A Queensbury rugby player faces up to a year of hospital treatment after being paralysed from the shoulder down during a match.

Keith Spinks, 43-year-old prop forward with the Boothtown Terriers Rugby League club, was running with the ball when he was tackled in the match against Slaithwaite Saracens in the Pennine League.

Club secretary Andrew Charlesworth said he hit his neck as he fell to the ground.

"He was tackled by one of the lads and fell awkwardly," he said.

"There was no menace in the tackle - it was run of the mill and just the way he fell into it. The lad who tackled him is gutted about it.

"Keith couldn't feel anything from the shoulders downwards, but in the last few days he's been able to move his legs and is getting feeling back in his right arm. But he still can't feel parts of his body.

"Doctors have told him he could be in hospital for anything between six and 12 months."

Mr Spinks, who played for Queensbury Rugby League Club for ten years, was rushed to Calderdale Royal Hospital after the accident, where an emergency tracheotomy was performed to help him breathe.

He was then transferred to Leeds General Infirmary, where doctors carried out a six-and-a-half-hour operation to remove a bone from his pelvis and place it in the back of his neck.

He is now waiting for a bed at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.

Mr Charlesworth said it was the first time in the club's 16-year history such a serious accident had occurred.

"It can happen at any time," he said. "He's taking it quite well. He's really quite high-spirited about it - laughing and joking. The only thing he's worried about is the hospital food!"

Mr Spinks, a Bradford Bulls fan, was formerly employed by Bradford Council as a groundsman at Odsal Stadium.

Bradford Bulls media manager Stuart Duffy said: "We really feel for Keith. He was a really happy member of staff and we hope that it's not as serious as it could be."

Brian Holdsworth, secretary of Queensbury Rugby League Club, also said Mr Spinks was a cheerful lad. "These accidents are just part of the game, but few and far between," he said.