As I am to be involved (again) with a junior team/club in the middle of Tiger & wildcat territory I am a bit confused as to weather or not the club have any involvement with community/ amateur clubs in the district ? I remember a few years back we had come coaches and players come to train our under 11s & 13s but during the last few years nothing has happened like this. Shame really cos it was a nice way of marketing the club and getting people involved. I have spoken to a friend at one of the Castleford community rugby clubs with a big junior set up ,he tells me they have opted to Join Featherstone rovers community partnership which includes all the kids getting coaching sessions and tickets to some games !! I'm not sure if he's pulling my leg but surely Cas cant afford to neglect the community clubs and junior players like this ?

I'd definitely say it's worth an email to the club with regard to this. I think the club are heavily involved with the community,and assuming you're in the middle of WF, then there'll be plenty of pro rugby players accessible to your club anyway

As someone now involved with one of the local amateur clubs in the WF area, I find it amazing that we can get players down to do presentations etc, but can't get SL club coaches to come and give a couple of sessions per year to a host of willing kids. We have some real talent in our age groups, with a number already on scholarships, but the pro game really seems to have no interest in where it's next generation comes from.

The club is Upton btw, and only Danny Kirmond and Michael Shenton have been anywhere near...

Normanton had Jamie Peacock turn up for one session last year I believe with the under 15s - it made it onto the Super League show.

I don't think the Tigers Trust could arrange this, obviously community work of this nature would be between the players and the club directly, considering it's their employment...

You might be better advised to just look for SL players who live near/watch your club and see if they can spare an hour every other week or once a month - just avoid the clubs altogether

It seems bizarre that the club doesn't do something like this. Getting one or two players down once a year to talk to the kids, give them a lesson and hand out free tickets to the next game doesn't sound like it'd be a huge cost to the club. The benefits of doing it seem obvious to me - a solid relationship between young kids (who will bring their paying parent along to the game, obviously) and the club. Has immediate and long term positive financial benefits.

I have had confirmation that Cas Tigers do not run any schemes , coaching or projects in Junior/community clubs. Apparently they have no staff assigned to this area. All tigers Trust/together staff are busy on other projects and no plans are in place for local club projects ! I am absolutely flabbergasted by this, no wonder gates are in decline !

that is a surprise considering the Tiger's licence was based largely upon "strong community links"

....it's a real shame that they aren't engaging with the grass roots of the game

A coach from our 12s has also been in touch with club recently. he asked who was in charge of community club partnerships, nobody knew ! They don't have anyone assigned to this area !

The Community Manager is Alex Green. I would suggest you contact Alex.

The Head of Youth is Pete Riding.
Head of Talent Identification is Steve Copley.

That's where it get confusing but I have had this explained to me by our coach coordinator !, Alex green is community manager BUT this is run by the Tigers Trust. Tigers Trust does nothing in community or junior clubs. Therefore Cas tigers have nothing going on in clubs !

Not sure the other 2 would have anything to with that area ?

The Tigers Trust is a charity separate entity to the club and is operated by Ian Garforth. This is the information you need: www.castigers.com/page.php?id=792

The Tigers Trust is a charity separate entity to the club and is operated by Ian Garforth. This is the information you need: www.castigers.com/page.php?id=792

Hi Fully , that was the information that we acted upon when we 1st enquired about some input at our club. We have since found the following- Ian Garforth does not work for the club , he is a trustee of tigers trust. The tiger Trust is responsible for All community projects & doesn't operate in community clubs !
None of the "partnership" clubs have had any coaching or input for a number of years (barring the odd player at awards nights). None of the projects such as the earn your stripes (mentioned on the link you gave) are being delivered , indeed they do not even exist anymore !
In short ,the trust is now the community arm of the club - they do not run any programmes in community clubs and the partnership clubs have not been "serviced" for a long time (2/3years). If you find this hard to believe (which we did) please speak to the club. If people voice their opinion as we have they may do something about it.

I will look into this for you and will pass on your comments to the higher ups.

Failing that, email Steve Gill and pass on your concerns - if you want his address, please let me know.