Learning Disability Super League named Best Community Scheme

National social care charity, Community Integrated Care, is proud to celebrate its Learning Disability Super League being named as the Best Community Scheme in the UK, at the 2024 Sports Business Awards in London.

Representatives from Community Integrated Care collected the award alongside partners at the Rugby Football League, the governing body for Rugby League, and Sport England.

The Community Integrated Care Learning Disability Super League is a unique programme that offers a specially designed version of rugby league for people who have learning disabilities or autism. Offering a non-competitive version of the sport, which focuses on developing important skills and social outcomes, the programme gives people who draw on support the opportunity to live their dreams playing for the clubs that they love, as Super League stars.

The 2024 season has seen significant successes with record-breaking numbers and opportunities for players to showcase their skills in front of tens of thousands of fans at Super League events – including an exhibition at the iconic Elland Road stadium, Leeds, at the sport’s leading summer event, Magic Weekend. In research carried out by Manchester Metropolitan University, the programme was assessed as achieving £1.2m of social value for its communities annually.

Uniquely, the Learning Disability Super League achieves an equally profound impact beyond the field. Hundreds of players in the programme have had access to personal development and vocational opportunities via Community Integrated Care’s Inclusive Volunteering®️ programme, which enables people who draw on care and support to find new skills and interests skills through volunteering at major sporting events. Players have also supported the ongoing success of On The Same Team, an anti-bullying programme targeted at primary school children, which has reached more than 20,000 young people to date.

Judges for the Sports Business Awards praised the programme, saying: “We really admired this initiative as it uses the power of the league and club brand to give a truly accessible opportunity for fans to connect with their clubs. The combination of club reach, sport engagement and interaction has made participation entirely possible for every player. This is very impressive. It’s not an easy challenge to take on and shows what can be done. We really liked the focus on lasting change.”

John Hughes, Director of Partnerships and Communities at Community Integrated Care, says: “Our Learning Disability Super League makes dreams come true for hundreds of people, empowering happier, healthier and more connected lives. It also projects an important vision of a more inclusive and enabling society. We were thrilled to see it receive national and international recognition at the Sports Business Awards.

I am grateful to everyone in Community Integrated Care who has made this programme such a success, through training, strategic support and partnership working, and to our partners at the Rugby Football League, RL Commercial and clubs, who bring real passion, skill and innovation to the delivery of the game. We also want to pay tribute to our partners at Sport England who have shown real commitment to supporting our efforts to tackle health and social inequalities through sport.”

Simon Johnson, the Chair of the RFL and a member of the RL Commercial Board, said: “The partnership with Community Integrated Care around the Learning Disability Super League has been one of the most positive and uplifting features of our sport over a number of years, and it’s wonderful to see everyone involved receive this deserved recognition. The national recognition at the Sports Business Awards underlines that a trailblazing initiative is admired and celebrated well beyond Rugby League circles.”