As part of the Steve Prescott Foundation’s continued support of the Rugby League Benevolent Fund, we are elated to present Steve Ball, General Manager of the Benevolent Fund and Gareth Ellis, Rugby League Cares with a substantial donation of £43,000 from fundraising efforts of loyal SPF supporters in 2023. A further donation will be made to The Christie Hospital Manchester before the end of the year.

The SPF are also delighted to announce long time SPF Ambassador Gareth Ellis will also act as an liaison officer between RL Cares, the Rugby League Benevolent Fund and the Steve Prescott Foundation, offering his wealth of experience within the game to support all causes in 2024.

Steve Ball said “The Steve Prescott Foundation has continued to be the main contributor to the Rugby League Benevolent Fund for the the past 16 years, in this time our beneficiaries, who not only had the benefit of the monetary support, but also established a close bond with the SPF following on from Steve Prescott’s wishes.

We are excited about the future that lies ahead especially enlisting Gareth’s support.

I am sure that the Prescott family and their amazing supporters will, in 2024 once again, amaze us all with their bravery, courage and determination to help those less fortunate than ourselves!”

Gareth Ellis added “When I first started out on my Rugby League career at Wakefield, Steve Prescott was one of the first senior players to set me out on the right path and always provided me with great advice and assistance.

I was fortunate enough to take part in the epic Race Across Europe 3000 mile cycle ride with the SPF in 2018 and played in a few testimonial legends games. I am truly honoured to be in a position to support the SPF through my role with Rugby League Cares. I look forward to hearing about the crazy challenges the SPF have lined up especially with Taylor and Koby Prescott filling their dad’s incredible shoes!”

Linzi Prescott said “it is 10 years since Stephen passed and he would be incredibly proud of the donations the SPF have made since 2013, he would be also incredibly proud of the way Taylor and Koby have took on the challenges and the way the public have continued to support the SPF.

With Gareth’s assistance we are determined to make 2024 one of the best yet and will be announcing our events and a new way forward for the SPF committee. We also look forward to re engaging with our Ambassadors and making our events more inclusive and as ever, putting the FUN in FUNdraising and keeping Stephens astonishing legacy alive.

Without your support we could not achieve this.”

Taylor Prescott has already announced his participation in the Cleanhire TCS London Marathon and Koby Prescott will be announcing his main challenge for 2024 next week.

There will be also a few familiar events and one or two new ones for people to tackle.