Murderball: The Full Contact Paralympic Sport

Murderball is a 2005 documentary covering the Paralympic Sport of Wheelchair Rugby also known as Murderball or Quad Rugby. The film shows a sport that in many ways has no connection to Rugby apart from full contact to stop the opposing player. Pair this with basketball as it involves dribbling the ball and is played on a basketball court and ice hockey for the physical slamming nature of tackles and you get the idea.

The film focuses on the rivalry between Canada and the USA, Canada invented the game but the USA have been dominating it. We meet the current players and coaches including Joe Soares a former star of the USA team who when dropped from them team first tried to sue then moved to Canada to take over their team. His dream is coming back and beating his former teammates and home country, not bitter at all so ! But with all the craziness and passion of the sport the documentary does delve deeper into the lives of the players most with spinal injuries. They talk about the effects the injury's have had on their lives and the effect Murderball has had in providing a competitive out for them.