Castleford Tigers have already caught the eye with their kits this season after confirming a green and purple away shirt, but they’ve now released a classy kit to honour one of the club’s Super League legends.
That man in question is Adrian Vowles with the Australian being the first-ever Castleford Tiger to earn the Man of Steel award back in 1999.
Across two spells with Castleford, he played almost 150 games cementing his place as a club legend in the process and now the club recognise his brilliance with a new shirt.
The Tigers have released a third shirt in the style of their 1999 kit, the year Vowles claimed the Man of Steel, but using the Queensland maroon colour scheme in recognition of his State of Origin honours.
Castleford announced the shirt release via their website: “Castleford Tigers and official technical partner OXEN are proud to reveal our 2024 Tribute shirt, inspired by former Castleford Tigers player, Adrian Vowles.
“Making his Castleford debut on this day in 1997, 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of Vowles winning the Man of Steel award in 1999 – the first Castleford player to win the prestigious award.
“To honour this achievement and as a proud Queenslander who has represented his State, the shirt takes design inspiration from the Castleford Tigers shirt of 1999 fused with the exact maroon Pantone worn by Vowles in the 1994 origin series as an alternative to the shirt’s original colours.”
Castleford Tigers release an instant classic
Adrian Vowles won the Man of Steel Award in 1999 when playing for Castleford Tigers. – .COPYRIGHT>>SIMON WILKINSON.
The shirt is sure to be popular with Castleford Tigers fans and is already available on sale now via the club shop and website.
New signing Josh Simm is certainly a fan of it, the Tigers shared a video of him reacting to its unveiling.
“It’s nice, isn’t it? It’s proper classy, I like the colours. Nothing too out there. Nice and simple,” Simm noted in the video posted on X.
“It’s a really nice ship, especially with the Queensland maroon which is where I used to live.”
Another video on X saw Vowles recall his sole Queensland appearance and the feeling of getting that call-up.
The 52-year-old explained: “Ross has rang me back to say that I was in and it was just the most amazing feeling. To be a Queenslander and play State of Origin after all the times I’ve watched it was just awesome. Every part of it was amazing.
“I’m just happy I got the opportunity, even though it was only one, Arthur Beetson only played one Origin, but you always want one more and I think you’ve got, if you play two you want three, but I’m just glad that I was the 81st player to play for Queensland.”
The shirt will serve as the club’s alternate and can be seen in the images below.
A close-up of the badge and colourings on Castleford Tigers’ new alternate shirt.
The maroon colours are the exact pantone worn by Queensland in 1994 when Adrian Vowles made his sole State of Origin appearance.
