Titans big dream for physical disability team
“One of the boys has cerebral palsy and he struggles walking a bit, but he just craves being tackled and tackling other people.” Here are some of the inspiring stories behind the Gold Coast Titans’ push for a Physical Disability league to run alongside the NRL.
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IT’S more than a game.
If you talk to people who know and love rugby league, it’s a way of life. You grow up in it, it sounds funny to say, but Saturday’s in winter have a certain smell, “a good day for footy” dad’s can be heard saying as they take their kids to fields across the Coast.
But for some, until recently, they weren’t able to experience the camaraderie of a team, the nervousness as you await the blow of the whistle and the jubilation of that first hit-up or tackle.
Turned away from clubs as kids because they were different, less able than the other aspiring footy players, but the love for the game and the dream to play continued to burn strong.
For others their story is vastly different, the love of the game was entrenched in them, until a life-altering incident turned their world upside down. The game they loved playing seemed like a distant memory.
Enter the Gold Coast Titans who are leading the push to introduce an NRL-affiliated competition for players with physical disabilities. A game changer for those who were told they could never strap on the boots and play the game they loved.
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The boys have been training for the past year, preparing for the moment they will run out on to the hallowed ground in front of thousands of Titans supporters at Cbus Super Stadium.
And week six of the NRL competition is looking the likely first hit out, with the Newcastle Knights expressing an interest to play at Robina.
The Titans Physical Disability Rugby League team manager Callum Mitchener says the dream is to have a competition run alongside the NRL, similar to the women’s game.
“We’re in discussions with Newcastle to have our first game here as a curtain raiser to the NRL game. It will be fantastic,” he said.
“There is a New Zealand team and we’ve been in contact about playing them, I’d love for the Ipswich Jets, the Broncos and other Queensland based football teams to get involved.
“The West Tigers and South Sydney have a team. Nationally, teams are starting to jump on-board, so who knows where we’ll be in a year or two.
“It would be great to organise national games and eventually a State of Origin to make the game flourish, like the women’s game recently has.”
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Captain-coach Terry Litton will be 55 this year. He retired from rugby league at 32, had a life-changing seizure and stroke before returning to the game he calls “another religion”.
“One day I had a seizure and got tests done, I had a brain aneurysm,” Litton said.
“I had to have major brain surgery and through that I had a stroke and lost vision in my right eye and I’ve only got 30 per cent vision in my left eye. I’m legally blind and have a brain injury.
“All rugby league people know, once you’re a footballer, you never lose it.”
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Litton said the opportunity to come in and support those who’ve never played before was too hard to pass up.
“The majority of these boys have never been allowed to play before, I was lucky, I grew up playing. This is their game and I want them to experience it.
“One of the boys has cerebral palsy and he struggles walking a bit, but he just craves being tackled and tackling other people, loves that contact and I think a lot of the other boys enjoy it as well.
“I think there’s a real spot for physical disability rugby league … I would encourage anyone who has a physical disability to come down and have a look and consider playing, it could change your life.”
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Josh Stewart jumped at the chance to be involved in a team sport for the first time, hitting the training paddock on Thursday in a blade-runner-esque prosthetic.
“It was a congenital thing,” he said. “I had a problem with my tibia, by the time I was learning to walk it was snapping and all kinds of stuff, so they thought it was easier to just take it off.
“I’ve had a prosthetic since I was about three, grew up that way. I wasn’t allowed to play footy so I got into the other sports like snowboarding and dirt bikes.
“The highlight of this is to be involved in a team sport, it looks like they’ve got a good thing started … to put on a Gold Coast jersey and running down to Sydney and give those teams a good flogging.”
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Being told he couldn’t do something was the greatest motivation for Mitch Gleeson, who played able-bodied footy for years, and recently captained the Australian Physical Disability side.
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“I had Meningococcal when I was four. I was paralysed from the neck down, was in a coma for 10 days,” Gleeson said.
“From there, I had a choice, play footy or not play footy. I’ve got a twin brother and we used to play in the backyard, then I just went on to play normal footy.
“A lot of the guys out here got told as kids they can’t do this and they can’t do that and they probably went, well I guess I can’t, I went the other way.
“And now I’ve captained the Australian team, the sport has given me so much.
“For me, doing this, I get to give back to footy, it means a lot.”
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Titans player Tyrone Roberts has jumped on board to help train with the boys.
“I’ve seen two of these boys grow up, they love the game to death, for them to get out on the field and play, is a dream come true. It’s a big thing for us to get out here and help out where we can,” he said.
“When you see these guys running around it makes you humble, to appreciate what you do, it brings you back down to earth.”
If you or your child has a physical disability and are older than 14 and keen to join the group, email Callum Mitchener at Callum.Mitchener@ausure.com.au or head to the Gold Coast Titans PDRL Facebook page.
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