On 17th May this year 18 year old Awatapu 1st XV player, Nat Manville, suffered a broken neck while playing for his team in a college game in the Wairarapa. He is now in Burwood Spinal Unit and has a long road to any sort of recovery, with a very tough future in a wheel chair ahead of him.
Nat played his Junior rugby in Shannon while attending Shannon Primary School and his immediate family and other relatives farmed in the Shannon area for a number of years.
Manawatu RFU and the Rugby Foundation have various fund raising activities underway, however the Shannon RFC have also started an appeal to support Nat and his family. I am sure that as a part of our rugby community you can appreciate how hard this must be for both such a young man and also his wider family. His mother has moved down to Christchurch to support him and has had to stop working during this period, with at this stage it looking as though he will be in Burwood until some time in December.
If any clubs or individuals would like to make a donation towards this appeal they can do so via internet banking, or contact Dean File to make other arrangements. If you would like to donate something for an auction that we are planning please let Dean File know, or drop the item off to the HK Office.
The Shannon RFC Bank Account for donations is: ANZ Levin, 06 0669 0122085 00 Please include your name and the reference “Nat Manville” so that we can keep track and acknowledge the donations.
We will also be holding bucket appeals at the Shannon Domain during the semi-final next weekend and also the HKRFU has supported the same at the finals day the following week.