Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup Winner James Simpson & Edinburgh Giants Head Coach Martyn Gill – Ep 13
Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup Winner James Simpson & Edinburgh Giants Head Coach Martyn Gill In this episode, hosts Karl Walker & Craig Williams chat with Wheelchair RL World Cup winner James Simpson & Edinburgh Giants head coach Martyn Gill.
👉 About James Simpson Former England and Leeds Rhinos Wheelchair star and current Leads Rhinos Coach James Simpson became a household name as the RLWC2021’s Wheelchair Tournament Ambassador.
James undertook several overseas missions in his ten-year stint in the military from Central America to Iraq. In 2009, while on deployment in Afghanistan, James tripped an IED whilst on a routine patrol, causing life-changing injuries that saw him lose both legs, three fingers and the muscle from his right forearm.
Following a lengthy recovery process discovered the sport of Wheelchair Rugby League whilst watching his beloved Leeds Rhinos at Headingley in 2013.
After a training session with the Leeds Rhinos Wheelchair team, James was hooked and has not looked back, going within a whisker of lifting the World Cup with England in 2017 and finally winning the World Cup title in 2021.
↪ Leeds Rhinos Website – Leeds Rhinos
↪ Leeds Rhinos Foundation – Leeds Rhinos Foundation
👉 About Martin Gill Martyn, from Castleford, has extensive experience coaching at Castleford Tigers, Newcastle Thunder and most recently in Wheelchair Rugby League with Leeds Rhinos and England Wheelchair RL. Martin took Leeds Rhinos from the bottom of the league to Grand Finalists & Challenge Cup runners-up in 2016.
As England’s Coach, he guided the team to winning the Home Nations in 2014 and the Euros in 2015, losing out in the 2017 World Cup final.
Martin relocated to Edinburgh in 2020 and was asked to do the Dream team for RLWC for Wheelchair and, as a result, launched Edinburgh Giants, who recorded their first-ever league win this weekend.
↪ Edinburgh Giants Website – Edinburgh Giants Wheelchair Rugby League – Scotland
↪ Edinburgh Giants Insta – @giantswhrl
In This Episode:Â
✅ – James (Twitter – @jamessimpson.4) & Martyn’s journey into Wheelchair RL
✅ – Intricacies & origins of the Wheelchair game
✅ – Leeds Rhonos rise from the bottom of Wheelchair RL
✅ – How to get involved
✅ – Learn more about the fledgling team Edinburgh Giants Wheelchair RL
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