Labour MP to raise funds for injured rugby player

LABOUR MP Andy Reed will use his final game as President of Leicestershire club Birstall to raise funds for injured rugby player Richard Engelgardt.

Englegardt, 37, broke his neck playing for Birstall in a pre-season game in August and is currently being treated in Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

Doctors say that he is likely to be a wheelchair user for the rest of his life though they hopeful that he will eventually regain his upper body strength.

A Trust fund has been set up to help and Reed, the MP for Loughborough, has announced that he will use his annual President's Day match at Birstall on May 2 to support the Trust.

"I am part of Richard's Trust and want to use President's Day to help him along," Reed said.

"It is such a good cause and as President I have been overwhelmed at the response from the 'rugby family' to the injuries to Rich Engelgardt.

"The response has lifted his spirits as he spends the rest of his life in a wheelchair."

Reed is stepping down as Birstall's President after ten years and his annual President's Day match has regular attracted former internationals and team-mates from the Parliamentary rugby team.

Birstall players are already raising funds for Richard Engelgardt with a sponsored beard grow and are also intending to arrange a fund-raising tour of the Isle of Wight in the spring.