Hearts and Balls were confirmed in October 2011 as an official charity partner of Glasgow Warriors.

For further information on the charity that exits to "help rugby help its own", please see www.heartsandballs.co.uk

Glasgow Warriors are proud to today confirm Hearts and Balls as one of three deserving causes the club will support as official charity partners over the next two seasons.
 
The charity, whose mission is to “help rugby help its own”, will use player appearances to promote and enhance events, and will also have the opportunity to fundraise directly at one of the club’s Heineken Cup home games and via the Glasgow Warriors website.

A Question in Sport night has already taken place, at Amaretto caffe bar run by former Warriors and Edinburgh player Carlo Di Ciacca in Bridge of Weir. Glasgow stars Calum Forrester, Colin Gregor and Al Kellock were among the competitors, with some £1150 being raised.
 
A joint Hearts and Balls/Glasgow Warriors golf day has also been staged at the stunning Earl of Mar Golf Course, with Warriors players, staff and sponsors coming together to raise £625 for the cause via a raffle at the 19th hole.

The Mar Hall outing came hard on the heels of the hugely successful “Glasgow Rugby Friends United” event at the city’s Old Fruitmarket venue back in June, where an audience of more than 650, including many Warriors and Scotland players, pooled an incredible £16,000.
 
So well received was the night that a repeat performance has already been scheduled for Friday 15 June 2012 with tickets available via www.heartsandballs.co.uk.
 
Hearts and Balls was conceived in 1999 when Struan Kerr-Liddell from the Lismore Rugby Club in Edinburgh suffered a serious spinal injury that left him paralysed. Since then the charity has grown in experience and is widely recognised throughout the UK as a specialist in its field. 
 
Hearts and Balls delivers pastoral and financial support to players and families who have been impacted by catastrophic injury, terminal illness and bereavement. 
 
 Key to their strategy has been assisting those who have been impacted by serious injury to pursue education and development and to achieve gainful and worthwhile employment in line with their own goals and ambitions.  
 
The Charity continues to support many high profile cases, the list including names such as David Azhar, Jonny Mitchell, Eddie Renwick, Dug McArthur, Ciaran Pryce and Nick Watt.
 
Since Hearts and Balls came into being, a sum in excess of £500,00 has been raised to assist disabled players, those with terminal illness and to further safety in the game.  It works closely with the rugby authorities and the medical fraternity and is a supporter of Scottish Rugby’s Are You Ready to Play Rugby? campaign. 
 
Glasgow Warriors chief executive Kenny Baillie today welcomed the new partnership, telling www.glasgowwarriors.org: “It’s a real honour for the club to be associated with a charity who do such fantastic work and carry such a prestigious reputation.
 
“All of us who work in rugby are hugely privileged to do so, and we have a responsibility to look after those whose who suffer misfortune in the game and face huge challenges as a result.
 
“Every year, Glasgow Warriors receive many requests for assistance from charities. All of them are extremely worthy, but we feel the most effective way of helping is to focus our energies and resources on three specially selected causes that have meaning and resonance for the club.
 
“Hearts and Balls is a prime example of such a cause. We look forward to building our partnership with them, and to announcing two more charity partners in the coming weeks.”
 
Jim Taylor, the West Ambassador for Hearts and Balls who himself suffered a broken neck playing for Kelvinside Academicals in 1978, has recently joined the Warriors as a player liaison officer tasked with managing the club’s programme of community visits.

To launch the partnership, Taylor today joined forces with David Azhar, the former Whitecraigs player who also suffered a broken neck in 2001 and recently benefited from support from Hearts and Balls to help secure an advanced wheelchair.
 
Also present at Scotstoun Stadium, the Warriors’ training and future playing base, was John Beattie, the former Scotland and British and Irish Lions favourite who is now a prominent broadcaster and a director of Hearts and Balls.
 
Taylor said: “I’m delighted to be involved with the club, and thrilled they have chosen to back Hearts and Balls in this way. Glasgow Warriors have a proud history of lending support to events that Hearts and Balls have organised, and the relationship will go from strength to strength under this more formal tie-up.”
 
David Azhar enthused: “It’s great that Glasgow Warriors and Hearts and Balls have come together. I know from personal experience that the support Hearts and Balls give injured players is incredibly valuable, and it’s fantastic that the club have committed to helping them deliver it.”

Jim Littlefair, Chairman of Hearts and Balls, also welcomed the partnership, saying: “I’d like to thank Kenny Baillie and Glasgow Warriors for considering Hearts and Balls as a suitable charity to work with.  I look forward to a long and mutually beneficial arrangement, and believe the partnership will also benefit the Warriors, helping to consolidate their position at the forefront of sport in Glasgow.”