Cricket for Change, a charity that has demonstrated how long term; properly focused sports programmes can help young people develop a sense of teamwork, identity, pride and form solid friendships.

Dallaglio Foundation Rugby for Change will motivate young people to make their mark on the world.  It is an inexpensive, scalable community based youth rugby programme, that gives young people at risk the opportunity to play rugby on their doorstep and become part of a team while tackling social issues from youth crime, to lack of engagement in education.  Inner city rugby teams formed by kids on some of the country’s most troubled estates will be supported by the Dallaglio Foundation to become part of the wider rugby community with year round competitions every half term and school holiday hosted by Premiership clubs.  An inspirational team of coaches from two very different backgrounds will set up a long term development programme and recruit players from the streets, Pupil Referral Units and school exclusion units.  The ‘rugby expert’ is drawn from the academies of professional/semi professional and amateur rugby clubs, uses their spare time away from training, matches and college to put something back into the game and into wider society. They will create progression routes for the team and the players into the wider world of rugby.  The ‘street expert’ is a local 18-22 year old who identifies strongly with local young people and who, we will train up to educate and inspire their peers.  Rugby for Change has been using two ex-offenders on our recent programmes to inspire at risk young people to make positive changes in their lives and divert them away from gang and criminal activity. They have had an extremely powerful effect on the young people they have been working with.

The aim of Dallaglio Foundation Rugby for Change is not to get thousands more young people playing the game and joining clubs. The aim by 2015 is to have a profound impact on the aspirations and self esteem of around 2,000 young people who are at risk of making the wrong life choices.

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