Today Premiership Rugby reveal a shortlist of twelve inspiring young rugby players, volunteers and coaches who have been nominated for Premiership Rugby Parliamentary Community Awards. Within this, two inspirational people from Gloucester Rugby Foundation have been recognised for harnessing the power of rugby to change lives.

Their stories, alongside the compelling, uplifting and emotive stories of all those shortlisted, will be shared at the Premiership Rugby Parliamentary Community Awards ceremony, taking place at the House of Commons, and attended by MPs on 11th July.

The Premiership Rugby Parliamentary Community Awards are a celebration of the incredible work and impact achieved by Premiership Rugby and its Clubs and Foundations through their community programmes which are rolled out nationally at over 200 locations. These awards demonstrate that their collective commitment to supporting communities is making an invaluable contribution to addressing some of the biggest societal challenges. Premiership Rugby aims to help tackle inequalities that exist, believing wholeheartedly that all young people, no matter their background or ability, should have equal access to sporting opportunities which help them fulfil their potential.

Evan Vestey, Outstanding Achiever of the Year Award – East Head Impact are proud sponsors of this award designed to reward a participant who has excelled in any of Premiership Rugby’s education, health or social inclusion programmes, highlighting the potential of the game to change lives off the field.

In a story of unbelievable courage and strength, Evan fought back after years of hospitalisation to build her self-belief and confidence which is helping her to achieve her full potential. Before starting on the HITZ programme in January, Evan had not spent more than a few days in education. Born female but identifying as ‘he’ for a period of time, Evan suffered horrific bullying at school, despite support from her parents.

Missing out on being a child and lacking social interaction affected her mental health culminating in a prolonged period in hospital. In just 15 weeks at HITZ, Evan made a remarkable achievement by passing all exams, after essentially learning from scratch, and developed from being shy, unconfident and lacking the ability to talk about herself in a positive way, to shining with confidence, communicating easily and working hard. Evan has flourished. Continuing the momentum, Evan applied for a Higher Education course in Sports Science at Hartpury College University, securing a place to start in September.

Since the completion of the HITZ Programme, Evan got in touch to say that she wanted to remain female as she now feels more confident about herself and now sees her life going in a new direction. This is and was a massive turning point for Evan and shows that Evan was able to make meaningful decisions with her life without seeking or needing other people’s approval.

Tom Nurse, Community Volunteer of the Year Award - CVC are proud sponsors of this award designed to recognise a person who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to the community through their work at their local Premiership Rugby club. Each has utilised not only their spare time, but their life experience, passion and dedication to help support the lives of others.

Tom is so committed to volunteering within rugby that it has been said he treats it like a full-time job. Despite fighting an aggressive form of cancer in his 30s which has left him medically retired in his 40’s, he has thrown himself enthusiastically into rugby. Tom consistently gives up to 15 hours a week of his time to supporting the delivery of the Project Rugby programme, directs the Cotswold Lionesses women’s rugby team, is the team manager for the Gloucestershire county women’s team as well as refereeing walking rugby sessions in Stroud. Tom credits rugby as giving him a purpose in life. After his physical health deteriorated, he looks after his mental health by remaining engaged and motivated through volunteering in rugby. Passionate about removing barriers to play, Tom continually works to introduce new players to the game and led his women’s team to their first competitive match this season. His selfless involvement in women’s teams means the transition for girls on the Project Rugby programme to playing rugby regularly at Minchinhampton RFC is seamless. Indeed, so impactful is the work Tom does that it is due to be replicated in another area of the county.

Community programmes such as HITZ, Project Rugby, Champions and the Defender Premiership Rugby Cup are just some of the initiatives that Premiership Rugby run nationwide to support around 250K people in communities to fulfil their potential.

Wayne Morris, Community & CSR Director at Premiership Rugby says: “For many of the nominees their journey with a Premiership Rugby community programme started off against the odds, or with uncertainty around getting involved. However, every single story is one of progress. Every person shortlisted has improved either their own life or the lives of others. We’re passionate about using rugby to change lives and our community awards are a real showcase of just how much a difference our programmes and our clubs and foundation teams make. I applaud you all!”

Visit www.premiershiprugby.com/community for more information

Join in the conversation via the hashtag #PremRugbyCA23

Premiership Rugby Parliamentary Community Awards 2023

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