Students try and score for charity
Published on: 4th November 2011
Students from Leeds Metropolitan University will be putting their skills into practice by volunteering at the Rugby Legends vs Commons and Lords Pakistan Recovery Fund Pro-Celebrity Rugby Match at Twickenham Stadium on Thursday 10 November.
Founder and patron of the Pakistan Recovery Fund, Prince Charles, established the idea for the charity rugby match, which has been organised by Ikram Butt, Founder of the British Asian Rugby Association (BARA). Ikram is also an ambassador for Prince Charles’s Mosaic organisation, creating opportunities for young people in deprived communities.
The team of 20 student volunteers, who are all on the BA (Hons) Sports Business Management degree course at Leeds Metropolitan, will be involved in a range of jobs including: giving public tours of Twickenham Stadium, welcoming attendees, refereeing, photography, video interviews with the celebrities, working with the media, managing the changing rooms and ball-boys and running the event curtain-raisers, consisting of two north vs south schools tournaments, featuring Leeds Grammar School’s Under 15s team and Parkinson Primary School’s Under 11s team.
The match will see the Commons and Lords rugby team play a team of rugby legends, including Ikram, and captained by former Wales and British and Irish Lions international rugby union player and now Dean of Leeds Metropolitan University’s Carnegie Faculty, Gareth Davies, in order to raise funds to support the devastation in Pakistan caused by the 2010 floods which impacted on the lives of over 20 million people and which have cost the country over £25billion.
Ikram Butt, who received an honorary degree from Leeds Metropolitan in the summer, commented: “The students will have a wonderful experience volunteering at the Rugby Legends vs Commons and Lords match. They will have the opportunity to meet sporting legends and be at Twickenham, the largest rugby union stadium in the UK.”
Nick Halafihi, the students’ Course Leader and professional rugby league player, added: “Volunteering is an essential part of any student’s CV and our course team work hard to locate exciting and innovative opportunities for our students. This opportunity will allow students to experience what it is like to run a very high profile event and they will be rotating around a number of activities throughout the day.”
Members of the public will also be invited to: purchase a ‘dream ticket’, allowing them to meet the players; have a go at being a ball-boy; play on the rugby legends team during the game for 20 minutes and attend a black tie dinner in the evening, attended by Prince Charles.
