A Dundee rugby club is asking fans to dig deep after a teenager was left paralysed from a tackle.
Harris Academy FP was playing Stirling University in Dundee earlier this season when one of the away team’s players, Connor Hughes, went down to the ground and was unable to get up.
The 19-year-old was attended to on the pitch before being rushed to Ninewells Hospital.
Connor sustained an injury to two vertebrae which damaged his spinal cord, leaving him quadriplegic, with no sensation from his shoulders down.
David Stibbles, secretary of the Harris Academy FP Rugby Club, said they were doing all they could to support Connor and his family in his rehabilitation.
He said: “We had a committee meeting last Thursday and we are trying to organise a wine-tasting night.
“We have also asked the family for a number of wristbands that they’ve been selling and we will do so too.”
David said the incident had shocked everyone in the league.
He said: “I wasn’t actually there at the time but I believe it was an innocuous challenge that caused the problem.
“It shocked us all. We didn’t realise at the time the nature of the injury.”
After the initial treatment on the field, Connor was taken to Ninewells before being transferred by a police-escorted ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Unit at the Southern General Hospital, Glasgow.
He underwent intensive reconstructive surgery on his cervical vertebrae before starting the long rehabilitation process.
Now Connor’s family have set up a Connor’s Journey website where anyone can donate to help with his rehabilitation, fitness equipment and also to raise money for research into spinal injuries.
The target is £25,000 and anyone wishing to donate can do so at www.connorsjourney.com/donate/donate-to-connors-journey.