Home > Active Ostomates > Team Colostomy UK Rugby League > Rugby League stories > My Team Colostomy UK year > My Team Colostomy UK year by Kyle Bonsor

Kyle Bonsor joined Team Colostomy UK at the beginning of 2023 and ended it by being named our ‘Rookie of the Year”!

This is his Team Colostomy UK year.

“I was introduced to Team colostomy UK by my good friend, Glamorgan University Alumni and Team Colostomy UK  stalwart Matt Turner. I had the pleasure of playing for a charity team he set up called Robbies Roos on multiple occasions and then one day he mentioned Team Colostomy UK.

Although I do not have a stoma, as an intensive care nurse I have treated thousands of patients with all types of stomas. Some were as a result of long term conditions like IBD while others were emergencies from bowel obstructions or even trauma from car accidents or stabbings

. I’ve seen first had the difficulty people have in coming to terms with having their body changed immediately following surgery. So I knew it was a cause I could easily be very passionate about.

When Matt contacted me, I was going through a rough patch in my life, I’d recently broken up with my Fiancée and I was struggling with my mental health. This was when Matt reached out to me and asked me to come and run the water for Team Colostomy UK at their  match against St Albans Centurions at the New River Stadium, home of London Skolars RLFC in Tottenham, North London.

I turned up and the team welcomed me with open arms even allowing me to run their warm up before the match began. The team had great camaraderie from the offset on the side-lines and on the pitch and I knew instantly this was a team I wanted to be a part of. Giovanni kindly supplied me with a team jersey for helping the team out and quickly added me to the whatsapp group and from that moment I was hooked.

A couple of months passed and I was now making my debut for the team at Batley Bulldog’s Fox’s Biscuits Stadium in front of a huge crowd. I hadn’t stepped on a field as a player in four years having retired due to several repeat concussions and here I was playing in a championship stadium under adapted rules that meant I wouldn’t be taking any contact. I gave me a new lease of life, something to train in the gym for and I had great fun sharing the field with Team Colostomy UK and the British Asian Rugby Association (BARA).

Soon after that I was able to fulfil a childhood dream and play at Odsal Stadium, Home of the Bradford Bulls. A stadium I’d watched on Sky Sports with my Dad as a kid watching the likes of Lesley Vainikolo, Paul Deacon and Leon Pryce in their prime. I gave my everything in that game and was rewarded with a try and being named man of the match by the opposition. Something I took massive pride in as a new player to the side.

I then wanted to go beyond the pitch and raise awareness for men, women and children with stomas so I embarked on an accumulator. A fitness challenge of running, cycling and hiking each number of the month in miles. The challenge totalled over 500miles including playing against Aberavon Fighting Irish Wolfhounds on the 28th October, then cycling 28miles on a spin bike in the hotel gym after. It was an exhausting challenge but well worth every calorie burned.

Later that evening I had the honour of receiving the Team Colostomy UK “Rookie of the Year Award” at the end of season awards night. It has been a fantastic year for me and the team and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every moment the team has given me both on and off the pitch and cannot wait for bigger and better things next year in 2024 and beyond. I haven’t just joined a team, I’ve gained a family.

If you would like to join us in 2024 please get in touch with Giovanni via email at getinvolved@colostomyuk.org