As we move toward the 2026 season Catterick Crusaders are looking for a series of ALL JUNIOR TEAMS sponsors for their on field and off field kits. The playing shirt sponsorship packages come in 3 different levels. Bronze Package - £300 Your logo on the sleeve of ALL junior team’s playing shirts. Recognition on social media and website pre and post match reports for ALL junior teams. Sponsorship of the Junior Most Improved Player, End of Season Award. Silver Package - £600 Your logo on the lower back of ALL junior teams playing shirts. Recognition on social media and website pre and post match reports for ALL junior teams. Sponsorship of the Junior Coaches’ Player of the Year, End of Season Award. Gold Package - £1200 Your logo as the main sponsor on the front of ALL junior team’s playing shirts. Recognition on social media and website pre and post match reports for ALL junior teams. Sponsorship of the Junior Players’ Player of the Year, End of Season Award. Your logo displayed on pitch side banners at home games. The off field apparel opportunities also come in 3 different packages and have the same benefits, albeit with different Junior End of Season Awards sponsorship. Bronze Package - £300 Your logo on the sleeve of ALL junior team’s playing shirts. Recognition on social media and website pre and post match reports for ALL junior teams. Sponsorship of the Top Volunteer End of Season Award. Silver Package - £600 Your logo on the lower back of ALL junior team’s playing shirts. Recognition on social media and website pre and post match reports for ALL junior teams. Sponsorship of the Junior Clubman of the Year, End of Season Award. Gold Package - £1200 Your logo as the main sponsor on the front of ALL junior team’s playing shirts. Recognition on social media and website pre and post match reports for ALL junior teams. Sponsorship of the Junior Player of Steel, End of Season Award. Your logo displayed on pitch side banners at home games. If you are interested in this unique sponsorship opportunity please do not hesitate to contact via the websites contact link or email us on info.crusadersrlfc@gmail.com Crusaders Juniors will have teams at U8’s, U10’s, U12’s, U14’s, U16’s. Providing recognition and links to sponsors within multiple teams, with multiple weekly reports over multiple forums.

