RWC 2003 FINAL PROGRAMME

This programme belonged to Russell Burton. This is the story behind it and how it came to be raffled to raise funds for Mencap.

Like thousands of other fans I was one of those who were lucky enough to watch England win the World Cup in Sydney in 2003. I did not decide to go out until the week before the quarter final match v Wales. By half time of that match as I sat at home watching it on TV I was beginning to wonder if the cost of my flight and the tickets for the semi final and final would be wasted. In the end of course it all came good and was a fantastic experience.

I went to Sydney with my eldest daughter, Catherine, who is now 19 and has Downs Syndrome. We have relatives there who she was dying to visit and so of course it made sense for me to take her while the World Cup was on! On my return I decided that the best thing I could do with my programme was to get it autographed and then auction it to raise money for Mencap. Little did I know what a challenge this would prove to be – this is an abridged version of the story!

22/11/2003 England 20 – Australia 17!

13/12/2003 First autograph by Will Greenwood at Quins’s match.

Dec 2003 Northampton and Wasps players sign except Josh Lewsey – 9 down.

21/2/2004 Watched Tigers at London Irish and one of my daughters waited 2 hours in bitterly cold weather to get Martin Johnson – he was in the bar watching Scotland v England. 10 down.

Mch/April 2004 Jason Leonard, Saracens and Gloucester players sign. 16 down.

16/4/2004 Jason Robinson signs – probably the hardest to get because I needed to persuade his agent that this was not a scam. He like some others had been ripped off by people pretending to do it for charity then putting it on ebay for a quick profit! 17 down.

21/4/2004 Bath players sign. 20 down.

4/5/2004 Jonny Wilkinson signs – like Jason Robinson he had the same issues so again much persuasion needed. 21 down.

6/5/2004 Leicester Tigers players sign. Huge result because there were so many of them but also a massive break through as Sam Rossiter-Stead introduced me to Richard Prescott at the RFU who was to become incredibly helpful later in the story. 27 down.

18/5/2004 Mark Regan at Leeds signs. 28 down.

26/5/2004 Waited for 2 hours early in the morning for Josh Lewsey at Wasps but still missed him. Went straight to Pennyhill Park where Richard Prescott had arranged for Catherine and me to meet Clive Woodward. The attached press cutting tells the story. Clive Woodward and the 3 Assistant Coaches signed.

2/6/2004 Josh Lewsey signs at last. 29 down, 1 to go.

3/7/2004 Went early morning to Rugby World training course at Hartpury College to get the last one, Dan Luger. Earlier emails to Perpignan where Dan was playing at the time and calls to his father had previously not succeeded.

At this stage Richard Prescott authenticated all the autographs and that should have been that. However I decided that this was not unique enough to raise as much as it should for Mencap. So I waited until the autumn internationals and then asked Richard Prescott to put me in touch with his opposite number at the Australian RU, Lachlan Searle. 26/11/2004, almost a year to the day since this all started in Sydney, I met Lachlan at the Australian team hotel in Kensington and got 16 of the Australian RWC squad to sign. Here we go again! 16 down.

21/1/2005 Matt Burke at Newcastle Falcons signs. 17 down.

25/1/2005 Courier programme to Australia to catch all the players while they are with their Super 12’s clubs.

11/2/2005 Queensland Reds players sign and programme goes to NSW Waratahs. 19 down.

Mch/April 2005 Waratahs players plus Ben Darwin sign. 25 down.

19/3/2005 While this is all going on I have also been getting autographs on my RWC semi-final and final tickets. Martin Johnson and Jason Leonard signed the semi ticket (Jason’s 112^th  international cap- a world record) and the final ticket was signed by Martin Johnson, George Gregan, Jason Robinson and Lote Tuqiri  i.e. both captains and try scorers. Beautifully mounted and framed they fetch £3,300 in a raffle in the main Corporate hospitality area during the England v Scotland match.

May 2005 Brumbies players sign. 27 down.

June 2005 Now it gets tricky. David Giffin is in Sydney but hard to get hold of. Matt Cockbain and Joe Roff play their rugby in Japan! Through the Wales RFU I get hold of Matt Cockbain via the wife of his brother who plays for Wales, Brett Cockbain. At the time of writing I am trying to coordinate the last 3 signatures and a courier to get the programme back for July 6^th. Also Lachlan Searle will get the Austrailan coach, Eddie Jones, to sign and then authenticate the autographs. All have said they will sign and given me contact details but will it be before July 6^th?

Why have I done this? Like most mad ideas it seemed a good one at the time but after literally 100’s of emails, phone calls, recorded mail packages etc I do wonder!! Seriously though I have been fundraising for Mencap for 3 years and have done 3 challenges in that time for which friends, family and other people have supported me. I have raised over £20,000 so far through sponsorship and various events such as black tie dinners, jazz night, climbing in Scotland, raffles etc. For more on this and pictures go to www.ridethewall.co.uk. There you will see details of the 3 challenges organised by Mencap in which I have taken part – May 2003 400 kms bike ride through Sinai desert, October 2004 400 kms bike ride in China near Great Wall and Beijing and most recently in May 2005 a 4 day trek in Tibet at altitude of upto 5,200 m.  To find out more about Mencap challenges go to www.mencap.org.uk

Why Mencap? Well obviously having brought up Catherine our family has a personal experience of learning disability. Mencap is one of the UK’s major charities and represents 1.5 million people with a learning disability, their families and carers. Mencap fights discrimination and after 50 years of campaigning continues to bring about major changes in legislation and attitudes which positively change the lives of children and adults with a learning disability. A learning disability is a life time condition – it is one of the most common forms of disability in the UK and yet also one of the least understood. My challenge in getting this programme autographed and doing bike rides or treks is nothing compared to the challenges that people with a learning disability face every day of their lives. They and their families and carers have to fight constantly for choice, opportunity and respect.

Thank you so much for entering the auction and bidding so much. I hope you take good care of the programme and get pleasure from it – I would like to think that in addition to it giving you a constant reminder of the glorious success England enjoyed in Sydney, you will also understand a little bit more about how important Mencap’s work is for people like Catherine. Your generosity will make a huge difference to that vital work.