Gareth Simpson first founded Rugby Recycled back in 2011 when he was still at High School in Durban, South Africa. He had played his first match of the season against a school from one of the local rural townships and his team had had to take off their rugby boots to play because the other team were playing barefoot.
Gareth knew that something should be done about this and asked his friends for their old rugby boots from the season before. Gareth’s father, Grant, was also a local rugby coach, so he too collected lots of rugby boots and unused kit and they took it back to the school as a donation. From there, Rugby Recycled was born.
Rugby Recycled grew rapidly, with many clubs and schools from both South Africa and the UK donating old boots and kit that was then donated to less privileged schools and clubs in South Africa.
When just 15 years old, Gareth was awarded the Lead South Africa National Youth Hero of the Year. Gareth used the prize money to buy rugby boots to donate.
Rugby Recycled continued supplying disadvantaged communities in South Africa whilst Gareth completed school and began his professional rugby career (whilst also undertaking a Univeristy degree), only taking a brief hiatus for a couple of years during Covid.
Rugby Recycled has revived the collection and donation of kit to underprivileged areas throughout South Africa, partnering with Scrum5ive rugby.
What started as a small idea, has grown to become a much bigger initiative than Gareth ever first imagined.
Please consider supporting Rugby Recycle to help those who, like Gareth, just want to play rugby.