Jason Grant MBE : Red Shorts “It’s no secret life has been pretty tough since early June. I have had to step away as club Chairman due to family reasons. I’m lucky to have a loving family and a supportive working environment. The other group that has my back, is my Masters mates. Providing support, but most of all distraction and a great deal of fun and laughter.” GAME DAYS: On the pitch, we have had our biggest season to date. With a total of 10 games. Our first outing happened as soon as contact games were sanctioned again, against our near neighbours North East Thunder Masters. A great turn out, but at a cost as we didn’t see posh Cumbrians, Longers and Foxy, again due to long term injury’s. Allegedly Longers now has a Harrods Gold Card after consuming his own body weight in Foie Gras and Truffles. Official launch weekend saw us combine with NE Thunder and travel to Kippax for their festival. April saw back to back games, firstly against Boothtown at home and the Barrow away. The Boothtown fixture was most memorable for the ear pearcing shrieks of pain from Jay as he was bundled into touch by 3 of Boothtowns biggest guys, sustaining an injury that he was lucky to come back from ……… ok, he actually had an ickle muscle tweak whilst running but we wanted to big him up! At the Barrow game, there was a rare weather phenomenon that dropped the air pressure at 10ft above the pitch! This meant that Jase’s usually dialled in kicks in general play sailed out on the full, not just once, but twice! May was relatively quiet with just a single outing at the Cumbria Festival, again in Barrow. For this one Goadie actual travelled home from a holiday in Spain a day early to play! June saw the return legs of the Boothtown and Barrow games. The Barrow game produced the End of Season Comedy Moment, when Don looked up and decided to pop the ball to Ben just in front of JT (playing for Barrow) who was sporting a menacing smile, before, during and after smashing Ben into the following week. The first outing of July saw us take part in the North East Festival at Yarm Wolves. Darren provided the comedy moment for this one, having been ill advised the legal tackle height had been changed to just below the eyebrows. Ouch. Double ouch, when it transpired his victim happened to be one of the best Masters Match Officials who just fancied a run out! The second outing was against our new friends Doncaster Toll Bar. We tend not to play in August, as that’s when most people take holidays so our next outing was supplying massive support (10) to NE Thunder for the National Festival at Blackpool. Our final outing of the season was the return leg of the Doncaster Toll Bar match. Paul Goad: Yellow shorter with Tags. “Discovering Masters in my 60’s has given me a new lease of life. In the short time I’ve been playing I have made countless friends from all over the country and know that in the coming seasons I will make many more.” RUGBY ON YOUR TERMS: The ethos of how we approach Masters has greatly improved this year. Some players choose to travel for the game only which is always appreciated. Some players have decided to make a full day of it. “The Breakfast Crew” set off early for away days and take in breakfast on route and are always the last to leave having had great hosting by our opposition. On a number of occasions players have stopped overnight, post match. Whatever players choose to do, on match day, we have shown we can and do, turn up with great numbers for each game. SOCIALS: Outside of the usual post match socials, we have had a number of other social events. The Breakfast Crew is most definitely a social event. On top of this some of us stayed over in Barrow after our game against Barrow Masters. WAGS were invited to Blackpool which made for a great weekend of laughter, with Ma Kelly’s Showboat on North Shore making a tidy profit that weekend. Again a small number of us headed of to the Grand Final and an overnighter in Manchester. Finally a number of us took in the Cumbria v Nigeria game. Paul Clarke: Yellow shorts no tags. “When I finished reffing that awful masters game between Crusaders and North East l was more than happy to quit Masters all together then some of you talked me in till still doing both I could have quite easily stopped there and then but l’m glad my Masters team mates talked me round. The rest of the season was great both playing and reffing.” GUESTING AND REPRESENTING: This year our players have taken lots of opportunities to guest for other teams, either at Festivals offering themselves up or by turning out for a specific club in one of their planned fixtures. We also achieved our first representative accolade, with Ian McKechnie taking the reins as Scotland Masters Head Coach. Ian McKechnie: Edinburgh Cannons, Veterans, Scotland Head Coach. Jason Grant MBE: North East Thunder, MND. Darren Cunnington: Edinburgh Cannons,Veterans, MND. Adam Thompson: Blackpool Scorpions, Beverly, Eastmoor Dragons and Hull. Gareth Smith: Blackpool Scorpions, Beverley, Eastmoor Dragons, Blackpool Stanley and Morley Knights. Don Payne: North East Thunder and Carlisle. Paul Goad: Morley Knights, Doncaster Toll Bar, North East Thunder, Carlisle, Brixton Bulls, Chester Gladiators, Barrow and West Warriors. Ben Smith: Blackpool Scorpions, Blackpool Stanley, Doncaster Toll Bar, Crosfields, Morley Knights, North East Thunder, MND , United Kingdom Armed Forces. Jay Wainwright: Doncaster Toll Bar. SUPPORT TO THE WIDER CLUB AND RL COMMUNITY: Two key elements to our Masters from its conception was firstly, it should have no financial impact on the club at all and secondly it should help suitable worthy causes where possible. In April Jase set up a Crusaders Inclusion Fund so anyone needing support, had direct access to funding. To raise money, Jase set up a Go Fund Me and set out to complete a cold water dip for every day in April. This challenge was heavily supported by the Masters team, with some of them even joining him at Couldron Force for a dip. A total of £557.12p was raised (£580 in actual sponsorship but GFM take a cut) which was handed over to the club. The Masters team also sponsored former junior Owen-Tyler Cole as he transitioned over to York Acorn U18’s. Scottish representatives Alasdair McKechnie and Oliver Redding also received small donations. The team also financed the post match(es) food for the Newcastle Thunder LDP v Scotland games. Finally, the team were quick off the mark to towards Doncaster Toll Bar’s support to Simon Robinshaw. Not including the Go Fund Me money, that was an impressive £700 worth of support! Something we are really proud of. Gareth Smith: Yellow shorts no tags. For me it was the random message from Jase, “Go on Gaz, Masters, you know you want to” Me, “nah, ankles broke blah, slipped disc blah!”Before l knew it l was sat in the car with Olivia, ready to set off for first session and still trying to talk myself out of it but away we went. The first person I saw was Don, “**** you doing here?” “Me dad (Jase) asked me,” was my response. The rest is history, I’ve met a great group of lads off back of it and the Breakfast Crew days out are stuff of legends! SPONSORSHIP: To maximise the use of subs and to not have a financial burden on the club. the team has had to source a number of sponsors. These sponsors have not only provided playing kit, but also polo shirts, off field and training gear and the end of season awards. A big thank you to Marstons, Burties Hair Design, e-Creative Designs, Top Third, Lighthouse Risk Management, The Hildyard Arms, iSecure Group, JDN First Aid, Inkorrections Laser Tattoo Removal, Ripon Garden Maintenance, Thirsty Work, 4aces Catering Solutions, Richie McGrath Pre Training and Breaking andAA First Water Coolers. Also a massive thank you to Emma the club Treasurer for managing our funds via the club account, which keeps us in line with the club constitution. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdonL4nh/ Darren Cunnington: Red Shorts “I have found confidence and found a family I lost the day I left the Forces, but I had found it again and I have been in a happy space .” 2025 season has been awesome. Registrations are up, players per game are up, yet again we didn’t drop a game. We’ve had so much fun along the way. 2026 looks to be even better, with interest from new players already coming in and a bigger fixture schedule already confirmed! If you fancy getting involved please get in touch!

