Ahead of its showpiece finals in Dublin this weekend, EPCR, organiser of the Heineken Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup, has announced a collaboration with International Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament (IMART), building on Heineken Ireland’s sponsorship of the tournament last year.
IMART is an innovative tournament run by International Mixed Ability Sports (IMAS) whose aims are to break down barriers to participation in sport, to promote social inclusion and to generate long-term positive change in communities.
IMART brought together no fewer than 28 teams, including four women’s sides, 1,100 players and 15 nations, giving people with and without disabilities the chance to participate in rugby as well as in educational workshops.
The first edition of the tournament took place in Bradford, England in 2015, the second was held in the Spanish city of Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2017, and the third was staged in Cork, Ireland in 2022.
It has been shortlisted in the Inclusion category of the Irish Sport Industry Awards for 2023.
The tournament helps to remove all barriers to participation for people who may feel unable to join a club or a sports group due to a physical or mental disability, a health problem, their height, their build, their age, a prolonged period of inactivity or simply the feeling of not being good enough. Thanks to the IMART, rugby for all takes centre stage.
This collaboration, which forms part of EPCR’s sustainability strategy, imPACT, will give 20 IMART representatives the chance to attend the coin toss before the kick-off of the Heineken Champions Cup final at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday with match referee, Jaco Peyper, as well as the Leinster Rugby and Stade Rochelais captains.
The representatives, who will be guests of EPCR and Heineken, will also do a lap of honour with their trophies from the 2022 IMART during the half-time interval at a packed Aviva Stadium.
“We are absolutely delighted to announce this partnership with IMART in conjunction with Heineken,” said EPCR Chair Dominick Mackay.
“We are committed to providing special experiences through our competitions and we hope that this will be a memorable day for all IMART representatives.”
“This initiative is part of our sustainability strategy, impACT, which we have been working on for several months now. The social impACT of our competitions is essential, and we are very pleased to be able to promote inclusion at our Dublin finals.”
“We are honoured to be recognised by EPCR at this year’s Heineken Champions Cup final for our work in raising awareness of mixed ability rugby and in particular the success of the international tournament, IMART, which we brought to Cork in ’22 with the help of many sponsors including Heineken,” added Alan Craughwell, Director of Mixed Ability Sports Ireland.
“Inclusion is a core value of rugby, it is a game for all shapes and sizes, and now all abilities.”
“We were delighted to have been an official partner for the IMART World Cup last year, and the Heineken Champions Cup final is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the sport of Mixed Ability Rugby,” said Sharon Walsh, Managing Director of Heineken Ireland.
“Mixed Ability Rugby is a truly inclusive event, that chimes with Heineken’s core values, such as caring for people, true joy and togetherness, and we look forward to continuing to support IMART into the future.”
