One of the most charismatic figures within rugby, Red Roses legend Shaunagh Brown’s latest venture away from the pitch has seen her take up an ambassador role with the Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby team. Team GB are the reining Paralympic Gold medallists, and are undergoing their preparations to retain the title at the Paris Paralympic Games this Summer.
The Harlequin first came across wheelchair rugby during her days as a firefighter, as Brown was apart of the emergency services as recently as January 2019. This was back in the amateur era of women’s rugby, when even the top Red Roses talents had to balance their playing careers with a profession. Brown shares a history in the Fire Brigade with Team GB Wheelchair Rugby captain Gavin Walker, and explained how it was through the fire service that she had her first impressions of the sport.
“It was a few years ago now it first came onto my radar. It was actually when I was working in the fire service, and as part of my role as an inclusion officer in the fire service. So I was going out looking for different community projects that the fire service could engage with as a service and wheelchair rugby was one of those that came up, and we went down to one of the indoor halls in Maidstone (Kent).
“It was with Canterbury Hellfire, that is the name of the team. So the the first interaction was in a work capacity. But ever since then, I’ve just stayed involved personally. And of course, it helps being an international rugby player myself at the time, so the club were very happy to have me down.
“But a lot of it is was to do with Canterbury Hellfire, and having a go, the whole time like from the beginning, I got in a chair from the first session, it was all always about getting in a chair having a go, being part of their training session and being part of it. It has just kind of taken off from there, in that I just got more and more involved.”
Brown’s service with Kent Fire and Rescue, has instilled in her a resilient, team-orientated mentality that seamlessly transferred to the rugby pitch. The hard-hitting Harlequin also witnessed these tropes within the wheelchair rugby athletes, who have all overcome immense personal obstacles in their lives.
“I understand being a firefighter and it is a different kettle of fish. You almost have to change your thinking in a way. Again, it’s hard to explain to someone who’ not in it, but as a firefighter, your best days are when someone else is having their worst day of their life. You’re seeing someone when they’re likely to be having their worst day. But you have to bring a certain type of person to that situation, realizing that you have to be your best self in that moment for that person who’s having the worst day of their life.
“So you can’t let the situation get to you. You’re almost external to the wider situation, whether it be a car crash or a house fire, a kid trapped in a car, especially if the car’s on fire as well. You’ve got to take yourself away from that bigger picture. And be your best in what is normally such a traumatic moment. I guess then a similarity there in sport, you take yourself away from the fact that you’re in a Paralympic final, and you play your game in that moment.
“As much as there’ll be hype around you in the media, whether it be amongst your own team, teammates, coaches, spectators, or all of the people around and the occasion. It’s like to not let that get to you. Because right now, you need to do what you’re good at your call, which is in his moment, on the court as a Paralympic wheelchair rugby player, and in the Fire Service it’s assisting someone and hopefully saving their life.”
As the 30-capped England prop previously alluded to, she was immediately encouraged to participate within the training sessions at the Canterbury Hellfire club. A fan of the sport at the deepest level, Brown is eager to raise the profile of wheelchair rugby, and recalled how she participated in a match with an assortment of men’s and women’s Premiership Rugby players and the Team GB Paralympic athletes.
Last August, Brown was joined by her fellow club-mate Lennox Anyanwu, and former Harlequins Bryony Cleall and Louis Lynagh, as well as an assortment of Saracens men’s and women’s players, including Scotland international Fi McIntosh.
Former England and Tottenham Hotspur footballer Jermaine Jenas hosted the event, with the collective group of rugby players majorly outperformed by the Team GB Paralympians. Brown discussed the event, and how difficult the Premiership rugby players found the sport, to the extent that Brown actively wanted to be on the team with the Great Britain stars.
“I think my favourite one was it was last year. So it was a launch of socios.com. and there’s a video video on my Instagram for sure that it’ll be on our channel if you go back far enough. But Jemaine Jenas hosted it as such. We had a couple of Quins boys, and we had myself, Briony Cleal, who was Quins, going, and then a couple of Saracens girls and Saracens boys. It was just a mixture of Premiership rugby players men and women and wheelchair rugby players.