On Saturday (15 November), Jase, Darren (both playing) and Ian (groupie) made the trip down to Farnley Falcons RLFC, to turn out for the MND Masters team. Well done Farnley for getting the game on in very wet conditions. The MND side was made up of players from far and wide, all of whom had the common goal to come together, enjoy a great game of Masters and raise money to help fight MND. The opposition was a side from Farnley Falcons Masters and a combined side from Leeds Underdogs Masters and Guisley Rangers Masters. The first game was a cracker between Leeds/Guisley and MND. Jase started at scrum half with Darren on the wing. The game was end to end despite the damp conditions and was a great start to the afternoon. Both sides Black and White shorters got ripped into each other, whilst the Reds and above ensured good movement of the ball and defensive stability when without it. The second game saw MND take a breather as Farnley and Leeds/Guiseley played a very physical game, with both sides being White, Black and Red short heavy. In the 3rd game (MND v Farnley), MND fielded a team heavily laden with Gold shorts and above which did a great job of cancelling out Farnley’s physicality from its Black and White shorters. However Farnley, with “youth” on their side were also on pace, defending against MND. A close game ensued. The final game of the day was a mix and match from all the sides pitching together to make two teams with plenty of subs. This was a very enjoyable game played in great spirit. Post game there was a raffle and auction, which, combined with the subs from the day, raised over £750. A big well done to Jason Myers for pulling a very enjoyable and worthwhile event together, raising money for a great cause.

On Sunday, Jase (not playing) and Goadie (playing), attended an event that encompassed everything that is fantastic about Masters Rugby League. Fun, games played in the true Spirit of Masters, new friends made, old friendships rekindled and on this occasion a lot of emotion. The event was hosted by our great friends, Doncaster Toll Bar Masters, in support of club stalwart and Masters Management Board Member, Simon Robinshaw, who is terminally ill. The afternoon consisted of the scheduled game between Doncaster Toll Bar Masters versus Southlands and an additional game between Doncaster Broncos and a Baa Baa’s team. Goadie turned out for the Doncaster Broncos which consisted of Toll Bar gents not involved in the scheduled game and a few selected guests. The Baa Baa’s also had some Toll Bar gents as well as Masters players from Edinburgh Cannons, Carlisle, Barrow, Hull, Hull Warriors and Bentley - apologies if l missed anyone, a brilliant commitment by those involved to show Masters respect to Simon. Fittingly, prior to the scheduled game, Simon was given a massive guard of honor. He also kicked the game off. Finally in a fantastic display of camaraderie Simon was given the final pass of the game, to get over the line to score a try that closed the game. Post Match there was time to socialise with new and old friends before a fundraising auction and raffle, which made over £3000 for Simon and his family, absolutely fantastic. The afternoon was a shining example of what Masters is about, things that Simon passionately advocates. It’s not just about the 60 minutes of game time. It’s about making connections, mental health, days out with your pals, away day stay overs - because you can, supporting your wider community club, socials and supporting individuals through good and bad times. A heart warming and humbling day.

