News

Posted: Saturday 5th September 2020

CTSC donate tackle shields for Tigers PDRL

Castleford Tigers Supporters Club (CTSC) continue to help the club in 2020 and have donated the training equipment for the Tigers Foundation’s Physical Disability Rugby League team, ready to be used whenever they return to training. As an added bonus for the CTSC, on the front of each shield is th

ctsc shield.jpg

Derek Whale, the Chair of the Supporters Club is pleased to have made another brilliant donation to a team at the club and to support our #ONECLUB mentality that every Tigers team is associated with.

“We look to help out all the teams at Castleford Tigers other than perhaps just the men’s First Team, so we have supported the other teams in different ways and we decided this would be a good thing to do to help out our PDRL side. It’s a great way to continue spreading the Supporters Club’s message and try and get more people involved with our logo branded on these tackle shields.”

The addition of the logo on the shields allows the members of the CTSC to proudly point and say, ‘I helped contribute to that’, something which is key as Derek details.

“It’s important to our members that they see what the money their donations and memberships goes towards, it’s something tangible that they can see.”

The Supporters Club’s monthly events due to the Covid-19 pandemic have unfortunately been stopped, traditionally these are run with all the efforts going towards their fundraising. Occasions such as the annual Race Night have not gone ahead but that does not mean the CTSC is resting on their laurels.

“We have still been doing things online with our Facebook forum, our Twitter account too and we still have regular meetings and keeping up to date with things. So, whilst we are not hosting our traditional monthly events, we are keeping active within the Tigers supporter base. Our original aim for 2020 to reach £100k raised since the CTSC was founded in 2004 will be pushed back now to 2021.”

The donation from our Supporters Club comes on the back of the PDRL side raising funds in the Summer of 2019 when they took on the Yorkshire Three Peaks and raised almost £800 themselves. Vice-Captain of the Tigers’ PDRL team Mike McGann speaks about how the CTSC’s donation made their efforts on the hills with his friends Steve Burrows, Pete Girt and Dave Shaw even more worth it.

“They wanted to donate around £500 to it and then they decided that if it could go towards something our team could use, they would be able to put their logo on it also, so it added up to about £1,300 in the end.

“Initially we only thought it was only going to be a couple of shields, but we’ve ended up with eight which is brilliant and will truly benefit the team when we eventually manage to get back to training. It’s a truly fabulous donation from the CTSC and we can’t thank them enough.

“It’s a great bit of advertising for them and to have a physical thing out of their kindness that we will be able to use has really pleased me because when I even think about those Three Peaks it brings pain to my body, it’s made it even more worthwhile!”

Mike himself feels like he has come full circle after being one of the early members back in the day of the CTSC.

“I’ve been a member of the Supporters Club ever since it’s inception so I’ve been fortunate enough to see the Supporters Club start and then be on the other side of it and receiving a donation is fantastic from a personal point of view.”

Community Director of Castleford Tigers Foundation Simon Fox commented on the donation saying:

“This is a very kind and welcome gesture from the ever generous CTSC. Their support for our growing PDRL team is significant and will allow them to develop their game as individuals and overall confidence a collective. As we approach World Cup year this is a timely intervention.” 

To find out more information about Castleford Tigers Supporters Club please visit: ctsc.org.uk