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On Saturday two members of the Crusaders Masters team will take part in a historic fixture for Scottish Rugby League, as Scotland Masters take on Wales Masters in Edinburgh. The first ever Scottish International Masters fixture to take place in Scotland. Ian McKechnie continues in his role as Scotland Masters Head Coach for the fixture having previously coached the side in the autumn against England Masters and Ireland Masters, in London. Making his debut for the Bravehearts is Andy Gray, who registered with Crusaders Masters this season having previously played as a guest from United Kingdom Armed Forces Masters. Everyone at Catterick Crusaders from the Cubs to the Masters wishes Ian and Andy all the best for the fixture in the Auld Reekie. Enjoy the experience and don’t forget to bring back some Haggis and White Pudding!

Catterick Crusaders took four determined under 16’s players to Chester‑le‑Street to link up with Yarm Wolves for a hard‑fought fixture played in truly miserable weather conditions. Despite the relentless rain, spirits were high and the lads were ready to dig in. Wolves opened the scoring with a strong early run to claim the first try of the match. With the game played nine‑a‑side due to Chester being short on numbers, conversions were left out to keep the flow of play moving. Handling was always going to be a challenge, and a few knock‑ons crept in thanks to the wet ball and some big defensive hits all round the field from both sides. Jackson put in an outstanding shift from start to finish — rock‑solid in defence and making powerful runs throughout the game. Wolves crossed again before Chester responded with a couple of well‑worked tries of their own. After a few changes at the break, the Crusaders/Wolves side found their rhythm. Some brilliant passing sequences opened up space, allowing Euan and Sam to break through and get themselves over the line. Chester weren’t done yet, adding more points to keep the pressure on, but that only fired the lads up even more. The highlight moment came when Mackenzie, supported brilliantly by his teammates, powered over for a try. In true enthusiastic style, he celebrated with a dramatic dive — and immediately winded himself, convinced he was on his last breath. A moment of comedy gold that had everyone laughing once he realised he was absolutely fine. In the end, the combined Crusaders/Wolves effort secured a fantastic 44–28 victory, built on teamwork, determination, and a refusal to let the weather dampen their spirit. A brilliant performance all round — well done, lads. If you would like to get involved please contact the club for more information.

In weather conditions more suited to the other code of rugby, the Catterick Crusaders Under 14s made their second outing of the season as they travelled to Cramlington Rockets for another tough test of their development. Joining forces with the hosts for the day, the combined side quickly adopted the name “Cramlington Crusaders” and headed into the festival full of energy and enthusiasm. Before the first game, the players gathered in a team huddle to discuss what they wanted to improve from the previous week. The answer from every player was immediate defence. Their opening fixture against Yarm 1 provided a strong challenge from the start. Yarm struck first after catching the Crusaders/Rockets side cold early on, but the response from the team was excellent. Following some strong carries through the middle, the ball was worked wide to Cramlington’s Charlie on the wing, who produced a superb run around the Yarm defence to score the team’s first try of the day. The difficult weather conditions continued to make handling tricky, and a spilled restart allowed Yarm to score again from close range before adding two further tries. Despite the scoreboard, the Crusaders/Rockets players never dropped their heads, finishing the game with a determined defensive set that denied Yarm another score and showed the attitude the coaches had asked for. The second game against Yarm 2 saw a few personnel changes, but the team continued to grow into the festival. Charlie again impressed with some powerful running to help the side double their try tally for the day. More importantly, the coaches could clearly see improvements in the team’s defensive shape and communication. There were plenty of strong defensive moments throughout the game, but what stood out most was the willingness of the players to listen, learn, and improve. For some of the lads, this was only their second or third game of rugby league, yet their effort and determination could not be questioned. The final fixture against Gateshead Storm proved to be the toughest challenge of the day. Storm were well drilled, physical, and organised, making life difficult for the Crusaders/Rockets combination. Even so, the players battled until the very end and could take plenty of positives from a performance that was a clear improvement on the previous week. The foundations are beginning to build for this young group, and with another week of training ahead, the squad will look to continue their progress when they travel to Yarm next weekend.

