Warrington Wolves Physical Disability Rugby League (PDRL) team travelled to Australia in August 2018, to take on Russell Crowes’ South Sydney Rabbitohs PDRL team in the inaugural PDRL World Club Challenge where they were crowned world champions.
Australian comedian and TV presenter of The Last Leg, Adam Hills, has been a key member of the Warrington Wolves PDRL team and instigated the fixture in Australia. The remarkable story of the rise of the Warrington Wolves PDRL team to become world champions was told in a documentary, Adam Hills: Take His Legs, on Channel 4 in December.
Warrington have been at the forefront of the game’s development and played the first PDRL game against Leeds Rhinos in February last year. Since then the game has grown massively opening up opportunities for people with both physical and learning disabilities to play Rugby League.
The world’s best physical disability Rugby League players were joined by Adam Hills as well as other celebrity players such as former Warrington players Andrew Johns and Matt King, and former Rabbitohs flyer Bruce Longbottom. The international fixture provided an amazing opportunity to make a wider audience aware of this variant of the game.
What is PDRL?
- Physical Disability Rugby League consists of two teams comprised of nine players (seven with physical disability and two able-bodied) playing two 25-minute halves.
- The purpose of the able-bodied players is to facilitate the play and they are unable to score, kick or run further than 10 metres with the ball in hand.
- Two players on the team wear red shorts who cannot be tackled. All other players play full contact.
- The remaining five players play under full contact and have a range of disabilities including visual impairments, limb deficiencies and brain injuries.
- There are unlimited subs, no scrums and no drop goals.