Wheelchair rugby competition is the latest sporting battleground between Australia and New Zealand

Brad Grove did not compete in the Paralympic Games this year and there was never really any possibility that he would.

But that didn’t stop many friends and family from lamenting his absence.

Grove is a veteran of the Wheelaroos, Australia’s national wheelchair rugby league.

“I got so many calls during the Paralympics asking, ‘Why aren’t you there, aren’t you playing on the Australian team?’” Grove said.

“Even on the Facebook page, people were asking, ‘Where are the Wheelaroos? Did they not qualify?'”

Unlike wheelchair rugby, where the Australian Steelers won a bronze medal, wheelchair rugby competition is not organized at the Paralympic Games.

Thanks to its hard shots and lightning speed, wheelchair rugby has grown enormously in popularity in recent years.

But with its round ball and forward passing, it is not unlike the other codes of rugby.

Wheelchair rugby competition, on the other hand, certainly does.

Played with a mix of disabled and non-disabled players, tries are scored by grounding a size four rugby league ball in the opponent’s goal area, kicking and tackling is exchanged for AFL-style handball and tapping, and it game is divided into five games. sets.

On the eve of an opening two-Test series against New Zealand and a home World Cup on the horizon, the wheelchair rugby league has a great opportunity to introduce the Australian public to the Wheelaroos.

‘The most inclusive sport’

Wheelchair rugby competition encourages participation from both disabled and non-disabled athletes.

Of the five players on the field at any given time, two may be non-disabled.

Bayley McKenna is one of the Wheelaroos’ non-disabled stars and said this makes wheelchair rugby league “the most inclusive sport”.

He initially took up the sport because he could play it with his father Darren, who was a key figure in the development of wheelchair rugby league in Queensland.

“My old man lost his leg in an accident when I was very young and since then we had been looking for something he and I could do together,” McKenna said.

“I’ve been pretty much his right-hand man since the accident.”

McKenna burst onto the international stage at the 2022 World Cup in England, with numerous eye-catching tries, big hits and player-of-the-match performances.

The tournament was a turning point for wheelchair rugby league, with matches streamed live and social media highlights receiving hundreds of thousands of views.

But despite non-disabled players being an integral part of the sport, McKenna said he still got some “flack” online.

“I’ve gotten a lot of messages on Instagram and Facebook saying I shouldn’t be there: I’m not in a wheelchair, I don’t have a disability, things like that,” McKenna said.

“But one thing people need to remember is that a wheelchair is actually a piece of hardware that we use for sports, like a tennis racket or a cricket bat.”

A sport to play together

Brad Grove also applauds the inclusivity that comes from allowing non-disabled and disabled athletes to compete together.

At the age of 19, he broke his back while on a friend’s property and has been paralyzed ever since.

“I jumped on the back of another friend’s ute, he took the corner too much of an embankment, rolled the ute, I got thrown off and he rolled over me,” Grove said.

“I pretty much broke my back by folding myself in half.”

After the accident, Grove initially played wheelchair basketball, but found a home in wheelchair rugby league.

At his side was Jason Attard, on whose turf Grove broke his back.

The inclusion of non-disabled players allowed both Attard and Grove to rise through the wheelchair rugby league rankings, eventually taking the field together at numerous World Cups.

The birth of a new rivalry

The upcoming two-Test series will be the first for Wheel Kiwis and will coincide with the New Zealand men’s and women’s running teams in the Pacific Championship matches.

With both matches being streamed live, Grove said this is an invaluable opportunity to build a strong trans-Tasmanian rivalry.

Europe is very much the heart of the wheelchair rugby league world. The game was developed there and all four World Cups to date have been won by teams from the continent.

The proximity of these Northern Hemisphere powerhouses has allowed for regular competition between them, while the last time the Wheelaroos were on the pitch was during the 2022 World Cup.

Since then, two foreign tours have “collapsed” due to lack of financing. Grove said his team will travel to New Zealand with the aim of growing the sport in the Pacific.

“We want to get out there and teach them about the sport…get some exposure for them there,” Grove said.

“With this New Zealand team we can hopefully get some other Pacific countries on board so we can build something strong here.”

A home World Cup in sight

The tour marks the start of both teams’ preparations for the 2026 World Cup in Australia.

The Wheelchair Rugby World Cup competition will run concurrently with the men’s and women’s tournaments as the Kangaroos and Jillaroos look to defend their crowns.

Grove and McKenna are looking at the competition in the hope that it will both raise the profile of the sport in Australia and help shift the sport’s global stronghold further south.

“We want to work towards this World Cup on home soil and say to the Europeans: ‘Yes, you started the sport, but it’s time for it to come here,’” Grove said.

The Wheelaroos’ two tests against the Wheel Kiwis will take place in Auckland on November 1 and 4.