RL player's high hopes for crowd-funded wheelchair

Patrick Murphy says the custom wheelchair has completely changed his game for the better

A wheelchair rugby player has said he has "all the confidence in the world" about winning this season's tournament after getting a custom-made chair thanks to crowd-funded donations and an anonymous benefactor.

Patrick Murphy, 32, who recently joined Castleford Tigers after previously playing for York Knights, has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which causes his joints to dislocate very easily.

Mr Murphy, from York, said he used to play in a chair that was too wide, meaning he regularly suffered bruises and dislocations to his hips while playing.

But he said that since he started using his new chair, people had told him "how much faster I am, how nimble I am - it's changed my game completely".

"It feels so comfortable and I'm not moving about like I was in my last chair. I'm strapped in properly," he said.

Mr Murphy said he had needed to replace his previous wheelchair as it had been "very old and falling apart".

He was able to have his new chair made after raising £2,500 of the £5,000 required, before then receiving a further £2,500 donation from a listener who had heard his story on BBC Radio York.

Mr Murphy said: "Never in my life have I had someone be so generous.

"It just meant the world that he thought enough about what I could do to fund that money for me to get this new chair."

Mr Murphy (left) now plays for Castleford Tigers after previously playing for York Knights

Mr Murphy told BBC Radio York that playing rugby had given him a "reason to get up in the morning" after struggling since adolescence with his mental health.

"When I'm on the pitch it just makes me forget about the sad stuff," he said.

"You feel like a completely different human being."

Of Castleford Tigers' Wheelchair RL Team's upcoming season, which is due to start on Saturday with a match against his old team York Knights, Mr Murphy said: "I have all the confidence in the world now I have this wheelchair."

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