After a big boom in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, there was a big rise in the number of spectators for Wheelchair Rugby. In 2020, Great Britain won gold in Tokyo which Finn Lusty believes gave the sport a massive boost.
“In 2020 in Tokyo we won gold which then gave us a lot more funding and a lot more ability to brand the sport and really get it out there.”
Lusty, 20, currently leads and assists in digital marketing, whether that be social media or content creating.
“In the external third party productions I’m there to assist and consult them on keeping it to brand and in terms of social media control, I release all the content myself and we are very much in favour of analytics and looking at what people want to see, what people click on” he said.
“As a sport we’re really trying to grow and become more of a spectator sport, not just a sport to accommodate people in wheelchairs, we want to make it viewable and digestible for a diverse audience.”
With Wheelchair Rugby being one of the only full-contact disability sports, there’s no wonder why it’s the fastest growing sport at the Paralympics over the last ten years.
The 20-year-old stated: “We as a sport like to keep away from the rugby brand, I know we’re named after it which is difficult but there’s other names for the sport such as combat chess and also murderball which is it’s official title.”
The name “murderball” originated back in 1977, when a group of quadriplegic athletes from Winnipeg, Canada, wanted a sport which would allow players with reduced arm and hand function to participate equally.
As part of his role, Lusty recently released the ‘I can play’ campaign, whose mission is to make everyone feel included in the sport and to represent and show how many disabilities can be a part of the sport.
In terms of playing at the Paralympics, there are certain conditions that players need to qualify for to be able to attend the games.
“People who are paralysed and have more acute disabilities play wheelchair rugby fours as this is seen as the competitive version of the game and is the Paralympic discipline, so this ranges from people who are paralysed, to people with cerebral palsy with three or more affected limbs” Lusty said.
“Every player will get a classification ranging from zero to four and four people can be on the court at one point and their total point-age has to add up to eight.
“You usually have one or two strong players with a lot more upper body ability and two players with less ability but their chairs are adapted with something we call ‘picks’ which help them stop and give them an advantage when coming up against people with more ability.”
When asked about next year’s Paralympic Games in Paris, France, Lusty believes Great Britain has a great chance of bringing home gold.
“I mean I work for them so I’ve seen behind the scenes, I know what it takes and we have the best players in the world without a doubt.”