The coaches could not be prouder of the effort, attitude, and determination shown by the boys this weekend in some truly horrible weather conditions. Despite the rain and difficult pitch conditions, the team never let their heads drop and worked hard for every single minute of both games. The defence throughout the day was absolutely outstanding. The boys stayed organised, communicated brilliantly, and put in some huge tackles when it mattered most. Their teamwork and commitment made it incredibly difficult for the opposition to break through. The first game ended in a fantastic win, and not just by a small margin either. From the first whistle to the last, the boys controlled the match with confidence, discipline, and some excellent rugby on display. It was a complete team performance and a brilliant way to start the competition. The second game was a completely different challenge and turned into a real battle. The wet weather made handling and possession difficult for both sides, leading to mistakes from time to time, but what stood out most was the character shown by every single player. Even though we were up against a much bigger side, our boys never backed down once. Every player showed courage, resilience, and determination throughout the game. The defensive effort, willingness to keep getting back up, and heart shown in every tackle and contest was honestly inspiring to watch. The boys played with pride, passion, and a lion-sized heart from start to finish. To push such a strong opposition all the way and only lose by a single try speaks volumes about the spirit and togetherness within this team. And to be fair, the referee gave us that many calls we were starting to wonder if he’d accidentally turned up in our team colours instead of a referee shirt! 😂 A special mention also goes to Haydn and Ralph on making their rugby league debuts, a brilliant achievement and one they should both be extremely proud of. Well done boys, your coaches, parents, and supporters are all incredibly proud of you!

The Catterick Crusaders Under 10s kicked off their season in unforgettable style as they travelled north to take part in their first festival of the year, hosted by Gateshead Storm. With only five Crusaders available, the squad set off through what could only be described as a biblical downpour but true to form, they battled through the weather and arrived ready to play. Once they hit the pitch, there was no hesitation. The players jumped straight into their warm‑up, buzzing with excitement for the games ahead. With Gateshead Storm fielding four players, both clubs joined forces to create a combined team for the morning’s fixtures. Together, the Crusaders/Storm side took on two teams from Cramlington Rockets and one from Yarm Wolves, delivering three fantastic games that showcased just how far the players have come in training and highlighted a few areas to sharpen in the weeks ahead. Every young player wore their heart on their sleeve, showing grit, determination, and a refusal to give up despite the relentless weather. A huge thank you goes out to the parents and guardians who braved the weather to get the players there, and an even bigger thank you to the young Crusaders themselves, who gave everything right up to the final whistle.

The Catterick Crusaders U8s showed fantastic teamwork, determination, and spirit this weekend in some extremely difficult weather conditions. With heavy rain, strong winds, and a very wet ball, the conditions were tough from the very beginning. In the first game, the team came up against a strong Cramlington side who looked much bigger than some of our players, but that did not stop our young Crusaders one bit. Every player gave their all, worked hard for each other, and showed brilliant effort throughout. The squad was mainly made up of Catterick players, with three of our players kindly volunteering to help form a Barbarians side alongside players from Cramlington. It was fantastic to see all the children connect so well together, showing great sportsmanship, teamwork, and enjoyment despite the conditions. Unfortunately, the festival had to be cut short due to players struggling with the cold and wet weather. However, for many of the children, this was their very first festival, and the coaches could not be prouder of the enthusiasm, effort, and positive attitude they showed all day in such difficult conditions. A huge thank you also goes to all the parents for bringing the children along and supporting the team in what can only be described as monsoon conditions! Well done to all the players, you should all be very proud of yourselves!

