Gloucester: Friends raise thousands in memory of rugby campaigner
A group of friends and volunteers have raised more than £6,000 in honour of a rugby campaigner who fought to make the sport safer.Tom Morris, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, died following a brain tumour diagnosis on 25 November last year, at the age of 46.Mr Morris worked for Progressive Rugby, an advocacy group committed to improving player welfare by reducing the risk of concussions and brain trauma.The money raised will be split between Head for Change, which supports ex-players with neurodegenerative diseases, and St Peter's Hospice, which cared for Mr Morris in his final days.
Setting off from the Gloucester Rugby Club stadium in Kingsholm, Gloucester, on Friday morning, the group ended their cycle in Cardiff in the afternoon.Former Welsh international Ian Gough, who took part in the cycle, has been part of Progressive Rugby since its inception. He told the BBC the organisation's aim was to make sure the game was "as safe as it possibly can be". "We don't want to take out the contact or what makes rugby great, but it's about making it safe so everyone can enjoy it," he added.
Of Friday's cycling challenge he said: "If anyone wants to come out and push me up any hills or install a battery in my bike, I'm down."That's what rugby is like, when you're going through a bit of a dark place you've got your mates around to help and give you a little push," he added. "When you feel a bit better further on down the track, you can reciprocate that."
Retired orthopaedic surgeon Prof John Fairclough, who was involved in the development of sports medicine and research in Wales and is a fellow member of Progressive Rugby, said: "It's terribly important that we recognise the impact that Tom made. "He brought together a group of people who were involved in concussions in sport, and injuries in sport, which produce long-term problems."The most important thing that Tom did was leave a legacy. It's incredible that after five years he managed to generate such a following of people who wanted to support what he had, which was the wish to carry on."To not stop rugby, which was his passion, but rather to make rugby the game that we all love, but to recognise there are dangers. "The legacy of Tom is the fact that we're all here today, all supporting people in the cycle race."
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