Today (Saturday 08 March), a couple of our Masters players ventured down to Halifax RUFC to take part in the annual Veterans v Veterans Masters Rugby League match. Ian McKechnie (ex RTR and RDG) and Darren Cunnington (ex PWO) made the trip and enjoyed what is always a great game, which not only encompasses to the spirit of Masters but the camaraderie and passion of Forces personnel . This year saw relatively low numbers from Crusaders attending, however, it must be said we have been out about a lot this year. Not only playing our games but also guesting for other clubs, going as guests to be loaned out to whoever at festivals, socialising and also taking part in charity teams such United Kingdom Armed Forces and MND. Throughout the season Darren has been working his in field, positionally, and today enjoyed a great outing at Prop/2nd row. Whilst Ian waited on the wing to strike like a speeding Gazelle if the opportunity arose! 29 Veterans in total enjoyed a great game played in true Masters spirit before adjourning to the clubhouse for an impressive spread and the prizes and raffle. In total over £1000 was raised for Forces Charities. Guesting opportunities will continue until the enforced season break in the middle of November. Keep watching this space for news our participation.

On Saturday Crusaders Masters concluded their season with a home game against Doncaster Toll Bar Masters. Toll Bar travelled with great numbers for the return leg, Crusaders having travelled to them in late July. Crusaders suffered from some last minute availability changes but still fielded 13 players for the fixture. However tight numbers meant not everyone would be playing in their preferred position. Toll Bar, just like the first game, proved to be well organised in their go forward and utilised their Gold shorters really well, and proved very hard to handle. Crusaders kept plugging away and had some great organisation and skill in the form of Andy Gray and Ross Turner. It was great to see Gav Cole make a return and reverting back to his true coloured shorts (Black) having previously been playing in Gold due to injury. He certainly added some grunt to the go forward alongside JT and Den Nowell. The stand out moment had an extra comedy value to it, when deep in Crusaders half, Don Payne found himself with a loose ball, after a trademark jink of the hips he was in the clear and just as we all thought we’d never hear last of it in the bar, he slowed down - clearly deciding a) it was just too far to run or, b) he wouldn’t make it or c) BOTH! Luckily Den was on hand and received Dons pass and race down field for his first ever Masters try! This fact (his first try) is apparently correct, and we have accepted the verification through the 653 times Den mentioned it in the bar! As ever the game was played in great spirit. This has been our first season playing Toll Bar Masters. Both games were very enjoyable and we hope we can sort fixtures with them for next season. For more photos please take a look at our TikTok post. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdtLtBNe/ Crusaders Masters would like to thank our shirt sponsors Marstons, our polo sponsors Burties Hair Design, eCreative, Lighthouse Risk Management, iSecure Group and Top Third. We’d to thank our training apparel sponsors. The Hildyard Arms, 4 aces, Richie McGrath pre-training and breaking, JDN First Aid and AA First.

On Saturday Crusaders Masters will take on Doncaster Toll Bar in our final game of the season. The match see’s a few significant milestones for the team. Firstly, Jase hits 25 games in a Crusaders Masters shirt. Secondly both Goady and Darren will cement a 100% record of attendance this season and thus receive Masters of Steel Awards at the End of Season Awards in a few weeks. Putting on a Crusaders Masters shirt for the first time is former Open Age player Ross Turner. A number of guest players have made themselves available. Andy Shute and Andy Gray from the UK Armed Forces Masters set up, as well Barry Sharrock, Barry McDonald, Dennis Nowell and Craig Ellis from North East Thunder Masters. Coz we iz down wiv da kids, a link to the full team list can be found on our TikTok account, please give us a like and follow https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdsHBHfu/ Crusaders Masters would like to thank our shirt sponsors Marstons, our polo sponsors Burties Hair Design, eCreative, Lighthouse Risk Management, iSecure Group and Top Third. We’d to thank our training apparel sponsors. The Hildyard Arms, 4 aces, Richie McGrath pre-training and breaking, JDN First Aid and AA First. Kick off is 2pm on Saturday at Roberston Rd Sports Pitch.

