We are planning a Memorial Rugby game for one of our young players, Ben Smith, who was tragically taken away from us in May 2017. The game will be played by his former team mates who are currently in the Academy against his old school friends and other players on Sunday 27th Jan, KO 12.45pm.
Ben was a member of Trojans rugby club from U6’s to U16’s.
He had an undiagnosed heart condition and collapsed whilst out on a run just weeks after the end of the U16 season. His sudden death was an enormous shock for all those who knew him and was felt throughout Trojans Club as both he and his Mum, Caroline, had been such long standing members.
Ben was a caring, considerate, gentle giant and a player that was respected by every member of the section. The coaches had never had a bad word said about him in his entire rugby career. To lose a player that had been an integral part of our section from the very beginning, was very difficult for the other lads.
The idea behind this memorial match is firstly for the players who knew him, to honour his memory in a way that the rugby family is very good at.
The second is to raise funds for the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) as they have been so supportive of Caroline, over the last difficult 18 months. This charity runs screening sessions for teenagers and young adults with the aim of detecting abnormalities and helping to ensure that fatalities are rare. Caroline wishes to fundraise in Ben’s memory to enable local screening sessions to take place and we want to help with this fundraising effort. As Caroline says, she would like to help prevent another family from going through similar heartbreak. This event is not intended to be a sad occasion, this is about our Academy players and their invited guests honouring Ben’s memory in the best spirit of rugby
We are very fortunate to have Nigel Owens MBE, Welsh International Referee officiating the game, so we are sure he will bring in a large crowd to support this event.
We would like to invite other sections to come and watch and support this good cause.
In order to fundraise entrance to the match will be by a programme that can be purchased on the day. Also you can donate at
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ben-smith-memorial-match-jan-19

The rugby community has already shown strong support for CRY as they recognise how important it is that our young people have the opportunity be screened, and we at Trojans want to add our support.
Many thanks