Community Integrated Care celebrates decade of social impact through rugby league

Community Integrated Care is proud to mark a decade of life-changing impact in rugby league communities, delivering work that has been recognised as the best community programme in world sport, alongside major honours for care innovation, charity partnerships and integrated care.

Community Integrated Care is a powerful charity that delivers more than 8 million hours of specialist care and support across the nation every year, driven by a mission of enabling people to live the Best Life Possible. It is at the heart of rugby league’s communities, supporting people who have learning disabilities, autistic people, people in mental health recovery and people who have complex physical disabilities.

A decade of innovation: from local foundations to a national partnership

The charity’s work in rugby league began in 2016, partnering with the sport’s club charitable foundations, including Widnes Vikings, St Helens and Leeds Rhinos, to design programmes that tackled health, social and economic inequalities in individual lives and across the care system. This included developing accessible sports provision, programmes enabling people who have learning disabilities to play rugby league, dementia cafés, care home outreach, and employment and volunteering support.

This community-based partnership model was recognised nationally for the impacts it made on individual lives and the care system, including being named the Best Model of Integrated Care by Skills for Care.

In 2019, the relationship scaled nationally when the charity became the Official Social Care Partner of the Rugby Football League (RFL) and Super League. This long-term strategic partnership sees the charity and the sport collaborate to develop innovations that change lives, sharing strengths to build a more inclusive sport and care sector.

The Learning Disability Super League: enabling dreams on the game’s biggest stages

The partnership was marked by the launch of the Community Integrated Care Learning Disability Super League, a pioneering adapted sport that enables people who have learning disabilities and autism, and who require support in their daily lives, to play for the clubs they love.

Underpinned by specialist training and independence-enabling approaches guided by the charity, the RFL, RL Commercial and clubs have enabled players to perform on the game’s greatest stages, including Magic Weekend at Anfield, St James’ Park and Elland Road, as well as at the Challenge Cup and Super League fixtures.

The programme has been assessed by Manchester Metropolitan University as achieving £1.25 million of social value annually. It has also developed lasting skills and confidence in hundreds of rugby league coaches and volunteers through specialist training, enabling impact in this programme and many more.

Inclusive Volunteering: transforming skills, confidence, and independence

The charity also developed its Inclusive Volunteering Model, enabling people to access creative personal development opportunities inspired by sport, building skills that support volunteering and living with lifelong independence. More than 500 people have been supported, and the charity continues to deliver vocational experiences with the support of RL Commercial.

Both the Learning Disability Super League and Inclusive Volunteering have been recognised as the Best Sports Community Scheme at the Sports Business Awards, and as best care innovation at the Great British Care Awards.

Standing together in the pandemic

The strength of the partnership shone during the pandemic, as rugby league clubs provided practical, life-protecting support, including storing and coordinating vital supplies of PPE and offering hands-on assistance to the charity, while the charity provided guidance and support to enable Foundations to continue serving their communities and innovate their support for isolated groups. Together, the charity and the sport protected and enriched many lives at the most difficult of times.

Continuing to innovate: tackling discrimination and opening access

Community Integrated Care and the sport continue to innovate and change lives. This includes enabling people who have experienced hate crime and discrimination to co-produce “On The Same Team”, a free education programme designed to tackle discrimination before it takes root. The programme has earned strong feedback from schools and reaches tens of thousands of young people, with York RLFC Foundation delivering the programme to 6,000 people this year.

The relationship has also helped shape a more accessible and relevant sport for people who draw on care and support. This includes the charity’s lived experience experts, The Support Squad, offering advice and guidance around major event delivery, and creating easy read guides to the sport and its events, helping to open access to the Super League Grand Final and Challenge Cup Final.

This diverse range of innovations and impacts, shaped by lived experience and grounded in the charity’s specialist expertise, continues to build more inclusive communities and a more enabling sport. The charity was recognised with the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion award at the international 2025 Sports Business Awards, recognising its impact across the sports system.

John Hughes, Director of Partnerships and Communities at Community Integrated Care, said: “Over the past decade, alongside our partners, we’ve created and grown innovative work that addresses deep health, social and economic inequalities - reflecting Community Integrated Care’s commitment to enabling people to live their Best Life Possible.

We’re deeply grateful to our partners in the Rugby Football League, RL Commercial, the clubs and foundations, volunteers, and the players and legends who’ve helped inspire and change lives. Above all, this milestone is about the people we support, their families and support teams. W e’re excited to reach and support many more in the years ahead.”

Marc Lovering, RFL Director of Performance and Development, said: “The RFL are excited to celebrate the impactful and inspiring work that’s positively impacted Rugby League communities over the past decade in partnership with Community Integrated Care. 

Together, we’ve shown how our sport can change lives by opening doors, challenging inequalities and enabling people to achieve things they may never have thought possible. 

We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved over the past ten years and are grateful to Community Integrated Care, clubs, foundations, volunteers, participants and the Rugby League Family as whole, who have made this journey so special. We look forward to continuing this partnership and building even greater impact in the years ahead.”