Wales Deaf Rugby Union (WDRU) will be the recipients of the bucket collection at the third annual battle of East versus West at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday 25 April.
The collection will reach the WDRU thanks to Specsavers, official sponsors of the Guinness Pro12 competition which sees Cardiff Blues play the Ospreys (kick off 2.30pm) and Newport Gwent Dragons face the Scarlets (ko 4.45pm).
Tickets sales for the regional derby day made the headlines earlier this week as the Welsh Rugby Union and Regional Rugby Wales joined forces to announce the sale of more than 36,000 tickets, the figure reached by the inaugural Judgement Day fixture in 2013.
Since then, thousands more tickets priced at £10 have been snapped up via the WRU website (wru.wales/tickets), the ticket office on Westgate Street and the four Regions as well as local Tesco stores and Ticketmaster (via telephone: 0844 847 1881).
With the regional double-header crowd now topping 40,000, President of the WRU and WDRU Dennis Gethin is hopeful the rugby-loving Millennium Stadium visitors will dig deep to show their support for the deaf rugby players in Wales.
Mr Gethin said: “We are hugely grateful to Specsavers for their support and the bucket collection at next week’s Judgement Day III event at the Millennium Stadium is another example of their charitable contribution which is so important to the Welsh Deaf Rugby Union.
“As record-breaking ticket sales for this year’s Judgement Day have shown, there is already a huge buzz around what is a great celebration of regional rugby at the home of Welsh sport.
“Fans from all four regions will be heading for Cardiff on Saturday 25 April, representing the great rugby communities from all over Wales. I’m sure these fans will show great generosity for the bucket collection around the stadium on matchday, as is always the case at Wales’ home internationals.”
Wales Deaf Rugby was formed in 1998, and the team won the inaugural and only World Deaf Rugby Championship held to date, in 2002, by defeating hosts New Zealand 28-14 in the final.
You don’t need to be profoundly or totally deaf to qualify for deaf rugby; you only need a combined average hearing loss of 25db or more in both ears. This is approximately a minimum hearing loss in both ears, or a moderate hearing loss in one ear but normal hearing in the other.
