There’s one thing you’re not supposed to do on the rugby pitch: Pass the ball forward.

But the Sarnia Saints rugby club defies that logic as, for the seventh straight year, the local organization will be Playing it Forward.

“It allows us to contribute to the community,” said club president Chris Groombridge. “It changes people’s perspectives as to what we represent and what we do.”

A different cause is chosen for each year’s fundraiser, and this time they’ve chosen to support an Afghanistan war memorial monument being installed in Sarnia’s Veterans Park. There’s a direct connection between the Saints and the monument through former player and club president Errol Cushley.

“(He) was a driving force in our rugby club at the time,” Groombridge said of Cushley, who was president in the early 1990s.

His son, Pte. William Cushley, was killed while serving his country in Afghanistan in 2006. To remember Cushley, as well as Cpl. Brent Poland who was killed in action in 2007 and other local soldiers who served during the 13-year campaign, the 1st Hussars Association and Royal Canadian Legion Br. 62 have teamed up to bring a decommissioned Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) III to the park behind the Sarnia library.

“Only a few communities in Canada are getting those light armoured vehicle IIIs that were used in Afghanistan,” Groombridge said. “We’re lucky in our community to get one.”

Supporting this project through Playing it Forward was an easy choice, he added.

“We thought, well, that would be a great thing because this, the creation or an establishment of a war memorial in Sarnia to the Afghan veterans is only going to happen once,” he pointed out.

The total cost of the monument ranges from $45,000 to $60,000, which includes purchasing the vehicle’s hull, transporting it from London, installing a concrete mounting pedestal, purchasing memorial plaques and landscaping, according to a project brochure.

Past Playing it Forward events have raised funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Mental Health Association.

On the pitch there will be a series of games June 25, but the fundraiser – a dinner and silent auction – is June 22 at the Gateway Room of the St. Clair Corporate Centre.

The Saints’ colours are black and white, but for those matches the players will be wearing unique jerseys that will be sold at the auction: Camouflage colours and patterns modeled after what the Canadian army wore in Afghanistan. A total of 22 men’s and 22 women’s game-worn shirts will be sold, expecting to fetch between $50 and $400 each.

“It really adds up,” Groombridge said, adding some reserve bids have already filtered in.

Other rugby and non-rugby items will be sold, too.

“We raise a chunk of change,” he continued. “I say chunk of change because we never like to get nailed to an amount.

“It will be successful no matter how much we raise.”

Recent Chopped: Canada contestant Paresh Thakkar will be preparing the meals.

“He has generated all kinds of interest for us,” he said.

Tickets are being sold for the dinner but the auction is open to the public.

As for the games on that Saturday, Sarnia’s women’s team will take on Stratford at 12 p.m. followed by the men’s second side and first side playing Brampton at 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively, all at Norm Perry Park. The men’s team hits the pitch this Saturday with a friendly on the road against Bruce County.

In addition to the senior teams, the club continues to field youth squads and a rookie rugby program for players between ages seven and 13.

For more information on the fundraiser, e-mail sarniarugbyplayingitforward@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page.

tbridge@postmedia.com

@ObserverTerry