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Castleford Tigers Women
Club information
Full nameCastleford Tigers Rugby League Football Club
Nickname(s)"Tigresses"
Short nameCastleford Tigers
Colours Black and Amber
Founded2016; 8 years ago (2016)
Websitecastlefordtigers.com
Current details
ChairmanIan Fulton
CoachRob Richardson[1]
CaptainKaitlin Varley[2]
CompetitionWomen's Super League
2023 season6th (Group 2)
Records
League Leaders' Shield1 (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 they compete in the Northern Women's Championship.

History

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Formation

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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The Jungle

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

Playing Squad 2023

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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): [1][2]


Seasons

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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 —[a]

Honours

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Leagues

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Cups

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Notes

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

References

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  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. ^ a b "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. ^ a b "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.
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