An amazing celebration for Richard Brickley MBE OBE today as he collected his award from Buckingham Palace. This proved to be an extremely exciting day for Richard and his family – especially his grandson, who was thrilled at the prospect of a trip to the palace.
SDS warmly congratulate Richard on his well-deserved recognition following decades of service to disability sport. The following article was written at the time of the announcement.
Congratulations to Richard Brickley on being awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to disability sport.
Passionate and committed, his influence spans every facet of disability sport. Richard was awarded an MBE in 1999 for services to disability sport, however his impact since this time has remained significant as evidenced by his recognition as Volunteer of the Year at the Team Scotland Scottish Sports Awards in 2017. It is universally agreed amongst national, UK and international governing bodies that few, if any, people have done more for the development of disability sport internationally over the last 40 years. Richard was on the Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) Management Board from 1975 until 2006, and between 1998-06 he led Scottish Disability Sport as chair. Richard took the organisation from one that employed a sole administrator as their entire staff base to one that employed a CEO and a number of dedicated staff. He was the key driver in launching SDS’s first website in 2000. This vastly improved communication with members, local authorities and governing bodies. He has been a driver in strategically planning and implementing SDS’s last five strategic plans which has overseen growth exponentially of inclusive practice and opportunities. He implemented the widely-respected events programme for 33 years as the voluntary events-lead, and has ensured that the programme remains one of the flagship programmes of SDS which currently runs over 20 events across 7 sports and caters for over 3000 athletes with a disability at every level of the pathway. After he stepped down as chair in 2006, he was asked to become the inaugural chair of the UK Coaching, Learning and Leadership Group, which was formed in 2007. The group was established to advise the UK Coaching Framework on disability sport and the inclusion of children, athletes and players with a disability. He produced policy papers and implemented positive projects and programmes within coaching at a UK level. He only stood down as chair to allow him time to set up a similar organisation in relation to Scotland, and in 2010 the Disability Sport Coaching and Education Group: Scotland was established. The impact of the groups has been to corral leading experts in coaching and disability to set the vision for coaching and learning within Scotland and contributing the SDS dimension to key documents. He was a key contributor to the development of the Sports Inclusion Model which is a cornerstone of the SDS Strategic Plan 2017 – 21 and it being adopted at a UK level through SDS’s sister organisations in the home nations. Internationally he has attended seven successive Paralympic Games as coach or classifier. In the late 1980s he recognised that his passion for coaching and classification could not co-exist at an international level and therefore made a huge commitment to follow the pathway of an International Classifier, a complicated yet critical aspect of disability sport. In Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 he was a lead classifier, which culminated in becoming the Chief Classifier at the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Paralympics. He was also head of classification for athletics at the International Paralympic Committee. In the 1980s and 1990s he voluntarily worked with a small group of classifiers for the Cerebral Palsy International Sport and Recreation Association to improve and keep current the classification system. He was made an international classifier for the International Bowls for the Disabled (IBD), following his services at the Eight Nations international bowling competition held at Kelvingrove, Glasgow in 2013. This ensured all bowlers were classified for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. He was instrumental in refining the British Athletics classification system and chaired the British Athletics classification panel following Beijing, and he also produced the initial British classification paper for GB Boccia allowing the sport to grow internationally. He and a fellow ex-Chair of SDS, Bob Mitchell, created a simple and robust system for classification within various sports in Scotland. This revolutionised disability sport in Scotland and ensures sport is inclusive and accessible for all people with a disability in Scotland. This is still used 20 years on. This awards was strongly supported by Scottish Disability Sport, the other home nation disability federations and both the Lord Lieutentant and the Lord Provost of Fife.
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