Hunslet Warriors Rugby League Club

About the project

Hunslet Green Community Sports Club, the home of Hunslet Warriors Rugby League Club, has been a hub for local people in the South Leeds area, providing opportunities to play rugby from the under 6’s level right through to adult level. With a desire to make the club more inclusive to female players, and those with disabilities, the club employed the help of VIY to make this happen.

Over the course of several weeks, our VIY mentors helped 60 young people from the local area, including 23 from Broomfield Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre, volunteer on the project to help convert a disused male changing room into their first female changing room, implement a new physio room and match day kitchen, and redecorate existing changing rooms and the entrance to give the club a modern feel.

With funding from Sport England and the Rugby League World Cup’s CreatedBy programme, and materials supplied by Travis Perkins Leeds Coal Road and Dulux UK, a whopping 123 City and Guilds accreditations were achieved by the young volunteers.

Our lead Mentor on the project, Saj, was full of high praise for the young volunteers, and first time VIY Mentor, Matloob Hashimi, said:

‘My first project was kind of an eye opener. On my first day I was really nervous because I had never worked with young people. After a few days I was thinking all of those years ago, I was like these kids, learning from someone to improve my skills. My favourite part was at the end of the day I would ask the kids if they enjoyed themselves and learnt anything that day, and with a big smile, they would say YES’.