Treble winning side Leeds Rhinos have become the first rugby team in the UK to get their own Top Trumps deck thanks to a partnership between Leeds Rhinos Foundation and Yorkshire-based national charity Heart Research UK
The Rhinos edition of the famous card game features players from the club’s golden generation, and fans will be able to pit the Rhinos legends against each other in categories including Raw Power, Speed, Awesome Skill and Scoring Ability.
The players honoured in the pack include the Rhinos’ most successful captain, Kevin Sinfield MBE, as well as some of the past players who were part of the most successful decade in the club’s history such as Barrie McDermott, Danny Buderus and Ali Lauittiti.
The pack has been produced as part of Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s ‘Healthy Heart Project’ which is funded by Heart Research UK, and each card will also promote a positive healthy heart message.
As part of the legacy of the project, each child participating will receive a free pack of collectable Top Trumps which they can continue to play and spread the healthy heart message with friends and family.
The ‘Heart of Gold’ project targets 30 disadvantaged children from each of the participating schools, to be part of a six week programme which covers three weekly sessions of multi-skill physical activities themed around street games and two weekly healthy heart education workshops.
The project enables Leeds Rhinos Foundation to visit 36 primary schools in areas of deprivation within Leeds. Out of the 92 areas that fall in to the top 10% most deprived nationally, there are approximately 44% of children growing up living in poverty.
Davide Longo, Leeds Rhinos Foundation General Manager, said:
"These cards will be a great addition to our Healthy Heart project and will be a fun way for us to deliver healthy heart messages to children using the inspirational Leeds Rhinos players.
We aim to demonstrate to youngsters that heart health does not have to be dependent on cost, time or accessibility and to educate them on the risks and causes of heart disease.”
Heart Research UK’s Lifestyle Officer, Vicki Litherland, said the Top Trump cards would be a great way of getting youngsters engaged with heart healthy messages.
"This is a really exciting project using Leeds Rhinos players as positive role models to inspire children in Leeds to make heart-healthy choices. We hope that by continuing to play with the Top Trumps cards at home children will share what they have learnt with the whole family, messages which will last for years to come.”
The Leeds Rhinos Top Trumps cards cost £5 and are available to buy in the club shop and online by clicking here. All money from the sales will go to the Leeds Rhinos Foundation.