Sonny Bill Williams to help out victims of Christchurch attacks
All Blacks midfielder Sonny Bill Williams is lending his support to the victims' families of Friday's deadly terrorist attacks in Christchurch.
The 33-year-old Blues star, who is a devout Muslim, has linked up with the Muslims Around The World Project (MATW) to raise funds for the families of those directly affected by the attacks, which has claimed the lives of 49 people and injured more than 40.
MATW is a non-profit organisation that aims to provide financial aide and assistance to those in need.
"We are 1 community & we stand firm in supporting one another & those in need," Williams posted on his social media accounts.
"Our thoughts and sympathies are with everyone affected by the mass shootings at Friday prayers in New Zealand.
"The MATW team and community is deeply upset and outraged by these disturbing attacks. We are one community and we stand firm in supporting one another and those in need."
The announcement of Williams' partnership with MATW comes a day after posting an emotional video on social media in support of the victims.
"Just heard the news i couldn't put it into words how I'm feeling right now," he said in the video.
"[I'm] sending out my duas to everyone that's been killed today in Christchurch...you guys are all in paradise.
"I'm just deeply, deeply saddened this would happen in New Zealand."
Williams lived in Christchurch between 2010 and 2011 during his time with the Crusaders and Canterbury.
A link to donate to the MATW page can be found on Williams' Twitter account.
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Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
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