Matt's Charities

SpecialEffect helps young people with disabilities to use leisure technology in the following ways:
By adapting, developing and modifying cutting edge technology – for example eye-controlled technology, a special strength of SpecialEffect.

By supporting hospitals, hospices, special schools, etc. in finding the right leisure technology for those young people who need it most, when they need it most.

By loaning specialised leisure technology to young people who have a sudden serious injury or illness.

Our team of specialist professionals have many years of experience in designing and adapting technology to help young people with physical and learning difficulties. Success with using this technology can lead to huge gains in self-confidence and motivation, and can provide a way for young people with disabilities to compete with others on a level playing field.

We’re dedicated to providing the expertise necessary to enable everyone to enjoy the fun, friendship and challenges that can be found in the world of computer games and leisure.

It is every rugby player’s dream to combine his job with his passion and pull on the jersey for his career, his club and ultimately his country. But what happens when it all goes wrong? A bad tackle, an unfortunate accident, an illness off the pitch - who is there to pick up the pieces?

The RPA Benevolent Fund, The Players' Charity, was established in 2001 (as the PRA Benevolent Fund) to provide financial support for players who have been forced to retire from the game due to serious injury or illness, and support players’ families in the event of their untimely death.

As an increasing number of players suffer career ending injury, it is imperative that the Benevolent Fund continues to grow. Through the generous support of businesses, rugby supporters and the players themselves, the RPA Benevolent Fund has been able to raise thousands of pounds each year to help players and their families who are in need.

Through the RPA Benevolent Fund we are able to assist players with essential medical costs and provide a support network which the player or family can turn to for help, advice or encouragement. The Benevolent Fund is dependent on generous corporate and individual support. As an increasing number of players become casualties of the professional era, it is vital that the Benevolent Fund continues to grow.

The RFU Injured Players Foundation (IPF) supports people who sustain a catastrophic injury while playing rugby. The charity provides help and support for both players and their families in the early months after sustaining an injury and during the long term recovery process.

The IPF also incorporates the former SPIRE Rugby Trust charity.

In addition to this support, the charity takes an active approach to conducting and supporting research and education aimed at preventing injuries, while always working to identify how injured players can be helped more effectively.

Spinal Research is the UK’s leading charity funding medical research around the world to develop reliable treatments for paralysis caused by a broken back or neck.

All the information needed to initiate and control movement travels down the spinal cord from the brain to the muscles of the body. Signals from every part of the body also pass up the spinal cord. These signals relay sensory information (such as touch, pressure and heat) to the areas of the brain that deal with these sensations and our responses to them. After spinal cord injury, damaged neurons are unable to conduct signals and the injured person loses sensory information and muscle control.

You don’t get to my stage in life without learning some lessons along the way. In my case I learned several. That you won’t be successful unless you really work for it. That individual success is never as powerful as team success. And that life isn’t always fair for everybody.

I also learned that the values and beliefs I was taught as a child still hold good. I still believe in giving back; I still believe that success brings responsibility, and I still believe doing what you can is always better than doing nothing.

So when I had my testimonial year I set myself a challenge of raising half a million pounds for charity. With everyone pitching in I ended up with well over a million which I gave away to a number of causes. Of course I then got a whole pile of new requests for help, and wanted to do more.

As time went on I realised I could be more effective by using my own success and motivation to galvanise others, and leading teams of likeminded people. Then my mother Eileen died from cancer in December 2008 and I lost the foundation stone of my life.

My mother thought everyone deserved the opportunity to shine - she believed in me long before I did anything to deserve it and supported me through everything. Because of her I know that nothing is unobtainable.
My mother gave me an unshakeable belief that it wasn’t just okay to shoot for the moon – it was essential. Through the Dallaglio Foundation I want to pass on that belief, but also give people the tools and money to do it.
That’s why the money we raise through the Foundation will go towards very specific, tangible projects which make a real and personal difference to people’s lives. And it’s why we are interested in ideas and communication as well as money. Together we can translate ideas into action and need into supply. We are powerful together.