This Saturday saw the annual National Masters Festival at its spiritual home of Blackpool’s Stanley Park. Crusaders Masters players turned out in great numbers to support our neighbours, North East Thunder. Butch on the break! Plenty of our numbers arrived on Friday evening and met up for a few relaxing quaffettes in Ma Kelly’s Showboat. Everyone had a good giggle and probably ended up a bit too relaxed! A full English and a brisk sea front stroll sorted us out the next morning though! The Festival saw us drawn against Warrington outfit Golborne Parkside and Bradford outfit West Bowling. In the first game, against Golborne, we got off to a great start. Having received the kick off the team clawed its way to the half way line where, on the 5th, Jase put a kick in to the corner. Our defense held tight and gave us a great starting point for our next set. The team tried its best to get a try in that next set but were held out. However, a fumble from Golborne deep in their own half saw Thunder capitalise, moving ball away from the ruck with great runs from Ben, Butch and Alex. Within a couple of plays there was enough room for twinkle toes Don too turn the hips of a couple of Black shorters and crash over, having collected them on route to the line. The game remained open and flowing for both sides and was played in fantastic spirit. Thunders defense held firm until around the 20 minute mark. When, after a fumble from Thunder, Golborne got over the whitewash after a brilliant passing move. After 25 mins of brilliant Masters Rugby League the Match Official blew the whistle and it really was honours even. Thunder had the privilege of a break before taking on West Bowling. Time for a bit rehydration to help us counteract the relaxation fluid from the night before. Again Thunder listened to those pulling strings and every player was keen to get their hands on the ball whether it was just a hit up or pulling off switches, miss moves or wedges. As with the first game, the game was pretty much even throughout and there was some great banter between the teams. Thunder kept ticking away and remaind calm and resolute in defence. The breakthrough came at around 15 mins when Big Foot intercepted a flowing passing moving from West Bowling near Thunders line. There was our no stopping our not so mythical humanoid creature who went the full length to score the only try of the game. The game continued in the same spirit as it started with both teams turning on the style with the ball but were being kept out by dogged defences. After 25 mins the Match Official called time and Thunder were very satisfied with their days performances. After the games, everyone retired to the marquee at the cricket club for food and the awards. It was fantastic that our Hungarian Sasquatch picked up the Masters Moment Award for his great try! Thank you North East Thunder for the invite to guest. Well done the 10 Crusaders who made the trip. Awesome. Next up is our final game of the year, at home, to our new, but great friends, Doncaster Toll Bar. 27 September at Robertson Rd, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdq7h6d9/

On Saturday, 10 of our refined gentlemen that make up some of the Masters team, will guest with our good friends from North East Thunder Masters. The event in question is the National Masters Festival which takes place in Blackpools Stanley Park. Crusaders Masters numbers this season have been better than ever in only our 3rd full season. Taking away 10 gents to guest is a great achievement especially when 9 of those are staying over, and bringing their better halves. At the time of writing our pre-advance party of Butch is already deployed. The advance party of Ben, Clarkie, Jay, Don, and Goadie have staggered deployments throughout Friday. Leaving Darren, Ian and Gaz as a small but high quality main body! Crusaders Masters are assigned to Pitch 4 and will have a game against Parkside Goldbourne at 1pm and then West Bowling at 2pm. It should be 2 great games. In Masters spirit the marquee at the, next door, cricket will be open from 3:30with the days awards given out at 5:15pm. The start point for an evenings shenanigans!! Please keep an eye on our Socials, for photos. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdqMXNGH/

