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On Saturday 04 March, Catterick Crusaders Masters team got the clubs' 2023 playing schedule underway. The team traveled to West Yorkshire to take on Boothtown Terriers. John "Longers" Longden (black shorts) made his debut at hooker and he clearly hadn't lost any skills in his dummy half pass. Also on debut was Romoi "Bas" Baselala (white shorts) who wreaked a fair amount of havoc at Stand Off and then Centre. The game was started in the usual manner with both sides shaking each other's hands and wishing each other a good game. The spirit of Masters continued throughout the game with some lively chat and banter but also some great Rugby League on display. The comedy moment came from mouth of Boothtown and the boot of scrum half Jason "Jase" Grant, when Jase listened to the shout of "5th and last" without looking at the referee. Whilst admiring his own hefty kick Jase soon realised, by the shrieks of laughter from Boothtown that they'd stitched him up and it was only the 4th tackle (in Masters you can only kick on the 5th and last!). The Boothtown loanee who fell over his own feet trying to clear the Crusaders line does come a very close second though! At the end it was the usual joint huddle before taking advantage of some Boothtown hospitality. Catterick Crusaders Masters would like to thank Boothtown Terriers Masters for a very enjoyable afternoon and we look forward to the return leg. Final Score: 0-0 (Masters don't keep score). Crusaders Master of the Match: Jase Boothtown Master of the Match: Chinny Next Game: Saturday 15 April v Guiseley - away

The 2022 season started with a bang for Crusaders as junior training resumed at Robertson Rd on Saturday morning. Prior to our morning of fun, our Social Touch set up had its usual get together on Friday evening with over 30 players in attendance. The first juniors out of the blocks on Saturday were our youngest groups - the Cubs - who enjoyed a great session under the watchful eye Sarah. Next to get going were the U8’s and U10’s who had great fun with coaches Stephen and Christian (U8’s) and Adam who was assisted by potential coach Dan (U10’s). The focus of the session was about fun. There was plenty of passing and catching and movement skills to get everyone going and to settle the nerves of our newbies! 10:30 saw the U12’s, U13’s girls, U14’s and U16’s get going. The U16’s boasting an impressive 20 players at training. Coaches Gavin, Ian and Ben oversaw an energetic session for the lads, who were more than a little bit excited to see each other again! Jase took the fledgling U13 girls team working, in slow time, on their tackle technique. Sean held a joint session for the U12‘s and U14’s, with over 20 players in attendance from those age groups. In all, over 80 juniors attended our opening session of the season which is outstanding. We are looking forward to next weekend already!!

Since the inception of its junior teams Crusaders have always taken pride in providing Lasting Memories for it members. On Sunday 30 October we’ll be able continue that ethos when we provide player escorts and flag bearers for one of the teams at the Tonga versus Cook Islands, Rugby League World Cup clash. Our Primary ages will escort the players, whilst the Junior Ages (12-16) take care of the flag. If you’d like to get involved in the day, Crusaders are recruiting now, for the 2022 season, and would love to hear from you. Just drop us a message.

Fancy trying your skills out in Rugby League? Catterick Crusaders are actively seeking players to join our club. We run activity from the age of 2, to the age of ….. probably should know better! If you have a boy or a girl, under the age of 18 that fancies giving it a go please follow the link below. If you are a man aged 18 or above, that fancies playing (full contact variant only) please also follow the link. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask! https://membership.mygameday.app/regoform.cgi?aID=25795&pKey=b8a4c24a61c37548abe74dbda1f880c1&cID=24

Former Crusaders junior Oliver Redding has recently been looking to secure sponsorship for his 2022 season campaign with Newcastle Thunder U18’s. We are delighted to announce that 3 sponsors have stepped forward to support Oliver on his journey. Kevin Tasker from The Old Sweet Shop Hawes, Stephen Horsley from TSA and an anonymous sponsor have stepped forward. On match days the sponsors will be displayed, on Kingston Parks big screen, as Catterick Crusaders and TSA, should Oliver be selected. Again a massive Crusaders thank you to those supporting Oliver on his journey.

Four of our players have recently been selected for the Newcastle Thunder U16’s Scholarship. Elijiah Delaidriti, Harry King, Noah Bangura and Seth Clapham are now looking for sponsorship to help support their journey into the Scholarship set up and the forthcoming season. They are looking to raise £120 (inc VAT) each, the money is used to support the Scholarship team throughout the season by supporting the provision of training and playing kit and travel. In return your company or individual name/logo will be displayed on their player profiles and displayed on the big screen at Kingston Park when they are selected to play. Crusaders will also display your name and/or company logo in a thank you article for supporting these players. We are looking for full or part sponsorship. It can be shared by all four or set against an individual, the choice is yours. Any excess funds raised will go towards some kit for the lads. Please PM us if you can help.

