New Zealand Wheelchair Rugby Inc

NZ Wheelchair Rugby self funds all aspects of our sport. We are an organisation built on volunteerism and generosity of the NZ community.

Nationwide

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The Wheel Blacks are a team who truly embody the kiwi spirit. The players all have a significant physical disability but that doesn't stop them from living life to the fullest, striving for success on the wheelchair rugby world stage.

The players don't receive any compensation from playing sport and New Zealand Wheelchair Rugby is almost entirely volunteer driven. The majority of the sports financial resources come from the generosity of the public.

With community support, NZ Wheelchair Rugby can continue planning the positive future of our sport. NZ Wheelchair Rugby thanks you for supporting our sport via the Give-a-little page.

Your generous donation will go towards funding for our next domestic tournament for 2025.

NZWR is excited to get the 2025 domestic season underway with a multi format Bash tournament. The Bash is a great way to start the season as athletes enter as individuals not teams. It doesn’t matter if you are only starting out in the game, never played it before or have been playing for a long time. Athletes get to mix and mingle with teams outside of their region to build friendships and repour. It is also a chance to play on the same side as some Wheelbacks and experienced athletes to learn new skills and tactics in which they can take back to their regions. The multi format means that the Bash will involve different formats of wheelchair rugby. These include 5’s, low pointers or4.5’s depending on numbers, High performance showcase and the traditional Paralympic format of the game with the new WWR rules. The bash is hosted by Disability Sport Auckland and played at the Barfoot & Tompson stadium in Kohimarama, Auckland on March the 15th and 16th.

More about us

The men & women who play wheelchair rugby in New Zealand are bound together through hard work and sacrifice… and united by the shared experience of having a disability. Yet this disability doesn’t define who they are – they are husbands & wives, sons & daughters, brothers & sisters… their lives defined by their jobs, their studies, their upbringing – their home cities and towns. And they are athletes.

Those that rise to the level of representing New Zealand are also defined by the title of being a Wheel Black.

The athletes who have the privilege to call themselves Wheel Blacks are amongst our most talented, well trained and prepared athletes in the country… as well as being some of our most inspirational Kiwi’s. Their grit and determination in the face of adversity is unquestionable and uncompromising.