Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘We’ll show them the Scottish fighting spirit!’
Ask Neil Johnston why he decided to take up wheelchair rugby, and his reply is, “I get to crash into people!”
That answer gives an idea of 26-year-old Neil’s no-holds-barred approach. It’s something his opponents will experience when he lines up for Scotland at the Rugby League Wheelchair World Cup. For the first time, the competition is running alongside the Rugby League World Cup main event.
A man who thrives on a physical challenge, Neil wasn’t going to let the fact that he was born with cerebral palsy stop him playing the sport he loves.
“When I’m wearing the thistle on my chest, I have a mindset of, ‘Right, let’s get to business and show them the Scottish fighting spirit!’,” he says. “I know this team will go far.”
Neil only started playing wheelchair rugby three years ago and is a founding member of Glasgow Wheelchair Rugby Club. Players compete in specially adapted chairs, which Scotland Rugby League were able to buy using National Lottery funding. And it’s also thanks to National Lottery players that £9.3million will be given to rugby league over the next five years.
“Wheelchair rugby has given me access to a sport I’d never thought I’d play and introduced me to people I’d wouldn’t have met otherwise,” adds Neil.
“Most of the guys on the team are ex-military, so there’s a range of disabilities: amputees, people who are paralysed and some who are disabled from birth.
“It can sound like we’re screaming and yelling at each other, but it’s coming from a place of respect and love. When you see us off the court you can tell we’re a unit because of the level of brotherhood.”