New Zealand Rugby Foundation

Meet Dion Seeling.

At 18, I was a strong and fit fella; playing rep rugby and NZ juniors. My goal in life was to play professional rugby for New Zealand. Until an awkward tackle during a match in Tauranga Domain broke my neck.

My life changed overnight in many ways but in other ways life just moves on. I married Merle and together we have raised 2 kids, and now 2 granddaughters. Today I am an artist, I own a clothing business with my wife, and I am passionate about our whanau rugby club Judea.

When we bought our family home it came complete with a 1960’s galley kitchen, a kitchen most people would find challenging, but we made it work. I have needed this kitchen renovation done for a long time, but it kept getting put off. “I’ll do it later”, 23 years later the NZ Rugby Foundation it got done!

Honestly, I put the kitchen plans I had designed up on a shelf because of the cost. My wife and I had been saving our pennies for a basic kitchen with a bit more room to maneuver my wheelchair through the house. That’s where The Rugby Foundation and supporters like yourself came in and made it happen. I got exactly what I needed. We ended up with the perfect kitchen I had dreamt of. Thank you, from my whanau to yours!

Where We Need Your Help

Career & Education Fund

By donating towards this fund, you enable seriously injured players and their significant others and children to achieve an education they might otherwise not be able to attain due to the financial limitations of a family caring for a seriously injured player.

Wellbeing & Whānau Support Fund

By donating to this fund, you are supporting initiatives that will improve the emotional, spiritual and mental wellbeing of seriously injured players and their whānau, which they may otherwise be unable to access.

Physical Development & Equipment Fund

The seriously injured players we support have suffered lifelong and debilitating injuries, but your donation to this fund will enable us to provide the specialised mobility equipment and adaptive devices that will allow them to ride a bike, play basketball and pass the footie ball again.

Home & Garden Maintenance Fund

Maintaining a tidy and attractive yard is an intrinsic value for most kiwis. By donating to this fund, you provide us with the means to take an additional burden from our seriously injured players and their families, while instilling the sense of pride a great looking garden and lawn produces.

Research Fund

The research projects we support are focused on safe and injury free participation in rugby and we have a particular interest in sports concussion and injury prevention.

General Fund

By donating to the General Fund, your gift provides us with the flexibility to respond where the greatest need might lie in a given year, whether to support our seriously injured players, or to further Prevention/Research and Education or fund seriously injured player Advocacy.