Wheelchair rugby

Wheelchair Rugby is a team sport for athletes with a disability. Originally developed in Canada in the late 1970s, it is currently practiced in over twenty countries around the world and is a Paralympic sport. It was originally called Murderball in Canada and was introduced to the United States in 1981. In the United States, the sport's name was changed to Quad Rugby. In the late 1980s, the name of the sport outside the United States was officially changed from Murderball to Wheelchair Rugby.

History

Wheelchair rugby is a sport with roots going back to wheelchair basketball and ice hockey. It was created in 1977 by five Canadians in Winnipeg, Manitoba to be a sport for quadriplegic athletes. At that time, wheelchair basketball was the most wide-spread team sport for wheelchair users. That sport's physical requirement for players to dribble and shoot baskets relegated quadriplegic athletes, with functional impairments to both their upper and lower limbs, to supporting roles. Wheelchair rugby — originally called Murderball due to its aggressive, full-contact nature — was designed to allow quadriplegic athletes to play integral offensive and defensive roles over a wide range of functional ability levels.

Murderball was introduced to the United States in 1981 by Brad Mikkelsen. With the aid of the University of North Dakota's Disabled Student Services, he formed the first American team, the Wallbangers. In the United States, the sport's name was changed to Quad Rugby. The first North American competition was held in 1982. In the late 1980s, the name of the sport outside the United States was officially changed from Murderball to Wheelchair Rugby.

The first international tournament was held in 1989 in Toronto, Canada, with teams from Canada, the United States and Great Britain. In 1990, Wheelchair Rugby first appeared at the World Wheelchair Games as an exhibition event, and in 1993, the sport was recognised as an official international sport for athletes with a disability by the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation (ISMWSF). In the same year, the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) was established as a sports section of ISMWSF to govern the sport.

The first IWRF World Wheelchair Rugby Championships were held in Notwil, Switzerland, in 1995. Wheelchair rugby appeared as a demonstration sport at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, and was granted full medal status at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, Australia.

There are currently twenty-one active countries in international competition, with several others developing the sport internally. The current President of the IWRF is Brad Mikkelsen.

Rules

Wheelchair rugby is played by two teams of up to twelve players. Four players from each team may be on the court at one time. It is a mixed sport, and both male and female athletes play on the same teams.

Wheelchair rugby is played indoors on a hardwood court of the same dimensions as a regulation basketball court — 28 metres long by 15 metres wide. The required court markings are a centre line and circle, and a key area measuring 8 metres wide by 1.75 metres deep at each end of the court.

The goal line is the section of the end line within the key. Each end of the goal line is marked with a cone-shaped pylon. Players score by carrying the ball across the goal line. For a goal to count, two wheels of the player's wheelchair must cross the line while the player has possession of the ball.

A team is not allowed to have more than three players in their own key while they are defending their goal line. Offensive players are not permitted to remain in the opposing team's key for more than ten seconds.

A player with possession of the ball must bounce or pass the ball within ten seconds.

Teams have fifteen seconds to advance the ball from their back court into the front court.

Physical contact between wheelchairs is permitted, and forms a major part of the game. However, physical contact between wheelchairs that is deemed dangerous — such as striking another player from behind — is not allowed. Direct physical contact between players is not permitted.

Fouls are penalized by either a one-minute penalty, for defensive fouls or technical fouls, or a loss of possession, for offensive fouls. In some cases, a penalty goal may be awarded in lieu of a penalty. Common fouls include spinning (striking an opponent's wheelchair behind the main axle, causing it to spin horizontally or vertically), illegal use of hands or reaching in (striking an opponent with the arms or hands), and holding (holding or obstructing an opponent by grasping with the hands or arms, or falling onto them).

Wheelchair rugby games consist of four eight-minute quarters. If the game is tied at the end of regulation play, three-minute overtime periods are played.

Much like able-bodied rugby matches, highly competitive wheelchair rugby games are fluid and fast-moving, with possession switching back and forth between the teams while play continues. The game clock is stopped when a goal is scored, or in the event of a violation — such as the ball being played out of bounds — or foul. Players may only be substituted during a stoppage in play.

Equipment

Wheelchair Rugby is played in a manual wheelchair. The rules include detailed specifications for the wheelchair. Many players use custom-made sports wheelchairs that are specifically designed for wheelchair rugby. Key design features include a front bumper, designed to help strike and hold opposing wheelchairs, and wings, which are positioned in front of the main wheel to make the wheelchair more difficult to stop and hold. All wheelchairs must be equipped with spoke protectors, to prevent damage to the wheels, and an anti-tip device at the back.

New players and players in developing countries sometimes play in wheelchairs that have been adapted for wheelchair rugby by the addition of temporary bumpers and wings.

The wheelchair rugby ball is identical in size and shape to a regulation volleyball. Wheelchair rugby balls are typically of a 'soft-touch' design, with a slightly textured surface to provide a better grip. The balls are normally over-inflated compared to a volleyball, to provide a better bounce. The official ball of the sport from 2000-2006 is the Molten soft touch volleyball, model number WR58X.

Players use a variety of other personal equipment such as gloves and applied adhesives to assist with ball handling and various forms of strapping to help them maintain a good seating position.

Classification

To be eligible to play wheelchair rugby, athletes must have some form of disability with a loss of function in both the upper and lower limbs. The majority of wheelchair rugby athletes have spinal cord injuries at the level of their cervical vertebrae. Other eligible players have multiple amputations, polio, or neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy, some forms of muscular dystrophy, or Guillain-Barré syndrome, among other medical conditions.

Players are classified according to their functional level and assigned a point value ranging from 0.5 (the lowest functional level) to 3.5 (the highest). The total classification value of all players on the court for a team at one time cannot exceed eight points.

Active countries

There are currently twenty-one active countries playing wheelchair rugby, divided into three zones:

Zone 1 — The Americas

Zone 2 — Europe

Zone 3 — Oceania

International competitions

The major international competitions in wheelchair rugby are Zone Championships, held in each odd-numbered year; World Championships, held quadrennially in even-numbered years, opposite the Summer Paralympic Games; and the Paralympic Games.

Recent results

2005 European Zone Championships — Middelfart, Denmark
- 1. Great Britain
- 2. Germany
- 3. Sweden

2005 Oceania Zone Championships — Johannesburg, South Africa
- 1. New Zealand
- 2. Australia
- 3. Japan

2004 Paralympic Games — Athens, Greece
- 1. New Zealand
- 2. Canada
- 3. United States

2002 World Championships — Gothenburg, Sweden
- 1. Canada
- 2. United States
- 3. Australia

The 2006 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships will be held in Christchurch, New Zealand from September 12-16, 2006. Wheelchair rugby is also on the program for the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China.

Other information

Wheelchair rugby was featured in the Oscar-nominated 2005 documentary Murderball.

Prior to 2002, the United States was undefeated internationally, having won gold at the 1995 and 1998 World Championships, and at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Paralympics.

Canadian star Garett Hickling has been named the Most Valuable Player at all three World Championships in the sport's history.

Other forms

A variety of other wheelchair sports have been developed based on the rules of rugby union or rugby league. These include:

Footnotes

Disabled sports | Paralympic sports | Rugby

Rollstuhlrugby | Rugby en fauteuil roulant

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