Our Story
A group of former patients from the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Unit, Southampton Solent University, New Forest District Council and GBWR began conversations about starting a club in September 2012.
From that date events moved quickly and a new fledgling club was born. The club went through a six week scheme subsidised by Southampton Solent University and New Forest District Council designed to help the club become fully established.
The University gave us a home at St Marys Sports Centre as well as 12 chairs.
Since then we have grown to have over 30 members and compete in every discipline of wheelchair rugby on offer. From 2015 - 2018 we competed in both Division 1 and Division 3 before consolidating into one team in Division 2 in 2019. In 2022, we won the Fours Southern League undefeated and earned a spot back in Division 1, with a second team entering Division 2. Our 2 Fours teams are still in action now in Division 2 and Division 3.
When WR5s started in 2018 for players with higher levels of function, we entered a team straight away and have competed ever since in the Championship. In 2024, our WR5s team become Championship winners undefeated and gained promotion to the top flight of WR5s, the Premiership. We are looking next year to enter a second WR5s team into the lower leagues meaning we will have 4 active competing teams for the first time.
In 2024, after a lot of work from our dedicated committee members, Solent Sharks officially became a charity (charity number 1209494) and are excited for the new opportunities that this will present us with in the future!
Now we offer training and competition to anyone from age 12 and up who has a permanent physical disability on Saturdays 11-2 and Tuesdays 6:30-8:30. If you want to get involved, then join us at a training session or contact us to find out more information.
