Castleford Tigers Women

Castleford Tigers Women

Club information
Full name	Castleford Tigers Rugby League Football Club
Nickname(s)	"Tigresses"
Short name	Castleford Tigers
Colours	Black and Amber
Founded	2016;8 years ago (2016)
Website	castlefordtigers.com
Current details
Chairman	Ian Fulton
Coach	Rob Richardson [1]
Captain	Kaitlin Varley [2]
Competition	Women's Super League
2023 season	6th (Group 2)
Records
League Leaders' Shield	1 (2019)

The Castleford Tigers Women are a female rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. Nicknamed the Tigresses, the club formed in 2016 and in 2017 were one of the four teams that participated in the inaugural season of the Women's Super League, the top-level Women's rugby league club competition in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 ^[update] they compete in the Northern Women's Championship.

History

Formation

The Women's Team was formed in 2016 ^[3] following discussions between local teachers Jonny Payne and Danny Holmes, who had set up girls teams for local amateur club Cutsyke Raiders, ^[3] and Castleford Tigers Board Members Steve Gill and Richard Pell.

Debut season

In April 2017, Castleford made their debut in the Challenge Cup with a 48–6 first-round win over Wakefield Trinity, ^[4] but were knocked out by Bradford Bulls in the quarter-finals. ^[5] In the inaugural season of the Women's Super League Castleford Tigers competed as one of 4 teams in the competition alongside Thatto Heath Crusaders and Yorkshire rivals Bradford Bulls and Featherstone Rovers. ^[6] The Tigers finished bottom of the league winning only one of their six games, a 48–18 win in the opening round against Featherstone. ^{[7] [8]}

2018 season

With a larger number of teams joining the competition, 2018 saw Castleford compete as one of 7 teams in the Women's Super League, alongside Bradford, Featherstone, St Helens (who replaced Thatto Heath) and newcomers York City Knights, Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos. ^[6] Widnes Vikings had harboured hopes of joining the competition but pulled out before the season started. ^[9]

Castleford kicked off the season with a 62-0 win over York and went on to win 4 of their 7 games, along with 2 draws and 1 loss. ^[10] On 4 August, they played Leeds Rhinos in the final of the 2018 Women's Challenge Cup at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington. Castleford led 14-6 at half-time but eventually succumbed to 20-14 defeat, ^[11] finishing as runners-up.

2019 season

The Tigresses kicked off the 2019 season with a 78-0 win against York City Knights before going on to win their first seven Super League games remaining as the only unbeaten side in the competition to date. ^[12] In the 2019 Women's Challenge Cup, the side beat local rivals Featherstone Rovers, Bradford Bulls and also a 100-0 victory of local rivals Wakefield Trinity, a record in Women's rugby league, en route to a second successive Challenge Cup Final. The final was played at the University of Bolton Stadium on 27 July, as part of a triple-header of games with the men's Challenge Cup Semi-finals. ^[13] The Tigresses also broke the record attendance for a Women's game with a crowd of 1,492 at their quarter-final tie against Bradford ^[14]

2020 season

The Tigresses were ready to kick off the 2020 season with the intentions of putting the losses of the finals in 2019 behind them, but due to Covid 19 the season never got started as the year went on the announcement of Claire Garner retiring from the sport, The England international will be miss by al at the Tigers, Meg Birch also has stepped away from rugby after the birth of her second child.

2024 season

In 2024, Castleford were scheduled to take part in the Challenge Cup but they withdrew before the start of the competition. ^[15] Following the restructuring of the women's league pyramid it was announced that Castleford would be in the 2024 Northern Women's Championship. ^[16]

Stadium

The Jungle

Castleford Tigers Women currently play their home games at Wheldon Road, home of Castleford Tigers

