Modified Rugby Program (MRP)

What is the Modified Rugby Program (MRP)? • The MRP is a new, modified form of touch-only rugby where each boy or girl with a learning and perceptual disability has their own club PlayerMentor on the field supporting them. What does the MRP aim to do? • The MRP aims to move boys and girls with learning and perceptual disabilities off the sideline and into the main game. • Through the GingerCloud Leadership Program, we will nurture and support the PlayerMentors as they grow into a generation of young people for whom disability is normalised. Who is the MRP supported by? • The MRP, created by GingerCloud Foundation, is supported by the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) and is currently being endorsed by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU). The MRP Ambassadors are Nathan Sharpe and Tim Horan AM who have been with the program since the pilot at Brothers Rugby Club in Brisbane in 2014. Where is the MRP played? • 2014 - 1 Pilot team (18 participants) at Brothers Rugby Club in Brisbane. • 2015 - 4 MRP teams (76 participants) at Brothers, GPS, Easts & Wests in Brisbane. • 2016 - 8 MRP teams (160 participants) at six clubs, including Brothers, GPS, Easts, Wests, Redlands and the first regional location with USQ in Toowoomba plus the MRP 7s pilot team at Brothers. • 2017 - Pending funding, the MRP will grow to include 14 teams (280 participants) in QLD. As well as the Brisbane teams, there will be a total of 3 MRP teams in Toowoomba (2 new MRP teams) and 1 new MRP team in Townsville. 4 MRP 7’s teams will be created in Brisbane. 1 MRP team will be formed in Tuggeranong in Canberra. • 2018 Pending funding, the MRP will expand to include additional South East Qld Clubs, MRP teams in new regional Qld locations plus 1 MRP team in NSW and 1 MRP team in Melbourne. Enquiries have also been received from a number of Clubs from New Zealand, England and Ireland.