Newcastle Thunder

Yes there was a drop in 2020 due to the season not being played but it wasn’t a big drop Here are the registration numbers, this doesn’t include woman and girls numbers 2019 - 1124 2020 - 997 2021 - 1351 Now considering it’s only May and we will be registering new players all the way through to October that 1351 will continue to rise. There are goals to create more new clubs but our main focus is now to build up our current clubs and make them as strong as possible. from an academy pathway point of view this growth is really having a benefit beca

Good news story inbound North East Rugby League Registration Update Participation numbers up 35% on 2020 and up 20% on 2019 The % is based on a clubs current number of registered players compared to the number registered in 2020. 1 - Wallsend Centurions - 294% 2 - Whitley Bay Barbarians - 192% 3 - Catterick Crusaders - 178% 4 - Jarrow Vikings - 175% 5 - Durham Tigers - 129% 6 - Wallsend Eagles - 124% 7 - Hartlepool Hurricanes - 115% 8 - Gateshead Storm - 107% 9 - Cramling

Away fans welcome

That couldn’t be further away from the truth. We actually even run a dual pathway so instead of forcing a kid to choose one code or the other at 16 we allow them to do both! after this point the nature takes its course and the player will naturally gravitate to the sport he enjoys more or is doing better at. we have a pretty good track record of the most talented kids in the area choosing to continue on with rugby league as their focus sport hence why we also currently have 4 on the England academy programme which is of a higher return then half of the super league academy

Yep! Remember we have a foundation which goes out and finds funding and sells school packages which pays for the community development officers you don’t need a wealthy club owner to grow the community game

That’s because it’s not the rival code our foundations goals are to grow rugby of both codes, there’s no rivalry up here, both working together to help each other grow. All being well we hope to launch 3 new community clubs in the next 3 years to take our total of community clubs up to 18 and bring another 200 new players into the game with more then 1,500 registered players we are seeing huge interest and demand for new clubs and players wanting to join for this summers community game and as we invest and grow the game we will keep expanding our community department

The development of rugby league in the region will expand significantly in 2021 as the award winning Newcastle Rugby Foundation announce exciting expansion plans to the Newcastle Thunder community department. With the sport in the north east seeing a 40% growth in participation over the past five years, the addition of three new members of staff will see the foundation’s programmes result in more players than ever before participate in the game. Over 1300 players are currently registered at the 15 community rugby league clubs in the region, with growth of school teams, community club’

Yeah we have a very close relationship with Scotland RL, we have hosted U16 development days for the scotland academy side in the past and will continue to work closely with Scotland RL We can’t wait to host them this year

Thanks for all the kind words of support from people Next season we will look to do the championship justice and continue to grow the sport across the region whilst developing our young academy players We look forward to giving a warm geordie welcome to all of fans of the champ clubs, as well as bringing more of our Thunder Army to your grounds

Thunder 2019 Attendances Doncaster - 1,817 West Wales - 679 Oldham - 889 Keighley - 1,423 Hunslet - 624 Whitehaven - 1,079 Workington - 1,077 London - 1,098 Coventry - 711 North Wales Crusaders - 883 average- 1028

Newcastle Thunder can confirm an application to join the Betfred Championship for the 2021 season has been submitted #ThunderFamily #RugbyLeague

Yeah so we operate competitions within our region, but we are slightly different to anywhere else, we took the decision to move away from overly competitive structured leagues for below U16 in favour for a more development ethos approach. having flexibility for match length and squad sizes meaning no kid should ever find themselves not selected We also encourage every kid to play at least half a game, all of the local clubs and coaches buying into this ethos We still run a cup competition. shedualed into the playing structure is a monthly development day which no fixture

No the new club in Hartlepool would an additional new club the demand is huge so that area can service two strong community clubs

Newcastle Thunder will play an integral part in the continued growth of rugby league at community level as 2021 and the Rugby League World Cup approaches. With the tournament kicking off at St James’ Park on 23 October, three further matches at their Kingston Park Stadium home and a game at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium next year promises to be the biggest ever at all levels for the sport in the north east. Working in partnership with the club’s official charity and community delivery arm – the Newcastle Rugby Foundation – Thunder will play a prominent role in the new North East

We don’t think so, we have the north east covered fine with development plans in place. York are doing a great job developing that area but nothing wrong with working together to share ideas and best practices It’s great to see the game expanding