Crofton Cougars ARLFC

Crofton Community Centre

Middle Lane

New Crofton

Wakefield

West Yorkshire

Telephone:

01924 866010

Crofton Cougars History

Founded 1996

Crofton Cougars Amateur Rugby League Football Club was formed in the village of Crofton near Wakefield in 1996 by Pete Storey and Andy Reed with a helping hand from Shoana Muir (Secretary), Graham Dodson, Lesley Reed and Sam Markey (Chairperson). The initial plan was to merge with Crofton ARLFC but this proved unacceptable and Crofton Cougars junior ARLFC came in to fruition as a separate concern.

1996 - 1997

The 96/97 season kicked off with an under 14 boys team being formed mainly with young lads that had not played the game before and they were entered in to the Yorkshire junior league. The team was captained by Mark Howes and coached by Graham Dodson, Pete Storey and Ian Lovelock. In this season a girls under 14 team was also started after much persistence from Petes daughter Gemma. The Cougars were astonished to find out there was not a great deal of infrastructure in place for a girls team in the Rugby League world at this time. After a great deal of inter club communication some games were finally arranged and the team could start. The team captain was Gemma Storey and the coaches were Sharon Storey, Les Garside and Lesley Reed.

1997 - 1998

At the start of the 97/98 season an under 12 boys team was started and introduced in to the Yorkshire junior league, they took part in the Wakefield cup final at Belle Vue but lost to a stronger Stanley Rangers team, the under twelves were captained by Chris Storey and coached by Pete Storey and Graham Milthorpe.

The (now) under 15 boys team continued in the Yorkshire junior league with the added help from Crofton ARLFC coach Trevor Bailey working along side Graham Dodson with Mark Howse remaining as captain.

The girls team remained in the under 14 category and were invited to play in a tournament at Bradford which they won. They were also invited to play in a tournament in Hull where they were a little less successful coming runners up after just losing out to Rochdale in the final. The girls were coached by Jayne Barber with assistance from Sharon Storey and the team captain was Gemma Storey