Barnes prepare for Twickenham

BARNES veterans will be taking on the House of Lords and Commons at Twickenham on Saturday to raise money for the Injured Players Foundation.

The House of Lords and Commons team tend to play other parliaments and were last in action last Friday playing the Irish parliament ahead of last Saturday’s Six Nations match between Ireland and England.

However, Barnes chairman Michael Whitfield and Lord Dominic Addington arranged a fixture of their own at HQ and 64-year-old Whitfield is eager to put back on his boots and raise money for a great cause.

He said: “There’s a load of us Barnes players that went down to the garage to find out A) is our kit there? B) is it moldy? and C) can we get it on? But it’s incredibly exciting and brilliant that we can raise money for a great cause.

“Lots of people know the celebrity players that have suffered nasty injuries and the one that everyone would talk about is Matt Hampson. Predominantly the Injured Players Foundation is there for catastrophic spinal cord or brain injuries that occur during a game of rugby from grassroots to professional. It helps them carry on their lives as fully as they can, so it’s a great cause.”

Whitfield set a target of raising £10,000 for the Injured Players Foundation but with still six days to go until the event they have almost doubled that figure and he urges the rugby community to come together to donate what they can.

said: “Every penny counts. Everyone that reads The Rugby Paper is either a rugby player or supporter and probably will know someone that has been injured and has needed support.

“There’s no other sport like it. As chairman at Barnes, it’s important to me that we support the community.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a game like this or during the pandemic when we raised £150,000 for the NHS or 6,000 tins for the food bank in March 2021, that’s what the club exists for.

“You have to be charitable off the pitch as well as on it as that’s what rugby is all about, so we drill that into our young players.”

You can donate to the cause using the donation site: https:// www.barnowcares. com/invitationalxv