Leeds Rhinos check on vulnerable fans during coronavirus crisis

Club employees have begun checking if members are okay, if they need anything or just want a chat.

They have even delivered toilet rolls and other items to prevent vulnerable supporters having to venture to local shops.

The calls are being organised by Sian Jones, Rhinos’ head of customer experience.

She explained: “We have got about 1,200 senior members and probably another 2-300 who are classified as disable on our system.

“Three or four of the staff are starting to work down those lists.

"We’ve probably done about 150, we haven’t got that far yet, but sometimes you get into nice conversations, you’re not just ringing to cut things short.

“It will be a long process but we’re just going to keep at it.”

The calls are welfare checks, but Rhinos are also keen to offer practical support where they can, Jones said.

The club don’t have “truck loads” of supplies to distribute, but have delivered certain items to people in need.

“We have a very limited stock of toilet rolls and we’ve dropped off a couple of rolls for somebody who was saying they desperately needed to get out to Morrison’s on the early stint,” Jones said.

“We have been out to stores trying to get bits and bobs to take round to people where we can.

"We’ve got boxes of tissues and tins of soup and things like that, just in case anybody really is in a pickle.

“The best thing we can do is check in and make sure they are all right and if there is a real emergency, or something we need to tackle, we will try help if we can.

“If somebody does need something, we have got local staff and they will get in their car and go and drop some stuff off. It is just our way of trying to help.”

Jones said Rhinos were keen to make some “welfare-type calls”, but that raised the question, what do you do after that?

She said: “It’s difficult, because you’re not supposed to have close contact with people.

“Going round and seeing elderly people, saying ‘I’ll do your shopping for you’, if they don’t know you that’s a bit of a frightening thing and could do more harm than good.

“It was a matter of, let’s do a kind of check in and see if there’s any bits and bobs we can do. One of the fans said they needed some toilet roll and we happened to have a very small amount at the club, so we took a couple of rolls over.”

Rugby league has been shut down until April 3 due to coronavirus and the suspension of matches is expected to be extended well beyond that.

“The staff here want to help everybody, as they always do,” Jones added.

“It is very tricky at the moment, so if they can just sit on the phones and talk to people, they will do.”

Fans on the other end of the line have been “really receptive”, Jones reported.

She said some, who are effectively housebound because of the virus “just want to have a chat”.

She added: “It is hard, because some of them don’t get to see people very often anyway and now if they do go out, for a walk or something, there’s nobody around to talk to.

“They [Rhinos’ staff] are having some nice chats and checking in on people, but everyone’s just missing their rugby league.

"This is a time of year when people are used to their sport.”

Clubs have been told it might be 12 weeks or more before they get to play again.

After an initial flurry of activity following Monday’s announcement, staff have now got more time to spend on fans’ welfare.

Jones said: “I think we will start ramping up our calls now and it’ll go on as long we can keep it going.

“It might go round in a loop, we might get to the point where we go round again.”