Case Study: Supporting Players on and off the Field
We sat down with Chris Rostron & Keith Senior to discuss the relationship between Rugby League Cares and Slater Heelis.
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The Road to Rugby League Cares
Slater Heelis’ sports law offering has grown exponentially over recent years. With colleagues who have specialist knowledge in the challenges faced by professional sports players and their current welfare, legal needs and plans for life after sport.
Our relationship with Rugby League Cares began in 2020, and since them we have been privileged to be their legal partner of choice. This involves being the recommended legal team for all aspects of players’ lives, through the tough times and the good times.
We were extremely proud that thanks to the ever-evolving relationship with RLC we were successful in pitching our Crime team to be the appointed on-call criminal law specialists for the duration of the Rugby League World Cup 2021.
In addition, the team at Rugby League Cares have provided mental fitness workshops to our staff through their ‘Ahead of the Game’ programme, enabling discussions and guidance to find ways to manage and maintain our mental and physical wellbeing so we can be our best self both in and out of work.
Rugby League Cares x Slater Heelis
The Pillars of Cares
There are four key areas within Rugby League that Rugby League Cares supports:
- Player welfare and education
- A grants programme which secures and distributes grants to the sport’s stakeholders to deliver projects benefiting the health and well-being of its broad community
- Support for players (professional and amateur) who have suffered life-changing injuries
- A heritage programme which aims to deliver a world-class Rugby League museum.
The support offered to players by Rugby League Cares is vast, and we’re proud to be able to enhance the great work it does.
More than the Game
Rugby league cares is headed up by Chris Rostron who has a colourful career in supporting and improving professional players’ welfare to help them perform better on the field:
- He previously worked as a development officer with Bradford Bulls and established the club’s charitable foundation in 2004.
- Joined Leeds Rhinos in 2006 to work with the trustees of the newly-created Leeds Rugby Foundation.
- Left Leeds in December 2010 to join the RFL as Head of Partnerships, a role that involved reviewing all charitable programmes in the sport.
- This led to the establishment of RL Cares in February 2013.
Chris’ passion is led by initiatives to improve the lives of professional sportspeople, from guidance on how to manage their mental wellbeing to finances, planning for retirement from sport and looking for new ways of fulfilment such as setting up a business or retraining.
Transitioning into Retirement
We managed to also sit down with Keith Senior, former Leeds Rhinos pro player, who now that he is retired from playing professionally is the Assistant First Team Coach for the Sheffield Eagles. In addition to that, he is also Community & Welfare Support Manager for Rugby League Cares.
His unique experiences of having been in the position of those pro players as well as seeing how external factors can impact performance, means that he is an extremely valuable member of the team.
He spoke to us in this video about the power of a legal expert who understands additional pressures and the world of professional sports. Having used Slater Heelis’ services for non-work related matters, he can vouch for the top quality service and expertise we can provide in all aspects of the law.
