Big shout out to Bassetlaw Bulldogs

[RP London]

Last Sunday I was down at Bassetlaw with the Sheffield Tigers U15s for the Bassetlaw festival organised by the ever energetic @Northern Eel it was a great day  with loads of kids playing RL from Under 7s (I think) up to the Under 15s. 

At Under 15s we had full teams from:

Sheffield Tigers, 

Sherwood

Thorne 

combined Nottingham and Immingham side

on the other pitch was a 10 a-side (IIRC) tournament with:

Bassetlaw

NEW Ravens 

Telford 

I may be missing someone here or have got a bit muddled on who was in what age group but loads of teams from the Midlands and with good numbers. All played in a great atmosphere and with great spirit.. really refreshing to see so many loving their day in the sun. 

Also its a brilliant set up, the club house is fantastic and the pitches are in great condition!

Well done to everyone at Bassetlaw for putting it on, thoroughly enjoyed it as did our players for their first run out of the season!

[Damien]

That's great to hear, Well done to @Northern Eel and everyone else concerned 

[Northern Eel]

That's good of you to mention the festival @RP London So many people contributed to a great day. 

Your summary of attendees is just about spot on (208 in all, and the Thorne team were in fact the reformed Moorends club!). There there was a crowd of getting on for 500 present too, which was phenomenal. With coaches from the clubs reffing most of the games, they did a grand job! 

In addition to those teams mentioned, Sheffield Forgers and Shrewsbury Lions also competed at the U11 and U12 age groups respectively.

These festivals take some organising, but they are certainly worth it when they are played in the positive spirit that they were. The Midlands Festivals continue over the summer months, with events at Shrewsbury, Sherwood and Birmingham/Solihull  (NEW Ravens) to come.

 

[cookey]

Congratulations to all involved.

 

[JM2010]

South Yorkshire and the East Midlands could work together to build a strong community game. Do the Sheffield clubs regularly play against Midlands clubs or do they play most their games in West Yorkshire?

[Northern Eel]

2 hours ago, JM2010 said:

South Yorkshire and the East Midlands could work together to build a strong community game. Do the Sheffield clubs regularly play against Midlands clubs or do they play most their games in West Yorkshire?

Sheffield Tigers, Sheffield Forgers and Moorends Marauders are all member clubs of the Midlands Development League structure.  

[JM2010]

6 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

Sheffield Tigers, Sheffield Forgers and Moorends Marauders are all member clubs of the Midlands Development League structure.  

Thanks for that. How many junior clubs are there in the Midlands?

[RP London]

2 hours ago, JM2010 said:

South Yorkshire and the East Midlands could work together to build a strong community game. Do the Sheffield clubs regularly play against Midlands clubs or do they play most their games in West Yorkshire?

we will be playing at the Sherwood festival in a few weeks along with stand alone games against Sherwood already booked in. 

We also play Bentley in a few weeks away and again at home as its good to test against other teams also.. 

we're in our second year but building those contacts, we now have an U15/16 training group and U13/14 training group (last year it was just the older group) that split into age group teams dependent on who we are playing etc but with players playing up if we feel they are capable etc. 

We are not officially in a league due to time constraints and it being a side to the union club but one we want to build (need to keep them on side though).

 

[Northern Eel]

On 25/05/2023 at 11:37, JM2010 said:

Thanks for that. How many junior clubs are there in the Midlands?

Off the top of my head, the following have been represented at league meetings so far this year:

South Yorks; Sheffield Forgers, Sheffield Tigers, Moorends Marauders

Lincs: Immingham Wasps, Isle of Axholm

East Midlands: Bassetlaw Bulldogs, Sherwood Wolfhunt, Nottingham Outlaws, Bolsover Bulls

West Mids; NEW Ravens, Coventry Alphas/Trinity Knights/Erdington Griffins, Telford Raiders, Shrewsbury Lions, Leamington Royals

Oxford Cavaliers, Birmingham Bulldogs and Oxford Levellers may also plan to attend some future festivals.

[JM2010]

2 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

Off the top of my head, the following have been represented at league meetings so far this year:

South Yorks; Sheffield Forgers, Sheffield Tigers, Moorends Marauders

Lincs: Immingham Wasps, Isle of Axholm

East Midlands: Bassetlaw Bulldogs, Sherwood Wolfhunt, Nottingham Outlaws, Bolsover Bulls

West Mids; NEW Ravens, Coventry Alphas/Trinity Knights/Erdington Griffins, Telford Raiders, Shrewsbury Lions, Leamington Royals

Oxford Cavaliers, Birmingham Bulldogs and Oxford Levellers may also plan to attend some future festivals.

Good to see good numbers of junior clubs. Is there any RL activity in Derby and Leicester?

[Northern Eel]

14 minutes ago, JM2010 said:

Good to see good numbers of junior clubs. Is there any RL activity in Derby and Leicester?

Not aware at junior level.