Congratulations to everyone involved with getting the Calderdale college RL squad in such shape mentally & physically to achieve what they have done this season as a group & as individuals. The lads maintained their "unbeaten" record at Castleford's "mend-a-hose" stadium yesterday, defeating Hopwood hall from Rochdale 42-22 to complete their season in the champion of champions trophy competition. As i mentioned last week, some of the lads will go on & represent their country again this season and while crediting the lads i must also congratulate Lee Greenwood on his coaching & man management of some of these individuals, some of them taking some serious confidence bashing after being released from the Halifax pro club recently, their dreams of making it as RL players in tatters for a while after, but i know for fact he's boosted some of these lads, giving them self belief & building them back up again to be great achievers and to be the best at the level they're currently playing at. I'm very grateful to Lee for the way he picked my lad up and continued to develop his RL qualities when he could so easily have walked away from the game after his release. I think the work that he & others have done, and the foresight into creating the Siddal Academy which includes their newly formed U23's side along with a couple of younger age groups within the "youth" bracket justifies the arguement towards developing young lads beyond the cut-off point of the current academies within the pro game at U19 & U20's. It's exposing the fact that it's purely a financial decision, but where do these lads go now ?
RFL take note, there needs to be a reformation of the old reserve style back up to the huge squads that 15 or 16 professional RL clubs are currently operating with.
I myself tipped off our club about a specific Halifax-based SL registered academy player who wasn't getting any 1st grade experience despite being on a decent length contract prior to this season commencing. Unfortunately, and i'm not privvy to the reason's why, but it wasn't to be this time but he's currently playing below SL level & getting m.o.m. ratings, having spent a couple of years in the academy of his parent club & with seasoned professionals internationals in front of him in the pecking order, i'm chuffed that he finally got his opportunity & has grasped it with style.
Well done again to all the Calderdale college lads on their achievements this season & for the build up to this season over the previous few seasons, some of these lads might never play in the same team ever again but i'm sure going unbeaten & winning everything before them will have bonded them for years to come with their memories of their achievements.


Photo's in the usual place on the Halifax RLFC website
halifaxrlfc.smugmug.com/Fax-Phot ... &k=LhhssG7

Congratulations to everyone involved with getting the Calderdale college RL squad in such shape mentally & physically to achieve what they have done this season as a group & as individuals. The lads maintained their "unbeaten" record at Castleford's "mend-a-hose" stadium yesterday, defeating Hopwood hall from Rochdale 42-22 to complete their season in the champion of champions trophy competition. As i mentioned last week, some of the lads will go on & represent their country again this season and while crediting the lads i must also congratulate Lee Greenwood on his coaching & man management of some of these individuals, some of them taking some serious confidence bashing after being released from the Halifax pro club recently, their dreams of making it as RL players in tatters for a while after, but i know for fact he's boosted some of these lads, giving them self belief & building them back up again to be great achievers and to be the best at the level they're currently playing at. I'm very grateful to Lee for the way he picked my lad up and continued to develop his RL qualities when he could so easily have walked away from the game after his release. I think the work that he & others have done, and the foresight into creating the Siddal Academy which includes their newly formed U23's side along with a couple of younger age groups within the "youth" bracket justifies the arguement towards developing young lads beyond the cut-off point of the current academies within the pro game at U19 & U20's. It's exposing the fact that it's purely a financial decision, but where do these lads go now ?
RFL take note, there needs to be a reformation of the old reserve style back up to the huge squads that 15 or 16 professional RL clubs are currently operating with.
I myself tipped off our club about a specific Halifax-based SL registered academy player who wasn't getting any 1st grade experience despite being on a decent length contract prior to this season commencing. Unfortunately, and i'm not privvy to the reason's why, but it wasn't to be this time but he's currently playing below SL level & getting m.o.m. ratings, having spent a couple of years in the academy of his parent club & with seasoned professionals internationals in front of him in the pecking order, i'm chuffed that he finally got his opportunity & has grasped it with style.
Well done again to all the Calderdale college lads on their achievements this season & for the build up to this season over the previous few seasons, some of these lads might never play in the same team ever again but i'm sure going unbeaten & winning everything before them will have bonded them for years to come with their memories of their achievements.


Photo's in the usual place on the Halifax RLFC website
halifaxrlfc.smugmug.com/Fax-Phot ... &k=LhhssG7