 Sadly, during lockdown the social club where the team met closed. 'The club gave me a massive new chapter in my life, so it's been hard to see it lose a bit of community spirit,' says Lee, who coaches the West Leeds under-12 girls' team. Now, using funding from The National Lottery, West Leeds are going to build a clubhouse of their own. And thanks to National Lottery players £9.3million will be given to rugby league over the next five years. 'It's going to make all the d){kind=link}
Lee Dimberline hit rock bottom on the booze, but the day he gave up alcohol he could never have predicted it would cost him his friends.
“It was March 2011 and I’d been drinking more and more,” says the 43-year-old. “As soon as I opened my eyes I would open a beer. When I went to bed, I took one with me. Everything revolved around making sure I had a drink.”
Finally Lee realised he needed to take back control. “I got up one morning and decided enough was enough,” says the builder’s labourer, who lives in Leeds with his wife Laura and their children Benn, 19, and Lexi, 12. “My doctor arranged for me to go to rehab and I’ve not drunk since.”
But the hard work started once he got home. “I had drunk every day, so my door was like a turnstile of people coming to drink with me,” he explains. “Once I stopped, they vanished. My so-called friends had just been drinking buddies and they walked away.”
A lifeline for Lee came from an unexpected source â his son’s rugby league club. “Benn had played for West Leeds ARLFC for a couple of years, and when I stopped drinking the club really helped me stay on track,” says Lee, who began volunteering in the tea hut, then became a touchline manager and first aider before training as a coach. “I found new mates there â it’s socialising, but in a whole new environment.”