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.