After a year away, we are delighted that the 5th instalment of the John Sullivan Trophy will take place at the match between our London Broncos and Whitehaven on Sunday 27th August 2023 at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, Plough Lane at 3pm!
The “Sully” is a joint initiative between the LBSA and the club, in memory of former academy player John Sullivan who tragically took his own life in 2014. The event aims to raise awareness of the issue of young male suicide and the importance of mental health more generally, in addition to raising funds for the Sullivan family’s chosen charity CALM – the Campaign Against Living Miserably.
Around £2,000 has been raised for CALM since the inception of the event, with amazing contributions from both the Broncos faithful and the travelling fans, in addition to the wider rugby league community. The Broncos have taken home the trophy on all four occasions so far – beating Dewsbury Rams in 2017, Rochdale Hornets in 2018, St Helens in 2019 and York City Knights in 2021 – can we make it 5 in a row this year?!
In the lead up to the event we are launching a fundraising page here – please donate if you are able and do share with your friends, enemies and those you feel largely ambivalent about! Any and all banking or service fees will be covered by the LBSA, so 100% of your donation will go to CALM.
We’ll be running our usual matchday 50/50 draw, but instead of 50% of the takings being added to our funds to help us sponsor our academy, it will instead head directly to CALM.
Finally, we will also be holding a bucket collection on the day – we would love some volunteers to help us with this before the match, even if you can spare just half an hour it would be greatly appreciated! Drop us a message if you want to get involved.
The scourge of young male suicide will only have been exacerbated during the challenging times of the recent pandemic; we can do our little bit in showing the Rugby League family’s concern for young men’s health and wellbeing; whether Rugby League players or not.