On Saturday 16th August, a small contingent of Catterick Crusaders Masters (Darren & Ian) and North East Thunder Masters (Alex & Barry Mc), travelled north of the border to support Edinburgh Cannons Masters in their first ever game, marking a historic moment for Scottish Rugby League. The quartette arrived at Royal High School in Edinburgh and newly appointed Scotland Masters Head Coach, Ian, dropped into his natural coach role and ensured all were prepared, including 2 lads who had never played any rugby for what would be a tough game against Arlecdon Rams Masters. The game was a cracking advertisement for Masters and was played in great spirit. Arlecdon started the brighter as Cannons got to know each other. “Oooo look, a worm!” Defensively, Cannons worked really well for each other. Alex put in some hard tackles on the strong black and white shorters for Arlecdon, while Barry and his yellow shorts stopped a variety of attacks around the edges. As Cannons grew in confidence, we became more fluid in attack with some really good plays largely started by Ian who was pulling the strings well at 6 as well as some great pep talks at breaks. Although his kicking wasn't up to much, it must have been the heat. Last but not least was Darren’s contribution to the game both in attack and defence, he had a strong game that had him in contention for MoM. The final score was an honourable 0-0 draw as always in Masters. New players and seasoned vets with smiles on their faces. A great day out finished off by our chauffer for the day providing ice creams for the drive home.

Today it was time for Scotland Rugby League to unveil their new Masters Head Coach. Crusaders are extremely proud to see that it’s one of our very own, last years U16’s coach and regular Masters player, Ian McKechnie. Ian cut his Rugby League coaching teeth with our junior set up having coached various age groups. We are unsure whether he’s smiling or had wind! As well as coaching our junior’s Ian joined our Masters side for its first game in 2022, narrowly missing out on a Master of Steel Award in 2023 (awarded for playing every game in a season). Ian joins his son Alasdair in representing Scotland. Al’ recently turned out for the U18’s against the Newcastle Thunder LDP side, having come up from the Bravehearts U16’s who he represented the year before. Rumours were quickly quashed that Ian would be getting a round in to celebrate, reminding everyone that “l’m a true Scotsman!” We look forward to seeing him avoid the bar and complaining about not having Stovies for post match food, at our next home game! On a serious note, it’s great news Ian, well done mate, slainte!

On Sunday, Crusaders were widely represented at U16’s and U18’s, with players representing the very successful Thunder Lions - Lions Development Program. Game 1 was an U16’s game made up of players from Gateshead Storm, Wallsend Centurions and Yarm Wolves. Representing Crusaders was man in the middle, Darren Cunnington. On the playing front Crusaders were first represented in Game 2, which was a great tussle at U18’s. Crusaders juniors. Elijiah Delaidriti, Owen-Tyler Cole, Jack Buttitta, Jake Lerigo and Oliver Rhodes lined up for the Thunder Lions whilst Alisdair McKechnie and Seth Clapham lined up for Scotland. Again, Crusaders were represented in the middle by Masters player, Paul Clarke. Thunder Lions U18’s A fast paced, big impact game thrilled the large crowd, with some superb rugby league on display. Game 3 was a much later kick off and followed the League 1 match between Newcastle Thunder and Dewsbury Rams. The game saw U16’s players come together from Crusaders, Cramlington Rockets and Consett Eagles. The Thunder Lions took a while to settle but once they started to focus on getting the small things right, things really came together for them. Isaiah Delaidriti ran the game very well from scrum half and asked telling questions of the defence whenever he went to the line. Zach Stanley, gracefully made a start from the bench and went on as an outside back, however with only backs as replacements he found himself with a big change in position later on. Zach thrived on being plonked in the middles with some barn storming runs and excellent defence. Also standing out in the middles was Riley Manuel who played some of his best Rugby League of the season. With a lack of a recognised dummy half, Toby George Clarke often got himself at the breakdown and was a handful from the scoot. Both Mackenzie Clarke and Leighton Smith stamped reliability statements all over their game. Ensuring they did all the small parts of the game well to maximise possession and effectiveness in defence. At U16’s and U18’s the Crusaders showed great work rates, great sportsmanship and high levels of Coachability. Taking advice and time on the bench, so others got game time, with good grace. Well done the players and Match Officials representing the club. Finally, not to be outdone Crusaders Masters supported the game from afar by agreeing to sponsor the post match pizzas for all the teams.