“But again, it’s that bringing together of those who play and don’t play and seeing how pathetic some people were at controlling a chair! I thought, ‘you’re Premiership Rugby players, why can’t you control a wheelchair that’s got no other power apart from your arms?’ And seeing the wheelchair rugby boys and girls shine, and like reminding them then that they’re really good at their job… are you playing! Because you get a bunch of Premiership rugby players in chairs and, and they literally can’t even get close to you sometimes.”
Harlequins are amongst the professional rugby clubs that also have a wheelchair rugby team, as the ‘Jesters’ lead the way in the famous quarters out on the court. Brown expressed how a desire of hers is to bring the Harlequins Women down to join in with the Jesters, and test out the skills of Red Roses stars Ellie Kildunne and Lagi Tuima in the battle-ready chairs.
Shaunagh certainly views this as a future partnership in the making, in a continued push to raise awareness of the sport to a wider audience. The front-rower then explained how whenever she has introduced new able-bodied people to the world of wheelchair rugby, they have all made the same mistake of ‘feeling sorry for the players’, when getting in the chairs for a practice match. There is no downplaying the physicality of the sport, and the wheelchair rugby players by no means go easy on the newcomers.
“I’ve always known that they are around, but you know, there’s just so much going on for me to meet Jay (Harlequins Jesters player) and be there in person. I definitely will get down there at some point, but ideally, what I’m trying to organise is we go down there as a team, and make it a team event that we go interact, play, because the girls will love it. But also, I really enjoy it.
“So new people, those people who are not initiated. So not necessarily wheelchair users, non-wheelchair users, but people who know wheelchair rugby, so I put myself in that category. People who are not initiated they go, and it’s that part of your brain where you see somebody in a wheelchair, you feel sorry for them. And when you tell them to full smash, and you’re playing a game, you tend to full on smash, they’re not going to, and they feel guilty about like scoring a goal.
“But when you see these boys and girls that the actual wheelchair rugby players, and they go so hard each other, like I love watching them against each other. What I love even more is watching them against able bodied people in a chair, because the able bodied person is feeling sorry and going ‘oh I don’t want to hit too hard.’
“All of a sudden, this person, who maybe has cerebral palsy, maybe can’t hold a conversation with you, will come smashing in at the side. Then the able bodied person’s face is like, ‘what on earth is happening?’. And then you see that click like, ‘oh, so when Shaunagh said we can hit you as hard as you like, we can actually hit you as hard as we like!’ I see it in their face, as it changes, then that’s when a competitive string comes out, and then it’s like an actual game of wheelchair rugby, and it is ‘full smash’ everywhere.
“But I love the wheelchair users, the players in the wheelchairs, they’re so able, and so competitive. And when you get an able bodied person in the wheelchair, they can’t even manoeuvre like around a set of cones, there’s some training sessions and it’s just about moving the chair around, and he can’t even manoeuvre around a set of cones. Yet they’re still feeling sorry for the people, the players in the chair the actual players in the chair.
“So it’s cool to open up their eyes as well, like these are incredible athletes their athletes in their own right, and respect them, but equally give them a decent opposition and don’t just be soft in your chair. Like go hard at them because when they’re playing a game and their opposition are gonna go hard at them too!”
The physicality of wheelchair rugby is one of the sport’s biggest attractions, as the unmistakable clattering of metal on metal echoes around the arenas. The Team GB Ambassador loves every opportunity to go ‘full smash’ around the court, whenever she has the opportunity to play or train with the Gold medallists. Brown explained how the wheelchair rugby players are not there to be the centre of a pity party, but to take the spotlight as impressive athletes in the eyes of the onlookers.
“I’ve watched some bits before online, of the context of how the game goes. If somebody gives me permission for a ‘full smash’, regardless of sport of ability of wheelchair or not, if someone gives me permission to full smash into someone or something, I’m going take that opportunity because those opportunities don’t come around very easy in life!
“But, I get it that so many other people are surprised, and they are sort of worried for the person that they’re going against. And equally parents, with Toby (Church – Solent Sharks and Team GB Academy Player) as well, it was his Dad, who was the worrier. And so having that carer, or another person who’s on two legs, having that worry as well, but it’s basically I guess, it’s about not underrating these athletes.
“They’re not there because they want you to feel sorry for them. They’re not there because they’ve got a story that they want to tell you. They’re not there, because they want to tell you how they got their injury as well. That’s another one, just get on with it. They’re here, they want you to smash them, because it helps their game.
