North Queensland fans raised $50,000 in a raffle during Sunday’s game against South Sydney, as the rugby league world rallied around Jai Arrow after his diagnosis with motor neurone disease. The Cowboys beat the Rabbitohs 30-18 in Townsville, but the result was only part of the story.
The money was collected for Souths Cares, the Rabbitohs’ not-for-profit charity arm, and will be used in the fight against MND and to support Arrow and his family. The 30-year-old was diagnosed this week and will retire immediately after the diagnosis was revealed, a blow that hit hard across the competition and gave Sunday’s match an added emotional weight.
Arrow is engaged to his Canadian partner, Berina Colakovic, and the couple have a one-year-old daughter. The fundraising effort in Townsville came after the Rabbitohs confirmed the diagnosis and retirement, turning a regular round of rugby league into a show of support for one of the game’s own.
Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett, who has seen the disease affect people close to him, said in his post-game press conference that it is personal for him, though every case is different. He added that the club cannot use that as an excuse for poor form, drawing a line between compassion off the field and the standards demanded on it.
For Arrow, the diagnosis ends his playing career at 30 years of age and begins a far harder fight away from the game. For the fans who filled the raffle buckets in Townsville, the gesture was small only in scale; in the middle of a difficult week, it gave the family and the club something immediate and tangible to lean on.
