Martin Dixon and Istvan Balint are walking from Bucuresti to Brasov!

Between 22nd and 25th September, Martin Dixon, native of Scarborough in England and editor of the Ex-Pat Life Magazine in Bucuresti and Istvan Balint (pictured) native of Miercurea Ciuc in Romania and general manager of the Gyopar Club Hotel & Conference Centre, will be walking from Bucuresti to Brasov to raise funds for the charity Asociatia Prietenii Rugbyului Romanesc (APRR) / Friends of Romanian Rugby (FoRR).

APRR / FoRR has strong links with Hearts and Balls and as readers may know we made a 15,000 euro contribution to the labour costs of finishing the house for George and his family.

APRR / FoRR is a registered Romanian Charity founded in 2006 to support injured people from the sports' world, in particular rugby players. The charity was formed when George Balta, a young Romanian rugby player, sustained a serious spinal injury while playing rugby and was tragically left paralyzed from the chest down. Since then the charity, helped by many companies, the Romanian Rugby Federation, the Romanian Olympic Committee and individuals too many to mention, have financially and spiritually helped George and his family through this extremely difficult period in their lives. The piece de resistance of these efforts came to fruition early this year when George and his family moved out of their tiny basement flat into a purpose built house funded by APRR/FoRR and friends. In a further quite unbelievable tragedy George's brother florin, who had been employed by the Romanian Rugby Federation as George's personal helper, collapsed and died of a heart attack last year, one day short of his 26th birthday. Sadly Florin wasn't there to see George move into his new house and also start his new job in the IT Department of Orange Romania. With George reasonably settled we recently had another tragic incident on the rugby field - Alex Gradinaru. Sadly Alex passed away before leaving hospital and getting into a rehabilitation programme.

The walk is going to take place over 4 stages and will start from the Dubliner Irish Pub in Bucuresti and end in Dean's Irish Pub in Brasov - a grand total of 168 kilometres!

Wednesday 22nd September. Day 1 - Bucuresti to Ploiesti.
Thursday 23rd September. Day 2 - Ploiesti to Sinaia.
Friday 24th September. Day 3 - Sinaia to Predeal.
Saturday 25th September. Day 4 - Predeal to Brasov.

We don't know when the next tragedy like George will happen, hopefully never, but, just in case, come along and support this event - especially you rugby players out there. Help us raise the funds to be able to provide assistance to more injured rugby players in Romania. Sponsor the walk, sponsor a stage, you celebrities out there come and join us. Let's make it an annual event - something Romania can be proud of.

If you wish to support this superb effort, please donate through the Just Giving Button and reference your donation 'Romania' and we will ensure that your cash goes to help there.

Glasgow Warriors Awards

After the enormously successful Glasgow Rugby Reunited party at the Fruit Market in Glasgow, there was some outstanding business for SRU President and Hearts and Balls Director Ian McLauchlan as he was required to attend the Glasgow Warriors base at Scotstoun to be presented with the Glasgow Rugby Legend Award for 2010.  As you can see Ritchie Gray made the award. 

John Barclay and Graeme Morrison were present to show off the trophies won by Scotland on their wonderfully sucessful  tour of Argentina in June. 

After being shown to be on the ‘short side' by Ritchie, Ian made sure that John and Graeme were sitting down!

Readers will be pleased to know that the Glasgow Warriors big boss Kenny Baillie has entered a Warriors team for the Hearts and Balls Quiz at Glasgow Accies on 1st September, come along and find out just how bright they are!

Carmarthen Couple Raise Money for Hearts and Balls!

Since Geraint Jones was diagnosed with cancer, he and his wife Liz have thrown themselves into running events and raising money for charities and in the last year have raised over £5,600!

We were absolutely delighted when they chose us for their August event and we have just received well over £500 which we will spend as wisely as we can to support disabled rugby players.

Pictured are Liz Jones and her good friend Elsie Davies, proudly wearing the famous pink shirts!

Royal High Corstorphine Under 17's win Glasgow District League

Due to a lack of local opposition, Royal High Corstorphine Under 17’s joined and then won the GLASGOW district league and recently they had a fun day and played the club’s Golden Oldies.  Here is a group photo of both squads with a get well soon Fergie (mispelt) message.  Graeme Ferguson a 44 year old of RHC who had a stroke after working out in the gym, has been in Astley Ainslie for last 3 months.  After the match they held a raffle and raised a smashing £306!  Thanks guys and good luck in the Colts league next season!

Not to be out done, after attending the fun day at RHC, Hector McIntosh (age 8) who lives locally decided to make some fairy cakes and pick some of his Mum's flowers to sell in aid of Hearts and Balls.  He raised £12! Here he is proudly wearing his Hearts and Balls t-shirt.  Thanks Hector and we look forward to seeing you turning out for the U 17 side ..

George Balta - Injured in Romania

Scottish players at every level are extremely fortunate that those who represent them at Murrayfield have secured appropriate sponsorship from Scottish Hydro to pay the premiums required for every player who laces up his or her boots and pulls on a strip to be insured to play rugby. Our clubs used to pay these premiums but this is an excellent use of sponsorship and also provides peace of mind to all involved.

This is not so in all rugby playing nations. Jim Littlefair has recently returned from Romania where George Balta (pictured left) the national U20 hooker was catastrophically injured some three years ago. He lives in a basement in Bucharest and requires to be carried up to street level before being able to go anywhere. He was not insured to play and has what could be considered a ‘pepper corn' disability allowance. He needs a new home with the basic facilities that Johnny, Dug, Ciaran, Nick, Eddie and the few others in Scotland have by right.

After the excellent match between Romania and Fiji which the visitors won by 28 - 18 a dinner took place with the key note speakers being the 1987 world cup final props Jean-Pierre Garuet and Steve McDowell! Jim was hugely impressed by the organisation of the rugby community as all food, copious booze and facilities had been donated making the takings profit! A fantastic effort from all involved and after the dinner they had raised another 14,500 euro to go towards the new home for Georgy. Hearts and Balls has committed 15,000 euro and the fund raising group is now approximately 10,000 short of their target to complete. Georgy should be in his new home for Christmas.

Hearts and Balls is keen to lobby the IRB to find out what can be done to ensure that players in the less developed areas of this world are properly insured to play the game. It is vital that there is enough cash for those who need to make changes in their basic needs such as care packages and suitable accommodation.

Edinburgh school raises over £50,000

Hundreds of pupils, teachers and parents from Edinburgh's Merchiston Castle School took part in the Great Edinburgh 10K Run on 3rd May, to raise funds for Hearts and Balls. Together, they raised a magnificent £52,500, the single largest charitable donation in the history of the race.

The idea to do the 10K came from Merchiston pupil Patrick Costello, after a serious injury to his friend and fellow Nick Watt. The feat of galvanising 170 pupils, 20 teachers and 50 parents to run the race was amazing. Hearts and Balls is immensely grateful to Patrick and to everyone who took part in the race, helped with organisation, and donated money.

Speaking about the Merchiston boys' commitment to Hearts and Balls, Willie Watt, Nick's father, said: "We see it as both a great sign of the friendship that his school friends feel for Nick and also a very practical source of funds and support to Hearts and Balls which looks after all of those who have been injured playing rugby, the game that they love."

Following conversations with Willie Watt, the Hearts and Balls board will invest in patients' IT facilities at the Spinal Injuries Unit at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. This provides spinal injuries services to the whole of Scotland, and is therefore central in the rehabilitation of spinally-injured rugby players.

We are also developing our strategy to support the education and career development of those impacted by catastrophic injury.