Inclusion Must Begin with Disabled Athletes: Jim Dyson’s Vision for Dutch Wheelchair Rugby League

By Jim Dyson, Head Coach of the Netherlands wheelchair rugby league programme

Wheelchair rugby league is rightly celebrated as one of rugby league’s most inclusive formats. Disabled and non-disabled athletes can play together, share the same jersey and compete for the same team. That is a remarkable strength of our sport.

But inclusion should not require us to pretend that disability makes no difference.

My vision for the Netherlands is clear: our duty is to create opportunities for disabled athletes and build a national programme in which they can develop, compete and represent their country at the highest level. Our ambition is for the Netherlands to appear at the 2030 World Cup with a team made up entirely of disabled athletes.

That ambition is not a rejection of mixed participation. Nor is it a suggestion that non-disabled athletes do not belong in wheelchair rugby league. It is a recognition that disabled athletes must be at the centre of our development strategy if we are serious about growing the sport and creating meaningful opportunities.

Equal respect does not mean identical experiences. If we were to allow a designated number of disabled players to play in Super League, would that be accepted without at least some questions?

The current New Zealand captain’s view, as it has been conveyed to me, is that everyone is the same. I understand the positive intention behind that sentiment. Athletes want to be recognised for their commitment, ability and contribution to the team, rather than being reduced to a disability.

That principle is important. But it is not the whole picture. Having spoken to players at all levels, I believe that non-disabled players describing their experiences as the same as those of disabled players can come across as insensitive and abrasive.

First, we must remember that, at the end of a game, non-disabled players can leave their chairs behind; disabled athletes cannot leave their disabilities behind. I feel this can often be overlooked. One international player once said in an interview that “putting on a wheelchair is the same as putting on a boot”. Although well meant, I do not think someone whose only means of mobility is a wheelchair would describe it that way.

A disabled athlete and a non-disabled athlete can have equal value as teammates without having identical bodies, functional abilities, access needs or sporting experiences. Acknowledging those differences does not undermine the team. It helps us understand what each athlete needs to participate, develop and perform.

If we say that everyone is the same, we risk overlooking the barriers that disabled athletes have had to overcome and the support they may need to progress. Equality is not achieved by ignoring difference. It is achieved by responding fairly to it.

A disability-first pathway for the Netherlands

The Netherlands must be ambitious about what disabled athletes can achieve. That means creating opportunities at the beginning of the pathway, not waiting until athletes have already found their way into the sport by chance.

Other organisations have pathways that promote inclusion for people with other protected characteristics, but lack one that prioritises disabled athletes. In my opinion, this is wrong. There are sessions run by national governing bodies in which non-disabled players can participate but some disabled players cannot.

We need to identify disabled players, introduce them to wheelchair rugby league, provide appropriate coaching and equipment, and give them a clear route towards national representation. We need to work with existing wheelchair sports and disability sport organisations, learn from their expertise and make sure that athletes are not left to navigate the system alone.

Our goal of reaching the 2030 World Cup with a team made up entirely of disabled athletes gives that work a clear purpose. It means building a team of athletes who have been given the opportunity, support and confidence to compete internationally.

That is not tokenism. It is athlete development.

A Netherlands team made up entirely of disabled athletes would demonstrate what becomes possible when disabled athletes are actively recruited, properly supported and given the same seriousness, investment and sporting ambition that other athletes receive.

Wheelchair rugby league is inclusive—but disability remains relevant

The sport’s mixed participation is one of its defining features. Disabled and non-disabled athletes can play together, and that creates opportunities for people to return to rugby league or discover it for the first time.

But mixed participation should not mean that disabled athletes become invisible within the sport.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognises both the right to participate in mainstream sport and the importance of opportunities to develop and participate in disability-specific sport. Its approach is not to insist that everyone has the same needs. It is to create opportunities for participation on an equal basis.

That distinction should guide us.

A disability-first approach means acknowledging impairment, accessibility and the lived experiences of disabled athletes when developing our sport. It means recognising that disabled athletes may need targeted recruitment, adapted training, specialist equipment, additional support or a pathway designed around their circumstances.

It does not mean that disability is the only thing that matters about a player. It means we refuse to make disability invisible in the name of inclusion.

The athlete must come before our assumptions

Not every disabled athlete will want to describe themselves in the same way. Some prefer person-first language; others embrace identity-first language. Their individual preferences deserve respect.

My responsibility as a coach is not to impose an identity on athletes. It is to create an environment in which disabled athletes are recognised, listened to and supported. We must ask what they need to develop rather than assume that a message of sameness speaks for them all.

It is the uniqueness of these individuals and their stories that drive the sport forward and fuel my passion for it. We will not sacrifice this for results.

Disabled athletes’ stories are often ones of resilience, hardship and overcoming adversity. I am proud to have played a part in many of those individual journeys.

That includes taking access, equipment, training, support and athlete development seriously. It includes understanding that athletes may arrive with different sporting backgrounds, different levels of experience and different confidence in their bodies.

A sad reminder of this occurred this year when I had to make the decision not to field a disabled player. This was not due to a lack of ability, but because of concerns for the player’s safety when facing an opposing team with several players who would not look out of place in the front row of any open-age side.

Inclusion is not achieved simply because disabled and non-disabled people occupy the same court. It is achieved when disabled athletes can participate, develop and belong without their particular needs being dismissed.

A stronger team through honest inclusion

The Netherlands wheelchair rugby league programme is being developed with a long-term ambition: to create a high-quality national environment and give Dutch athletes the opportunity to represent their country internationally.

Our immediate responsibility is to create opportunities first for disabled athletes. We must build the foundations of a programme in which they can see a future for themselves, not merely as participants, but as elite athletes and international representatives.

The 2030 World Cup is an important target. I want the Netherlands to arrive there with a team made up entirely of disabled athletes, demonstrating the strength of a pathway built deliberately around them.

We can welcome non-disabled players into the sport while still prioritising disabled athletes in our development work. We can celebrate a shared team culture without erasing the individual circumstances that make each athlete’s journey distinctive.

The Wheel Kiwis’ stories remind us that wheelchair rugby league can open doors and restore sporting identity. We should celebrate that achievement. But we should also be prepared to ask what each athlete needs to walk—or wheel—through those doors and thrive. It should also be noted that no full-time wheelchair user has ever won the Golden Boot.

My position is straightforward: every athlete deserves equal respect, but equal respect does not require us to pretend that everyone is the same.

A truly inclusive sport recognises difference, listens to disabled athletes and creates opportunities for them to compete and flourish. For the Netherlands, that means putting disabled athletes first and building towards a World Cup team made up entirely of disabled athletes in 2030.

That is not a rejection of unity. It is how we make inclusion meaningful.

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