Moldgreen Amateur Rugby League Club were once the toast of Huddersfield at first team level. They disbanded their open age side in 2018 but now they are back and hoping to re-create former glories.
Club chairman Antony Collins is determined to put the club back at the top table of amateur rugby league and hopes to replicate the recent success of Newsome Panthers.
Collins has been chairman of the club for 10 years, and whilst they have a strong junior section, the open age is now having to be built from scratch.
The club has recruited more than 40 players so far for the open age team and they are hoping to go from zero open age teams for the last five years to now having two.
The first open age team will play in the Yorkshire Men’s Rugby League Division 2, the league that the Newsome Panthers have just won and been promoted out of.
Collins said: “We haven’t had an open age team for a few years now and the club wanted to start one up again. We were very successful years ago and played in the National Conference League and that is the level we’d like to get back to.
“We have seen our juniors grow and get to the open age setting and have no team to play for so they have had to go off to play for other teams.
“The open age squad was disbanded due to various reasons but we’ve had a good track record of getting people into the pro-game and my own son George now plays for Dewsbury Rams in League One.
“George will come and help us out alongside the main first team coach Jay Senior. I will also be involved in helping to lead the first team with two other coaches too. It’s an exciting coaching team we are putting together.”
On following what Newsome has achieved, Collins added: “I really like what Newsome have done and we want to be where they are and I believe we can make it there. We would love to get to the NCL but we’ll have to see how we compete at this level first.
“We aren’t going to copy Newsome, we will do it in our own style, but they have created a good blueprint to work from. They are a very community focused club and that’s what we want to be. It’s not about one individual, it’s about the collective.
“We want to interact with local businesses, whether that’s going into a cafe or a pub for a team meal. We have been looking for local businesses to sponsor us and have had a good reaction so far with the Terry’s Fish and Chips providing two meals for the Man of the Match each game and also Dalton Diner will give us one free breakfast every week to give out. So we want to be closer to our Moldgreen community.”
Finally, the club wants to pass on their condolences to the family and friends of Wayne Pegg who recently passed away. Wayne was a former player and coach at the club.
