Eve Jeffery
This weekend you will have the chance to watch some great sport and help raise funds and awareness for Down Syndrome, in Byron Bay.
President of Byron Bay Rugby Eddy Brown, says the club hopes to raise a lot of money at this Saturday’s game. ‘It will be a great game of rugby and proceeds are going to Down Syndrome NSW,’ said Brown. ‘We have had special kits designed to play in, that will be auctioned off after the game.’
Brown says Down Syndrome awareness is close to the club’s heart as some of the people involved in the club, and the clubs physio, have children with Down Syndrome.
‘We have had shirts made for these kids as well’, he said.
The physio for the Byron Rugby Club is Gemma Harvey and she says the club does a charity round every year. ‘This year we are doing it for Down Syndrome New South Wales,’ said Gemma, whose son Ethan was born with Down Syndrome in 2017. ‘Within the whole Far North Coast rugby community there are three young people at clubs with Down Syndrome, so we thought it was nice to raise some money and awareness.’
Gemma says the Byron lads are awesome with Ethan and really supportive of her family. The logo on the shirt was designed by Ballina woman Alexis Schnitger from T21 Tribe and the shirts themselves will be available to bid on post-match. Many mums of Down Syndrome kids have Schnitger’s design tattooed on their arms.
If you’d like to watch a great game or buy yourself a sweaty slightly-used one-off design for a good cause, head down to the Rec Grounds in Marvel street this Saturday afternoon at about 3pm.
