On Saturday 5th December 2020, Boccia England hosted the 2020 Boccia England Awards to celebrate the sporting achievements of the boccia community over the past 12 months. The award ceremony, held virtually on Zoom, was hosted by Boccia England’s CEO Chris Ratcliffe and Competition Manager Sarah Wooding. The Awards were attended by the shortlisted nominees, whilst many more people watched the event live on Boccia England’s Facebook Page and joined in with the celebrations at home by tweeting their messages of congratulations to the winners.  

The evening started with an opening speech from Boccia England’s Chair, Mike Walker, and was followed by a short montage video of Boccia England’s highlights over the past year. The video highlighted how great it has been to see so many people stay engaged in the sport throughout 2020, which has been a very difficult and truly unique year for all those involved in the sport.

Throughout the evening seven awards, including two new awards for 2020 were presented to recognise and reward the successes of Boccia England’s outstanding athletes, inspirational volunteers, great coaches and officials and high-quality clubs across England.

After the ceremony, CEO of Boccia England, Chris Ratcliffe, reflected on the event:

“It has been a privilege to celebrate our outstanding players and volunteers through these Awards.  We have heard about the innovative ways people have found to play boccia at home, and about how important boccia has been for them, particularly in this most unusual year. Boccia truly is a sport that changes lives!”

Congratulations to all the fantastic winners of the 2020 Boccia England Awards! They are:

Club of the Year

Winner: Greenbank Giants Boccia Club

Coach of the Year

Winner: Barry Bowden

Special Mention: Mark Dolan

Players' Performance Athlete of the Year 

Winner: Rafael Young

The Rainbow Cup Award 

Winner: Gareth Stafford

Special Thank-you: Richard and Natalie Mann

Official of the Year

Winner: Steve Furber

Boccia Lockdown Champion

Winner: James Pink and the volunteers at Henbury Boccia Club

Special Thank-you: Bob and Vivienne Lathbury

Unsung Hero of Boccia Award 

Winner: Shelia Appleton



Boccia England would like to thank all the shortlisted nominees who attended and everyone who watched on Boccia England’s Facebook Page for making the 2020 Boccia England Awards such a wonderful event. We look forward to seeing you soon and all hope that we will be celebrating your sporting achievements in very different circumstances at the end of next year.