Uncategorized Archives - Hearts + Balls

Interview – Team Manager, Dylan Russell

It was sun’s-out-guns-out as the Hearts + Ball MB teams kicked off their sevens’ season with a stellar series of Saturday successes! Both the men’s and women’s teams took the top trophies at Kirkcaldy 7s, while the men made it to the final of Edinburgh Northern 7s at Inverleith. Central to the teams – and …

“Everything really can change in an instant.”: Zak’s Story

Support for injured players can take many forms – from helping with mobility apparatus and medical care to home adaptions and transport provision. For one player who recently suffered an on-field injury, assistance was also geared towards improving their mental wellbeing. Zak Morrison was injured while playing for Whitecraigs last year, ten minutes before the …

A Q&A with Rachel Law

If you were at Oriam for our big event on 28 December you can’t have failed to notice the dynamo directing operations at the centre of our women’s team – Rachel Law first took on the captaincy five years ago, so a magic milestone to mark by finding out a bit more about her! How …

Where do your donations go?

We’ve been fortunate, especially over the last year, to be recipients of many donations. People have walked, climbed, rattled buckets, auctioned jerseys, whacked golf balls, sold whisky and played numerous games of rugby to raise funds to enable Hearts and Balls to continue to help rugby to help its own. But where does the money …

View From The Chair

Hot on the heels of our momentous 25th anniversary year, we caught up with Hearts and Balls Chair, Hugh Dan MacLennan, to look back on 2025 and a magnificent 12 months of activity. Plenty to choose from but what do you reckon were the highlights? “For me, it was the roll-out of the defib campaign …

Clubs at the heart of our defib campaign

There’s a special heart-shaped day on the horizon and that also marks almost a year since we began rolling out our initiative to install defibs in rugby clubs across Scotland. To find out how it’s going, we need to go back to the start – on 16 October 2024 – when The Hearts & Balls …

Could Charity Work For You?

We recently advertised the post of a part-time fundraiser for Hearts + Balls – but what’s the attraction of working with a charity? For many, it’s the overwhelming desire to make a difference. While a corporate role might have the appeal of a steady job with a well-trodden path up the corporate ladder, it may …

Come And Work With Us

Fundraiser (Part-Time, Freelance – approx. 20 hours per month) Hearts + Balls Charitable Trust Helping rugby help its own About Hearts & Balls Hearts + Balls supports rugby players and their families facing life-changing injury. Since 1999, we’ve been part of Scotland’s rugby family—helping those in need when the game stops but the challenges continue. …

Honouring The Mouse That Roared

The annual Hearts and Balls rugby afternoon, held to raise funds and awareness of the charity, takes place at Oriam on 28 December this year and we’d love to see you there. The 2025 event is being held in memory not only, as before, of the late Jim Taylor MBE but also Ian McLauchlan OBE, …

The Name’s Ferguson, James Ferguson!

The Hearts + Balls Board is taking on a decidedly MI6 look these days with the appointment of Professor James Ferguson to the ranks! He may have recently retired as a Consultant Surgeon in Emergency Medicine with NHS Grampian, Reader in Emergency Medicine at University of Aberdeen and Professor of Remote Medicine at the Robert Gordon University, but adds, “Though technically retired, …

Alex Hagart Stepping Down

After five years supporting our charity, Alex Hagart is stepping down from his position with The Hearts and Balls Charitable Trust. Alex had worked as a Board Member but his main areas of responsibility were around player welfare and liaising with injured players, assessing needs and being a point of communication. His presence and energy …

The Girls and Boys of Summer

You know it’s summer when the pink shirts of our Hearts +Balls Mighty Bovs are spotted across the sevens pitches of Scotland and beyond – and this year saw their performances peak across Europe. With the jerseys washed and packed away for the next few months, we asked team manager, Dylan Russell, to review the …

News

Interview – Team Manager, Dylan Russell

“Everything really can change in an instant.”: Zak’s Story

A Q&A with Rachel Law

Where do your donations go?

View From The Chair

Clubs at the heart of our defib campaign

Could Charity Work For You?

Come And Work With Us

Honouring The Mouse That Roared

The Name’s Ferguson, James Ferguson!

Alex Hagart Stepping Down

The Girls and Boys of Summer

How you can help

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