Gloucester-Hartpury Renames Home Ground in Tribute to Ed Slater’s MND Charity

The home ground of Gloucester-Hartpury has been officially renamed the 4ED Hartpury Stadium with Vodafone. This renaming serves to honor the charity established by former Gloucester lock Ed Slater, who retired from rugby following his diagnosis with motor neurone disease (MND), with the aim of increasing awareness of the condition. The club, which holds the title of two-time reigning Premiership Women’s Rugby champions, conducts nearly all its home matches at Hartpury University and College. This venue also serves as the base for Championship club Hartpury RFC and university teams participating in British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS). This change comes as part of a new multi-year sponsorship agreement with Vodafone. Under the terms of this deal, the club was given the opportunity to select a charity partner to assume the stadium’s naming rights. They opted for 4ED, the foundation established by Slater, a former Cherry and Whites player, after his MND diagnosis in 2022. Club co-captain Natasha ‘Mo’ Hunt stated to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, “Supporting 4ED and his family is something that we’re all massively behind as a group.” She added, “It’s about getting the charity out there, making sure we’re doing everything we can to support him and his family.” Motor neurone disease is characterized as a degenerative condition impacting nerves within the brain and spinal cord, for which no cure currently exists. Billy Twelvetrees, a coach at Hartpury and a continuing friend of his former team-mate Slater, commented that the stadium’s renaming provides “longevity” to the initiative aimed at emphasizing the effects of MND. Twelvetrees recounted, “When I first saw [the sign] I stopped and took a picture and sent it to Ed straight away – he was blown away how big it was.” He further stated, “It’s huge to be in support of 4ED because the rugby community has been behind Ed from the very start of his diagnosis.” Twelvetrees emphasized the importance of continuing to “raise awareness, keep raising awareness for MND because at the moment there is no cure, no treatment and no fix for it.” He concluded, “The bigger picture was for longevity because the fight of MND is finite, time is finite for people with MND so we wanted it to be a long-term thing.” Slater, who played 78 matches for Gloucester prior to his retirement due to his diagnosis, also served as captain for Leicester Tigers. During his seven-year tenure with the club, he secured the Premiership title in the 2012-13 season. Currently, these two teams compete for the Slater Cup whenever they face each other in both Premiership and Premiership Women’s Rugby fixtures. Last weekend, the men’s Tigers team claimed the cup for the third consecutive occasion, while Gloucester-Hartpury successfully defended the women’s trophy earlier in the current season. In collaboration with fellow MND campaigner Rob Burrow, who passed away in June at 41 years old, Slater has additionally assisted in organizing a cross-code rugby match scheduled to take place next month at Headingley. Twelvetrees is expected to participate in this event on Sunday, 17 November, alongside other former rugby union internationals such as Danny Cipriani and Tom Youngs, as well as league players Keith Senior, Adrian Morley, and Danny McGuire.