“And also, they don’t want to describe explain the rules every time somebody shows an interest in it. They want you to know a bit about wheelchair rugby first. So, then you come in and you can respect their game. Yes, when they are in their chairs on that court, they are very much the stars of the show. It’s down to us as able-bodied people to help encourage and be part of that experience to make them better, and to do that they’re basically begging me to smash into them!”
With the 2024 Paralympic Games on the horizon, there is no better time to get into wheelchair rugby as a spectator, with Great Britain looking to retain their place at the top of the podium. Team GB won Gold back at the pandemic-delayed 2021 Tokyo Paralympics, and have a few more stops on the road to retaining the title. Next month, Team GB will head to Cardiff, for the 2024 Quad Nations Championships, as they take on the world leading trio of France, Japan and the United States.
Shaunagh is eagerly anticipating the event, which will run from the 16th to the 18th of April. The team’s ambassador laid out her plans for the mid-week tournament, as she gets ready to support her side on the run-up to the Paris Paralympics. The Red Roses icon expressed two areas of where she wants the sport to grow, with a focus on participation and spectatorship being at the heart of her work. The front-rower believes that the physicality of wheelchair rugby can be utilised to drive sports fans to watch on, be it live at the upcoming events or through the broadcast partners.
“I would like to see it grow essentially, in two different forms, so participation, but also spectators. Wheelchair Rugby was originally called ‘murder-ball’, and it was brought about to a very small minority of people to take part. Now for me, it’s very important that you protect that small minority of people, and someone looking in might see the criteria of being able to play Paralympic wheelchair rugby, and feel like it’s unfair, because there’s only such a small talent pool to choose from.
“But I see it as helping to protect some of the most vulnerable people in society. And if you take wheelchair rugby away from them, then what do they have? And sadly, you know, in our society, it’s not a lot. Not necessarily in terms of how they live ,but in terms of other sports that they can participate in and those things that motivate you and discipline, all of that that sport does for you.
“So I’d want to see participation grow, while still protecting the types of people who are allowed to play Paralympic rugby. So it’d be building on those relationships with hospitals, is going to be your big one, in finding them. But also, as a spectator, it is a great sport. It is thoroughly entertaining, the sounds of chair on chair, big metal on metal going against each other.
“It’s so fast paced as well it’s just thoroughly entertaining. So I’d love to see it grow and the way I see it growing is exposing that physical element as much as possible to people, because that’s what they want to see.”
To round off, Brown explained how Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby CEO Jason Brisbane is working tirelessly to achieve a broadcaster for the upcoming Quad Nations. Brisbane is one of numerous people that help out behind the scenes, in the orchestrating of the wider wheelchair rugby tournaments. The Harlequin gave a shout out to the team that do the unseen work, and shared her message to introduce fans to the sport.
“But also, as a spectator, it is a great sport. It is thoroughly entertaining, the sounds of chair on chair, big metal on metal going against each other. It’s so fast paced as well it’s just thoroughly entertaining. So I’d love to see it grow and the way I see it growing is exposing that physical element as much as possible to people, because that’s what they want to see.
Just like rugby, it’s like comparing 15s to 7s.
“People watch fifteens because there’s a lot more hits, there’s a lot more contact, there’s a lot more roughing each other up, and that’s what people want to see. So it’s just getting it out there as much as possible. I know Jason’s (Brisbane – GBWR CEO) working hard to try and get a broadcaster, to try and get the Quad Nations, because that’s in April, on in Wales.
“Get that shown as much as possible and expose it, and get people to understand that again, it’s not about feeling sorry for them. It’s about embracing and loving their sport, and you don’t have to be a wheelchair user to want to watch or be involved.
“Because that’s the other thing. There’s so many able-bodied people around the sport to help the sport work. To move the wheelchairs around, to get the equipment around to set up the courts, etc. There’s a lot of able bodied people involved. So it’s just that, you don’t have to be a wheelchair user to get involved.
“With some conditions you don’t have to be a full time wheelchair user to play the game either. So, getting the understanding about who can play, and their perception (is important). Getting the eligibility criteria known and getting out to as many people as possible, and getting the big hits (seen). I love Toby’s (Church) phrase of it’s ‘violence with class’. That line… oh, that’s a set-up that is.”