Rugby player seeks 6000 signatures on one ball

Quintin Scholtz is on a mission to gather the most signatures ever amassed on a rugby ball.

While he’s at it, the Auckland man is raising money to fund free mouth guards for rugby payers all over the country by auctioning off signed rugby jerseys, through his charity QSports.

South African-born Scholtz got the ball rolling on his first goal by producing a large inflatable rugby ball that could hold up to 6000 signatures.

“Currently there is no record, so I basically have it already but it’s not documented.

“It was just something I personally wanted to do. I wanted to preserve my era of signatures. Anyone who has played Super Rugby and higher can sign it. I’ve got about 250ish right now.

Once the rugby ball has been signed to capacity, he would then have it preserved as a permanent piece of history.

To help fund the mouth guards initiative, he has also been asking teams to provide signed rugby jerseys to auction off.

“I started with the Blues, they were the first ones to sign it [the ball] and I thought, how can I give back? I asked the Blues for a signed jersey, which I will sell and give back to the community. They gave me a jersey, I sold it and I started with the mouth guards.”

Sholtz is a Marist North Harbour presidents player and has a personal reason for wanting to help prevent young players from losing teeth, having experienced it himself.

“I had a few teeth out. I don’t want other guys [to have to deal with that]. I was very self-conscious about smiling. I just thought if I can help one little person feel better about it and also help protect them from concussion.

“I don’t make anything out of it. Everything goes for the children, boys and girls.

“It’s not for those that can’t afford it, it’s for anyone. I’ve got adult ones too, but I focus on the little ones.

“There’s no process of selection yet. I just go with word of mouth, if you’ve got little ones playing rugby I ship them out and that’s it. The only thing that I do ask back, but it’s not compulsory, is a team photo.”

Scholtz has handed out about 1500 QSports-printed mouthguards across New Zealand and South Africa this year.

He has a Givealittle page and hoped that would help him hand out another 5000 mouth guards in the 2024 season.

For more details or to contact Scholtz, head to qsport.online or to donate to the cause, head to givealittle.co.nz/cause/mouth-guards-for-our-young-rugby-rockstars

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