With Covid-19 grinding sport to a halt, there is one Welsh wheelchair rugby side who have had their home replaced.

The North Wales Crusaders Wheelchair team train and play most of their matches at Deeside Leisure Centre in Queensferry and despite they are not charging in their chairs currently, it has seen a change in purpose.

The leisure centre has been turned into a makeshift hospital during the pandemic, which can occupy 250 patients at one time.

The Crusaders have played there for five years and in that time have grown to have three teams with over 30 players registered. One of these is Daniel Clarke.

He believes it is a good idea to turn it into a hospital, “The top priority at the moment has to be to help the NHS. Deeside has a lot of indoor space and is ideal to turn into a temporary hospital.” said Clarke “Until the virus is under control, there will be no sport there, so why not?”.

On March 7th the season began with two of the North Wales sides playing. The Super League side lost to Leeds Rhinos, meanwhile the third side defeated Ebbw Vale in the first ever Welsh derby.

Daniel plays for the second team and is yet to feature as they had a bye in round one. “It is very frustrating not to be able to play. I only started playing halfway through last year and I was really looking forward to my first full season.”

As many of the players in the league have disabilities and classed as vulnerable on Government advice, it potentially puts the season in jeopardy. Players and coaches had an online meeting on Friday to discuss the future of the season. However, the decision is yet to be made.

Many want the season to continue, but with health and safety issues to contend the decision is out of the hands of the clubs. Sophie Jones is a volunteer at the Crusaders as well as a coach of their junior development programme.

“It’s a really frustrating time, a lot of hard work goes into preparing for the season and it feels that all that hard work was pointless” said Sophie.

The team trains every Friday at Deeside, so by being in lockdown it is a dramatic change to their regular dynamic and but, Daniel thinks it will feel the same.

“It will feel like we haven’t been away in terms of the social aspect.”

“I expect some of us will be out of shape!” Daniel joked. “When the season is over, many of us still play wheelchair 7s to keep us going, so this will be the longest some of us have gone without seeing each other”.

During this tough time people have struggled to occupy themselves after being restricted to their own homes for four weeks and with weeks ahead.

“I have struggled and felt anxious at times. Not being able to see my Mum, Dad and Brother who are my support.” Sophie said “I have kept busy by decorating my whole house. It has been a busy and productive few weeks. I just wanted to keep my mind active.”

Sophie’s brother and father are key parts of the North Wales team. Her father Stephen is the head coach of the Super League side, in which his son, Harry, plays for. Harry has posted quizzes on the social media sites to help keep players interacting and to entertain them. 

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“I have had real fun producing them and it has got a lot of engagement among not just our players but other sides” Harry said.

Wheelchair rugby league is not a well know sport, but it allows inclusivity as people who are both abled bodied and disabled to play along side each other on the pitch as well as the teams being mixed gender. The rules state that a minimum of three of the five players on the pitch must have a registered disability.

During these tough times, the group have stayed connected with regular contact in their Facebook group to help get through it together.

“We are very close as a group. We all support each other tremendously and I don’t think it has ever been more crucial than this current moment” Sophie said.

With the outcome of the season undecided, the Crusaders will be still mentally preparing in their conquest of the league. With a cup tie against defending champions, Halifax still to come in their next fixture whenever that maybe.

 They will be hoping for Super League success in the remainder of 2020 as they look to be the first Welsh side to win the Super League.

The Blues boss was delighted with his sides’ 2-1 victory against Telford, who could have pasted Chester if the result went their way.

“It was a good performance, fantastic result and gives us that momentum going forward”.

Chester dominated early on however, they conceded to Amari Morgan-Smith inside 20 minutes. Johnson had warned the team about Telford’s set-piece prowess.

“They scored against the run of play. We were fuming that they scored from a set piece because we knew how dangerous they would be”.

Anthony Dudley gave the Seals the lead in the second half, after Akwasi Asante equalised with his fifth in three matches.

Asante was substituted due to injury in the second half; however, Johnson believes he will be fit for the next match on Boxing day.

“When you’ve got a player, who has scored that many goals in that minutes and he is coming off injured everyone takes a deep breath. He has taken a bang on the back of his knee to his tendons and hopefully he will be fine.”

The victory moves Chester six points ahead of Telford and Johnson believes they are a tough side.

““Its cliché about six pointers. But it put a nice gap between us. I think they are a good side, even with 10 men in the last 10 minutes they were pushing and threatening. It was about getting the three points and the job done”.

Chester due to results elsewhere have moved up to third.

They travel to Southport on Boxing Day and despite the hectic fixture list, Johnson is a fan of the Christmas period.

“I love it. If you add the FC (United of Manchester) game, we have five games in 14 days. That is what you want when you have momentum to play every day if you can”.

The Blues will be looking for revenge on Boxing day after Southport knocked them out of the FA Trophy.

Chester FC sit third in the National League North after their 2-1 home win over AFC Telford.

After falling behind, the hosts hit back through strikers Anthony Dudley and Akwasi Asante.

The Seals came into the fixture looking to build on an already strong start to the season against a playoff pushing AFC Telford side.

Chester started the brighter of the two sides with Asante having a goal ruled out due to offside, however, it was the Bucks who struck first.

Amari Morgan-Smith opened the scoring after 19 minutes as he found himself unmarked and headed past Grant Shenton in the Chester goal.

Their lead didn’t last long, with Asante levelling the score five minutes later. A long ball forward was flicked on by Dudley, and Asante slotted home a fifth goal in three appearances for Chester.

Chester started the second half well with Dudley putting them ahead in the 51st minute. Simon Grand’s cross found Dudley, who’s first attempt was blocked, but he fired the rebound into the bottom corner.

Asante was substituted ten minutes into the second half after going down with an injury.

With an hour played Telford thought they had equalised. But the referee deemed that the Telford striker had fouled Chester keeper, Grant Shenton

Chester’s task was made easier 20 minutes from the end when Shane Sutton was shown a straight red, for pulling Dudley down.

The Blues travel to Southport on Boxing day looking for revenge after being knocked out of they were knocked out the FA Trophy.

Talking Points

Inform Asante

With Chester recently struggling for goals have they found the man who will score their goals in Akwasi Asante. His first half strike was a fifth in three matches clearly shows he can score and also had one disallowed in the first half. But with him going of injured will it halt Chester’s progress

Home is key

Often the key to promotion is making your home ground a fortress. With eight wins in eleven matches as the Swansway Stadium this season, Chester are very much on track. With a tough schedule to come, their home form will be vital going on if they want to stay in the playoff positions.

Debut for Jackson

The joint managers, Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson were delighted to acquire the services of Bradley Jackson earlier on in the season. Jackson scored away at Chester in Ashton United’s 4-1 defeat. He made the first of many appearances for the club.