GOOLE VIKINGS and Featherstone Rovers will turn the clock back over 125 years to recreate rugby league history and celebrate the Vikings first fixture as a new-look professional team.
The Vikings will head to the Millennium Stadium to take on Championship side Featherstone Rovers in a pre-season friendly on Sunday 12th January (3pm).
It will be the visitors first unofficial outing as a professional club since being granted a place in the Rugby Football League pyramid, and the moment will be recognised by recreating a fixture first played when they were last admitted to the sport in the late 19th century.
In 1898, both Goole RUFC and Featherstone RUFC, as they were known at the time, joined the Northern Union to become rugby league teams, helping form part of the Yorkshire Second Competition alongside clubs like Hull Kingston Rovers and York.
Both teams folded in 1902, with Featherstone reforming later that year in their current guise of Featherstone Rovers, whilst Goole’s professional involvement in the sport lasted only months, with their final game coming against Salford at the old Willows Stadium, before becoming an amateur team.
However, the upcoming warm-up fixture in January will mark the rebirth of rugby league in Goole, as a new-look team prepares for a stern test against an experienced Championship squad one league above them.
Rovers’ most recent success came in 2021, when they lifted the 1895 Cup.
It will be the Vikings first unofficial outing prior to the main season getting underway in the Challenge Cup later that month, before the Betfred League One campaign starts in February.
The Millennium Stadium is a popular local venue, having not just hosted professional league matches, but often used for community match day events, including the BARLA Cup Finals.
Fans will be able to see the Vikings in action for the first time by securing a ticket for the match.
Prices are below:
Adults: £15
Conc: £10
Juniors: Free
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