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Castleford Tigers announce son of Tigers legend and ex-Featherstone Rovers player in coaching role

Castleford Tigers have announced a new Reserves and Academy Coach.

Tigers fans will know the name Spurr from a former hooker, Bob, who had played over 300 games for the club before he hung up his boots.

And, now it’s the turn of Chris – Bob’s son – to help take the young Tigers to the next level.

It means he takes charge of both the Tigers’ Reserves and Academy teams who have trained all pre-season together. Head of Youth Development Rob Nickolay will be working closely with Chris in this role, as will Tony Smith who becomes the Club’s new Pathway Manager.

A former player at Featherstone, York, Rochdale, Dewsbury, and Doncaster, Chris moved into coaching shortly after finishing playing with the Dons as an assistant coach, then joined York’s staff under James Ford for four years, before joining Castleford as a Scholarship coach in 2021.

Alongside his club coaching, Spurr over the past 14 years has worked for The RFL too in various roles but predominantly in coaching with the community game.

Speaking about his new position with the Tigers, a delighted Chris Spurr said: “First of all, I’m really excited by the position, it’s the first year of Reserves coming back, they were due to come back two years ago but that got postponed due to Covid. The Reserves is going to be a bunch of our young boys in the Academy, some purely Reserves players, and then your First Team players who need game time.

“It will be a real challenge to manage that, but I’m really excited by it and bringing some of the Academy lads through and get them ready to play First Team, but also managing the Reserves and looking after some of the boys from the First Team and make sure they get the game time they need so that when they’re called upon, they are ready to play.

“Being a Head Coach at this level is the next step for me, it’s down to me to drive it, when you’re an assistant you have ideas and you share them but ultimately the Head Coach makes the decisions and drives a lot of it. Within this role, working closely with Rob (Nickolay), it will be my stamp on what we do in training and how we develop the players.”

Long-time supporters of Castleford rugby league will no doubt recognise the Spurr surname, with Chris’ father Robert ‘Bob’ Spurr being a legend of the club featuring well over 300 times in the Cas colours.

“Obviously Cas is a club that is close to my heart and has been involved in my life for a long time really. My dad played over 300 games here and probably another 150 in what was the so-called A-Team, which fits in with the Reserves coming back. My dad was Cas born and bred, grew up supporting the club, played for the club and I’ve always had an affinity to the club and it’s great to be a part of it. I’m really passionate about doing my best, to give the lads the best opportunities to progress.”

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