Playing Squad 2023

2023 Castleford Tigers Women

First team squad								Coaching staff
1 Emmi McFarlane 2 Allana Waller 3 Kaitlin Varley (c) 4 Caitlin Johnson 5 Lauren Waller 6 Abby Cromack 7 Alisha Nix 8 Ruby Parker 9 Liv Riding 10 Steph Spence-Hirst 11 Emily White 12 Aimee-Leigh Wood 13 Maisie Lumb		14 Maddison Rainey 15 Bethannie Seisay-Reynolds 16 Laura Stanworth 17 Courtney Evans 18 Ellie Brown 19 Liv Atherton 20 Tahnee Holmes 21 Bryony Jackson 22 Millie Morgan 23 Martha Brown 24 Lisa Box 25 Em Johnstone 26 Georgia Smith		27 Honor Ratcliffe 28 Laura Carrington 29 Emily Carlisle 30 Sam Burnell 31 Gabbi Ellis 32 Abbie Fox 33 Grace Ashurst-Bagshaw				Head coach Rob Richardson Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice-captain(s) Updated: 14 April 2023 Source(s):

Seasons

Season	League									Play-offs	Challenge Cup
	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos
2017	Super League	6	1	0	5	106	296	2	4th	Did not qualify	QF
2018	Super League	12	6	2	4	318	228	14	4th	Lost in semi-final	RU
2019	Super League	14	13	0	1	625	160	26	1st	Lost in Grand Final	RU
2020	Super League	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Super League	6	4	0	2	166	96	8	5th	Lost in preliminary final	SF
2022	Super League (G2)	12	2	0	10	106	510	4	6th	Did not qualify	GS
2023	Super League (G2)	10	0	0	10	44	410	0	6th	Did not qualify	GS
2024	Northern Championship	16	2	1	13	83	737	4	9th	Did not qualify	— [lower-alpha 1]

Honours

Leagues

• Women's Super League

  League Leaders' Shield (1): 2019 ^[18]

Cups

• HerRL Trophy

  Winners (1): 2019 ^[19]

• Yorkshire County Cup

  Winners (1): 2017 ^[20]

Notes

1. Withdrew before the start of the group stage ^[17]

References

1. "Rob Richardson announced as new head coach of the Tigresses". Castleford Tigers. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
2. "Varley looks to build on last season as Tigresses captain". Castleford Tigers. 11 April 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
3. "Castleford Tigers launch Women's team". www.rugby-league.com. 1 September 2016.
4. "Women's Rugby League Round Up 30 April". 4 The Love of Sport. 30 April 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
5. "Club of the Week | Bradford Bulls Women". www.rugby-league.com. 19 June 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
6. "These Girl Can: The Wider Impacts of the Development and Growth of Women's & Girls' Rugby League (March 2021)" (PDF). Rugby Football League. p. 16. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
7. "Rugby-League.com". www.rugby-league.com.
8. "Women's Super League kicks off..." www.rugby-league.com. 24 July 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
9. "Widnes Vikings announce plans to create Women's Super League team". www.rugby-league.com. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
10. "Castleford Tigers RLFC".
11. "Women's Challenge Cup: Leeds Rhinos women beat Castleford Tigers 20-14 to lift trophy". 4 August 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
12. Smith, Peter. "Leeds Rhinos and Castleford Tigers' coaches heap praise on Women's Challenge Cup finalists". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
13. Falkingham, Katie. "Women's Challenge Cup final: Hollie Dodd to make Castleford Tigers debut aged 16". BBC Sport.
14. Harber, Tony. "Record crowd sees Castleford Tigers Women storm into Challenge Cup semi-finals". Pontefract and Castleford Express. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
15. "Women's Challenge Cup: Castleford Tigers withdraw as opening fixtures announced". BBC Sport. 24 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
16. "New era for Tier Two of Women's Rugby League". Rugby-League.com. 25 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
17. "Women's Challenge Cup: Castleford Tigers withdraw as opening fixtures announced". BBC Sport. 24 January 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
18. "Castleford lift League Leaders' Shield". Rugby Football League. 18 September 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
19. "Women's Rugby League Round-Up". Rugby Football League. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
20. "Castleford Tigers and Wigan St Pats claim regional titles". 4 The Love of Sport. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2024.

External links

• Official website