by Adam Kennedy

The phrase ‘a full-contact disability sport’ may seem like an oxymoron. However, the Caledonian Crushers – Scotland’s only wheelchair rugby team – put that theory to bed.

Jen Lang has played for seven years, after being inspired by Paralympians and also encouraged by her personal trainer: “I went to the Paralympics in London in 2012, just for a day, and I didn’t go and see the wheelchair rugby but I knew about it,” Lang began.

“I spoke to one of the players and she’d told me about it but I’d never really played any sports that were team sports before so I wasn’t sure and I left it for a while” explained Lang.

She added, “Then I was training at the gym at the Emirates Arena, we used to train up there and my PT asked ‘Do you know that they play wheelchair rugby downstairs?’ and he said I should join and that I’d be good at it.”

The Crushers compete in the second tier of wheelchair rugby but are Scotland’s only wheelchair rugby representative with most of their division being made up by English teams.

Chris Dempster has played with the Crushers for over ten years and is one of their longest-serving players after their creation in 2010.

“Honestly, the best thing is just smashing into someone,” joked the club stalwart.

“A lot of us, especially those of us who were born disabled, grow up being kind of looked after and no-one opts to put you in a dangerous situation.

I wasn’t allowed to do PE when I was a kid, I sat in the corner and read books, I never had the opportunity to just smash somebody.

That is a feature of wheelchair rugby that you don’t get in a lot of other wheelchair sports.”

Having now been on the go for over a decade, wheelchair rugby continues to grow and the Caledonian Crushers are always on the lookout for new players. If interested or to learn more about the team, their website is https://www.caledoniancrushers.co.uk/