Here’s everything you need to know about the fundraising done by Cardiff University Rugby Club

After many reports of spiking at Cardiff recently, lots of events have happened in solidarity for women and the victims of these incidents.

One such event was organised by the charity secretary for Cardiff University Men’s Rugby Club, Nathan Friend.

The event took place on Wednesday 27th October at Llanrumney playing fields, where they raised money for NHS SARC – an organisation that offers preventative and reactive initiatives/support for spiking and sexual assault incidents in Cardiff.

Why did they decide to do the event?

Nathan told The Cardiff Tab that charity is a huge part of their vision to “build a better, more inclusive, socially positive club here in Cardiff.”

The committee talked about the rugby clubs they had grown up playing for back home and how much these clubs meant to their communities, filling the players with pride: “They were revered in the towns and villages we grew up in.”

“They were always there to lend a hand.”

He went on to say that they discussed what they could do to build a better reputation here in Cardiff to make the community feel the same way about their club. They realised that it wouldn’t be difficult to raise money with the amount of members the club boasts: “After seeing the horrendous increasing reports of sexual assaults and spiking in Cardiff, we felt like we had to do something.”

“Following an amazing conversation with Amy Sykes at the University’s Disclosure Response Team, we decided we’d raise money for NHS SARCS here in Cardiff; a tragically underfunded arm of the NHS that works both pro-actively and reactively around sexual assault and spiking. They operate a 24/7 helpline and provide some incredible resources to vulnerable young women.”

What do they hope this will achieve?

“We wanted to, above all else, create long-term sustainable impact in our community. However, with this specific cause, we realise that money isn’t the only answer. We managed to raise £507 – which was amazing, but real impact is much bigger than that.”

“As a Men’s society, we’ve done some soul searching. As a committee, we’ve had meetings with the Disclosure Response Team, and worked with the Athletic Union to get trainings on consent, violence, and discrimination, and on confronting bad behaviour to look within our own culture and not only better ourselves as a club, but become better people in the process.”

In an attempt to change things, the club is not only raising money and awareness. “We’re now delivering full-club trainings on consent, violence, and discrimination, and have introduced a number of new internal measures designed to challenge bad culture before it starts. We want to be part of the solution, not the problem. We want our community to know that we stand for them. We want to foster positive change.”

Who is behind the initiative?

23-year-old Nathan Friend, a second year Business and Management Student is behind this initiative. He is also the Charity Secretary for CURFC and the current Captain of the Barbarians, one of their IMG teams.

What is the event?

Nathan told us that the initial conversations had them think of a scheme that they’re really proud of: “”Don’t be tight, donate a pint.’ The theory here was sound – who’d miss £3? If I brought a big jug to socials with me every now and then, and shook it around enough, surely, we could raise some money for amazing causes?”

Originally, they thought they would potentially make £150-£200 per event, which they did for the game against Cardiff Met. There they raised money for the Ted Senior Foundation which works with suicide prevention after Ted Senior tragically took his own life. Nathan and Ted played rugby together back in Monmouth: “We raised £677, and we even took to the street outside of the arms park to get those extra donations in.”

After speaking to concerned women across Cardiff and seeing the stories on Overheard and on the news, they decided to employ this scheme for NHS SARC: “On Wednesday the 1sts had a home game against Hartpury. There at Llanrumney, we got all our supporters, as well as most of the Hartpury supporters, to donate the price of a pint. Leveraging my business degree, we also sold 100 Welsh cakes, provided by the lovely ladies at Cardiff Bakestone.”

“To say that I was overwhelmed by the response would be an understatement, people really felt driven to donate. There was an incredible surge of support from the community after I posted about the event on Overheard, and my DMs have been busy with people asking to donate even more now that the event is over.”

“If we can spread awareness of this service to even just one person who needs it, that would be a victory. £507 is a significant sum, one that keeps going up, and really speaks to the heart that we have here in the club and in our community. This scheme is just the start for us. Our next plan is to raise over £10,000 during Movember which we can’t wait to get stuck into. If anyone has any ideas about what our next charity should be, we’re all ears.”

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