Barbarians make donation to Matt Ratana Rugby Foundation eight weeks after cancellation of England game in his honour

Eight weeks after the Barbarians match with England was dramatically called off for Covid bubble beaches, the club’s charitable trust have given a £10,000 grant to the Matt Ratana Rugby Foundation supporting coaching initiatives both in the UK and in New Zealand.

PC Ratana was tragically killed last September in London and the October 25 Barbarians versus England match was due to honour his memory, However, breaches that resulted in sanctions for 13 Barbarians players saw the game called off 48 hours before it was due to take place at Twickenham. 

To help make amends, the Barbarians have now shown their support for the Ratana foundation. “Matt represented so many of the core values of rugby that are integral to the rugby family around the world and resonate so strongly with our own Barbarians family,” said Barbarians president John Spencer. 

Inside The Barbarians, the acclaimed RugbyPass documentary

Inside The Barbarians, the acclaimed RugbyPass documentary

“He was a true inspiration to so many and remains an inspiration as his legacy takes shape. We are looking forward to developing our support of the foundation in the longer term, working to help provide life-changing opportunities through rugby, making a long-lasting difference and promoting the values of the Rugby community, its diversity, multiculturalism, enjoyment and respect.”

Ratana’s partner Su Bushby welcomed the contribution, saying: “I’d like to express my great thanks to the Barbarians Rugby charitable trust for this grant. We had looked forward to the Barbarians being able to honour Matt’s memory in the match against England back in October.

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“I’m very touched the trust is contributing to his legacy. The grant from the Barbarians will go a long way to helping realise initiatives inspired by Matt and it is a great honour to have such significant support from a well-loved global rugby club.”

The foundation, which launched last month, aims to provide life-changing opportunities to younger people in need and to support communities through the medium of rugby around the world, including exchanges with clubs in New Zealand.

Foundation lead Sean Morgan said: “Delivering schemes like this is so important to ensuring we help remember Matt, but more importantly we hope that we will create programmes that exemplify the ethos of Matt and the values of the Barbarians, both of which are so well aligned and keep them going for years to come.”

• The Barbarians website has more details on the work of the foundation or you can learn more at https://mattratanarugby.foundation

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