To go alongside the region’s successful National Club of the Year runners-up Cramlington Rockets, Northumberland will soon have another rugby league club to support.
The Alnwick Bears will start an under-8s team in 2018 after 150 children from seven schools participated in the town’s first rugby league competition earlier on this year.
As the game continues to grow at a fast pace in the area, the Bears will provide local youngsters a chance to play the sport and develop their own skills.
Steve Beaty, founder of the Bears club and Rockets Community Manager, told the rugby-league.com: “It’s a natural step to continue to grow our game,”
“We have loads of kids playing Rugby League every week in school, and when we hold camps in the school holidays, they are always really popular.”
Jeff Ball, the chairman of the Rockets, said that the Bears deserve their own identity although his club will be there to lend a hand.
“It’s an exciting project to be a part of and we already have a number of people keen to be involved, either as coaches, volunteers or sponsors,” he added.
“We have learnt a lot in these past few years and our aim is to give the Bears a solid footing that allows it to grow and evolve into its own club.
“We do not want to make it ‘Rockets mark 2.’
“Alnwick is 30 miles from Cramlington and has its own character and that is what we want that to come out – we are already looking forward to some Northumberland derbies in years to come!”
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