On Saturday Crusaders made the journey West to the Border City of Carlisle, for the Cumbria Festival. Always a good event. Despite the heavy football traffic, everyone arrived in good order and quickly got ready for our first game against Arlecdon Rams Masters. Arlecdon are a really good and experienced Masters outfit, so this game would also be a test on how far we’ve come in learning Masters. The game was an absolute cracker, Arlecdon were very effective with their tight support before shipping the ball wide to some well placed big runners. For our part, Crusaders managed some great line breaks of their own and some smart wide plays. Butch, Ben and Alex proved a handful in the middle. Whilst our guests Gaitesy and Gary were the start point for a very effective left hand edge, which started our scoring with a try for Darren in the corner. In defence, Ali “Car Park” was everywhere and his cover tackling got us off the hook on a number of occasions. Our second game was against another Cumbrian outfit, Barrow Masters. This game was going to be a lot different to the first, with the Barrowvians sporting no Black or White shorters, a few Red shorters, lots of Gold shorters some with the dreaded tags, some without. They also had the legend that is Vic in his Blue shorts. Barrow were superbly steered around by their Red shorters and were very effective on the wide shot. Crusaders worked hard for their yardage, keeping the ball alive and away from the sea of Gold where possible, to create some well worked tries. Unfortunately the game was cut slightly short when Jay decided to headbutt a Gold shorter, who was moving at pace, in the chest. Ouch! Luckily, after a brief stay in Carlisle’s finest NHS facility he is now back home, ringing in Catterick Best Kebabs largest ever order, having spent 24+ hours on Nil By Mouth! As always Carlisle Masters put on a great event and it was nice to have a couple of beers with the other teams and enjoy a great spread that was laid on. Jase, Alex, Darren, Don and Gaz decided to stay overnight, post festival. After a couple of beers in the hotel, they wandered into town and it was great to meet up with the Masters players from Arlecdon, Barrow and Carlisle. They were definitely jealous of the shapes the Crusaders lads were cutting on the dancefloor in Deja Vu …. honest! Our next Masters game is on the 23 May, at home, against Doncaster Toll Bar. Crusaders Masters would also like to thank the new club shirt sponsors; Fusion Joinery, Specsavers and Hearing Centre Harrogate, eCreative Designs and Emmels Tree and Garden Services. If you would like to get involved with Crusaders Masters, just drop us a line for more information.

Tomorrow (Saturday 25 April) Crusaders Masters have their second outing in as many weeks. This time it is an away day over to Carlisle to take part in the Cumbria Festival. Registration takes place at 12 midday with games commencing at 1pm. Crusaders will be in action on Pitch 2. At 1pm we are pitted against Arlecdon Rams and then Barrow around an hour later. Crusaders are travelling relatively light, compared to other outings this season with Don, Jase, Butch, Jay, Darren, Gaz, Ben and Ali making the trip. However in the true spirit of Masters we are back up by Alex and Barry from North East Thunder, Ken from UKAF and Gary from Leeds - thanks Gents. The Cumbria Festival is always a great, well run event, the team are looking forward to it. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRbSGP6R/ Crusaders would also like to thank the new club shirt sponsors; Fusion Joinery, Specsavers and Hearing Centre Harrogate, eCreative Designs and Emmels Tree and Garden Services.

On Saturday, Crusaders Masters had their first home outing of the season against our very good friends Boothtown Terriers Masters. Crusaders had good numbers for the game, and were backed up by Jim, Big Foot, Graeme, Den and Tex from neighbours (if 25+miles can be classed as a neighbour) North East Thunder Masters. Having their first Crusaders run out for the season were Butch and Baz and it was great to have their impact on the park. Dean also made debut for the Crusaders, welcome on board. Great numbers! The game itself was of course played in great spirit and extremely well controlled by the Match Official, Clarkie. Boothtown troubled Crusaders in the usual areas by utilising their Gold Short Tag players to great affect in their go forward and scored some great tries off the back of them. Crusaders game is constantly improving and the work around support and establishing some partnerships is beginning to pay dividends. Deep into the second 20 minute period the Crusaders made a “Car Park” call. Jase got himself lined up ready and executed perfectly a new style of kick known as a Drobber. It is a cross between a Drop Kick and a Grubber and relies on the kicker toe punting rather than hitting it with his laces. Despite the perfect execution we were not able to execute “Car Park” itself. In another kicking episode, Butch lined himself up to hoof the ball forward on a 5th and last. Now there’s bad luck, and then there’s Butch bad luck. Just as he cleanly struck the ball and beautifully followed through with a raised boot, sending the ball skyward at optimum velocity. A freak gust of wind that had gain speed as it travelled down Swaledale hit the Garrison!!! The tragically well timed natural weather phenomenon sent his potentially superb kick, hurtling backwards. Disaster. Crusaders would like to thank The Hildyard Arms for hosting our after match. In the build up to the game Crusaders Masters had organised a Rugby card and a raffle. As with previous seasons the Masters team will take great pride in giving back and supporting the local community, charities and the wider club. Unfortunately a few weeks prior to the game the Boothtown club were struck by tragedy. The moneys raised by the card and the raffle (£300) have gone to funds being raised by Boothtown club to help support those families affected. Crusaders would also like to thank the new club shirt sponsors; Fusion Joinery, Specsavers and Hearing Centre Harrogate, eCreative Designs and Emmels Tree and Garden Services. Crusaders Masters now have a quick turn around, and will take to field again this coming weekend in the Cumbria festival over in Carlisle.

