This month marks the end of what has been one of the most memorable pieces of work I’ve undertaken in the 5 years of running DOCIAsport.
Just before lockdown I had been invited to sit as a volunteer on the Legacy Committee for the Rugby League World Cup (RLWC) because of my interest in mental health in sport. Unfortunately that group never met because of lockdown, leaving me frustrated as I felt I had something to offer. So I wrote to the RLWC and subsequently The Rugby Football League (RFL) to suggest turning rugby league clubhouses into ‘Community Wellbeing Hubs’ preserving rugby league at a local level but also using the facilities in a different way. The RFL saw this as a way of bringing their Social Impact strategy to life. Rugby League (rugby-league.com)
I also believed the RFL could bring to life the strategy of Uniting the Movement | Sport England
in a way that had sustainable social, economic and environmental impact.
DOCIAsport was charged with creating 5 pilot Community Wellbeing Hubs by the start of the tournament in the Autumn 2022. This was achieved with the clubs being Shevington Sharks ARLFC in Wigan, West Hull ARLFC, Portico Vine ARLFC in St Helens, Salford City Roosters ARLFC and West Leeds ARLFC.
The biggest hurdle to success was overcoming unconscious bias, but once that was achieved both clubs and community groups and leaders have taken the initiative. Management Committees in the clubs couldn’t see at first that using the facilities in other ways could benefit the club. Members of the communities had preconceived ideas of what a rugby club looks like and yet most had never been to one. My role was to challenge the thinking and give the people a way of looking at the clubs in a different way.
A good example was in West Hull when a representative from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust visited Jonny Whiteley Park and realised that a wildlife walk could be created in the club’s boundaries. At the West Hull Community Open Day posters for the walk were designed by one of the Junior Age Groupers. It so happened that a local Councillor and her husband came to the day and went on the walk with Andy from the Wildlife Trust. The Councillor is visually impaired but her enhanced sense of hearing and smell meant she enjoyed the walk and her husband saw a grasshopper for the first time in his life. This was a milestone and one of a number of examples showing what could be possible if different thinking was applied.
Thanks to the clubs involved this project won DOCIAsport the Global Business Awards Best Sustainable Sport and Activity Provider award 2022. The RFL is taking the project on now and looking to grow the number of Community Wellbeing Hubs this year. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to do this work and DOCIAsport will take the concept on and into other sports. The RFL has seen the benefit of the work too.
John McMullen, RFL National Clubs Manager commented that DOCIAsport have ‘added significant value to the way the Rugby Football League is implementing our Social Impact Strategy. I look forward to the next projects that we work on together.’