On Sunday 23rd January, rugby league fans get their first chance to see the new-look Newcastle Thunder in action at Kingston Park with SuperLeague side Wigan Warriors making the trip to the North East. 2022 marks the start of a closer partnership with the Betfred Super League giants, with Thunder enjoying dual-registration status with the Cherry and Whites and the warm-up making the most of the links. Kicking off at 3pm the match is set to feature extended squads as both sides look to give opportunities to an array of players on their books. For the Thunder side, further interest comes with former Warriors Mitch Clarke, Craig Mullen, Jake Shorrocks, Josh Woods and Nathan Wilde. Tickets for this match are on sale now with Under 16s priced at £5 and all others at £10 and can be booked via the Thunder website, calling 0191 214 5588 (opt 1) or by visiting the Kingston Park Stadium box office. Hospitality options are also available, with Wigan legends Denis Betts, Sean O’Loughlin and Kris Radlinski on hand to share their experiences over pie and peas before the match starts.

Crusaders Open Age are kindly sponsored by Gary Hannah in support of his chosen charity Combat Stress. On Saturday Crusaders took on Durham Tigers at Robertson Rd, in the league, after a disappointing outing, the previous week, in the cup. Despite their position at the foot of the table, Durham Tigers were always going to give Crusaders some trouble (of the right kind) in what is almost a local derby. With the Army’s Inter Corps competition starting and a niggling injury to Jonathon Williams Crusaders had to draft in some former juniors to cover the halfback positions this came in the form of brothers Jeremy and Rupert Civil, who were both outstanding and a massive physical presence. Crusaders kicked off the game, and Tigers immediately started with some penetrating runs up the middle which caught the Crusaders defence a little off guard. However having easily fielded the last play, the Crusaders started their attack by shipping the ball Fred Work on the second play, who broke the line to feed Pita Banivanua who slipped the ball back inside for PJ Fincken-Hayes to carry on the run and score between the uprights. In Eaun Kitching and Tee Vakalevlevu Tigers possessed two fabulous kickers and this hampered Crusaders at almost every restart and Crusaders would find themselves defending rather than attacking from the restart. However once the ball was back in Crusaders hands they carried on delivering the tries. Before the break Pita Banivanua would grab a brace, as did Maika Bose. Manasa Ravulo also grabbed a try and Nemani Tuvakasiga finished the first half scoring with his first try for the club. The second half started in breath taking fashion for Crusaders with centre and winger partnership Fred Work and Pita Banivanua accounting for the next 5 tries between them in blistering fashion! Crusaders play then became a bit disjointed and they came away from their effective structures which played into the hands of Tigers. Despite the disjointed approach Crusaders still managed to post another 3 tries courtesy of PJ Fincken-Hayes and Nemani Tuvakasiga (2). The final score was 76-28 to Crusaders. Crusaders would like to thank the Tunstall Meat Company for providing us with some great quality burgers and sausages to enjoy after the match. Despite the overcast conditions they went down a storm al fresco outside the pavilion. Thank you everyone that tipped up to cheers us on. Our next game is a friendly at home against Yarm Wolves on Thursday.

It’s finally here! Crusaders are getting their game faces on, ready for Saturday. The last time Crusaders had a hit out was way back in October last year when the U8’s and U10’s managed two festivals and the U12’s, U14’s and U16’s only managed the one, before the country was locked down. With a month of training undertaken all teams are now chomping at the bit. The weekend activity starts on Friday evening with hopefully 3 matches taking place at Robertson Rd for our Social Touch players. On Saturday morning there will be plenty of action, of the training variety, for our two Cubs groups and the U8’s who are still preparing for playing. The U10’s are off to their first festival of the season, which is being hosted by Wallsend Centurions. The U12‘s, U14’s and U16’s are all making the journey to Northumbria with games against Cramlington Rockets. Back in Catterick on Saturday afternoon, the Open Age team get back in action for the first time since 2019, against North East Rugby League newcomers, Friarage Falcons.

Today North East Rugby League hit social media by publishing the Men’s Fixtures for the season. Crusaders find themselves doubling up at home for the first two weeks with an opening round fixture against Friarage Falcons before taking on North East Rugby League heavy weights, Jarrow Vikings a week later. Outside of the regular fixtures Crusaders will also take on Yarm Wolves in a friendly which gives us 10 guaranteed games as we come out of the pandemic. Hopefully a decent cup run will give us a couple of extra games.

Crusaders Club shop has its first order via the website!! One of our lucky superstars is about to get one of the Crusaders back packs. We are hoping that in the coming week, we will have the 2021 club apparel for sale via the website. However, until then, back packs, hats, towels, wristbands and badges are all available to buy.

Friday night is Social Touch night at Crusaders and it continues to be a very popular event in our weekly calendar. This week we had 38 players spread out over the site playing in 3 games. Unfortunately due to restrictions we cannot play a Round Robin format, but that’s not stopped the fun! Each week we have a number of trophies up for grabs. Harry King bagged himself the Top Try Scorer for the evening. The Top Grafter Awards were lifted by Zoe Challoner (first session), Leigh Batey (first session), Paula Clark, Seth Clapham, Jo Relph and Amber-lei Duncan. The Most Valuable Player awards went to Alex Gee, Simon Glenn, Owen Allsopp, Dale Hammond, Josh Battishill and Mark Throw.