Today we captured something seriously special, our youngest and oldest Crusaders standing side by side, proudly showing off our brand‑new kit. Moments like this show exactly who we are: one team, one family, growing together from our tiniest Cubs all the way through to our Masters. We’re incredibly proud to offer rugby league across these age groups: 🔹 Cubs (2–4 yrs) 🔹 Cubs (4–6 yrs) 🔹 Under 8s 🔹 Under 10s 🔹 Under 12s 🔹 Under 14s 🔹 Under 16s 🔹 Masters A massive shout‑out to the sponsors who helped bring this fresh new kit to life: 🌳 Emmels Tree and Garden Services 🎨 eCreative Designs UK 👂 Specsavers Hearing Centre Harrogate 🪵 Fusion Joinery We can’t wait to share more photos of all our teams looking sharp, confident, and ready for the season ahead. The future is bright for the Crusaders. #OneTeam #NewKit #LetsGoCrusaders

Catterick Crusaders Masters are looking for sponsorship for their home games this season. Catterick Crusaders Masters embodies that true masters spirit, and this season, they’re opening the door for supporters and local businesses to become part of their journey in a meaningful way. The Crusaders Masters side continues to build momentum, attracting players, supporters, and families who share a love for rugby league. As the club grows, so does its impact—bringing people together, encouraging active lifestyles, and strengthening community ties across Catterick and beyond. Sponsorship That Makes a Real Difference This year, the Crusaders are offering two accessible sponsorship opportunities designed to give individuals and businesses a chance to get involved: 🏅 Man of the Match Sponsorship – £60 per game A brilliant option for those who want to be front and centre on match day. Sponsors receive: • Recognition during the game • The honour of presenting the Man of the Match award • A social media shout‑out • Fantastic local exposure 🏉 Match Ball Sponsorship – £60 per game Perfect for supporters who want to contribute directly to the match experience. Sponsors enjoy: • Acknowledgement before kick‑off • A dedicated social media mention • The satisfaction of supporting grassroots rugby 🔥 Special Offer: Any 3 Games for £150 Mix and match Man of the Match and Match Ball sponsorships to suit your goals. It’s a great way to maximise visibility while supporting the club across multiple fixtures. Why Your Support Matters Grassroots clubs thrive on community backing. Every sponsorship helps the Crusaders: • Develop players of all ages and abilities • Strengthen their presence in the local area • Continue offering a welcoming, inclusive environment • Build a sustainable future for rugby league in the region Whether you’re a business looking to boost your profile or an individual wanting to show your support, your involvement genuinely makes a difference. If you’ve ever wanted to support a local team in a way that’s visible, meaningful, and appreciated, now’s the time. The Crusaders Masters are ready to welcome new sponsors into the fold. To sponsor the Masters team or learn more, simply reach out at: Info.crusadersrlfc@gmail.com

The U12s kicked off their session with a lively warm-up focused on movement and agility. Using an L-shaped running pattern, the players worked on accelerating, decelerating, and changing direction sharply, an important foundation for match situations where quick reactions are key. The main focus of the session was catching skills, starting with the high ball. To help develop proper technique, players tucked cones under their armpits to encourage keeping their elbows in and forming a strong “triangle” shape with their arms. This helped reinforce safe and effective catching. Once the basics were in place, the cones were removed and the players put their skills into practice, this time under some… let’s say interesting kicking from the coaches! Next up was dealing with grubber kicks. The players concentrated on watching the bounce of the ball closely and getting their body into the correct position to gather it cleanly. There was great effort shown here, with players becoming more confident reading those tricky bounces. For the final catching drill, the team split into groups of four. The focus was on early catching technique, arms out in front, keeping the ball off from the body followed by a quick pop pass left and right. Once the coaches were happy with the execution, it was time to turn up the competition. Each group raced to complete 20 passes without dropping the ball. There were some questionable counting methods from the players this time, but plenty of enthusiasm and teamwork on display! To finish the session, the team played a fun and fast-paced game of 2-ball touch. With uneven numbers, Coach Daryl stepped in to even things up… but unfortunately had to step back out after picking up a cut on his eyebrow. He’s already come up with a much more heroic story to explain his new scar to his friends, because it definitely wasn’t caused by an U12! A great session all around, full of energy, learning, and plenty of laughs. Well done U12's