Thatto Heath Crusaders

Thatto Heath Crusaders
Club information
Full name	Thatto Heath Crusaders ARLFC
Colours	Black, red and white
Founded	1981; 43 years ago
Website	www.thattoheathcrusaders.org
Current details
Ground(s)	Hattons Solicitors Crusaders Park,; Close Street,; Thatto Heath,; St Helens,; Merseyside, WA9 5JA;
Coach	Mike Woods
Captain	Jamie Tracey; David Pike; Adam Saunders
Competition	National Conference League

Thatto Heath Crusaders is an amateur rugby league club situated in Thatto Heath, St Helens, Merseyside. The club currently competes in the National Conference League Premier Division

History

Thatto Heath RLFC began life in 1981, originally formed by ex-St Helens R.F.C. player Frankie Barrow. The team began competing in the North West Counties 4th Division, and the ‘A’ Team entered Division 5.

The team progressed through the divisions rapidly and finished the 1986−87 season by lifting the North West Counties Premier Division Championship Trophy, the St Helens Cup and they took out the BARLA National Cup Final with a 15–8 victory over the National Conference League Champions Heworth. Captain John McCabe entered the record books as the only player to appear on the winning side in five National Cup Finals.

Over the next 20 years, Thatto Heath enjoyed enormous success, including the National Cup Trophy, a record five County Cups, two Champions Challenge successes, a record seven North West Counties Premier Division titles, two North West Counties Challenge Cups, three North West Counties Premier Challenge Cups and eight St Helens Cups. It was during this period the club recorded their most famous win, against Chorley Chieftains 27−12 in the Silk Cut Challenge Cup third round in January 1996.

Over the years, the club has produced numerous players who have moved on to join the professional ranks including Andy Brown, Gary Forber, Scott Ranson, Stuart Wakefield, Barry Ashall (Swinton), Darren Harris, Paul Bishop, Darren Abram, Gary Sanderson (Warrington), Derrick Seabrook, Steve Dudley (St Helens), Neil Slater (Trafford Borough), Chris Honey (Barrow), Arthur Bradshaw (Salford) and in more recent times Ray Waring, Ste Gee, Mark Gleave and Lydon Smith (Chorley Chieftains). Alex Murphy was also a graduate from the club.

During 1999, the club found themselves without a ground so a merger was proposed with another local rugby league club, St Helens Crusaders. With the approval of the SIDAC social club, the club then became Thatto Heath Crusaders – St. Helens.

The club was eventually elected to the National Conference League in 2000–01. Thatto Heath took out the National Conference Division 2 Championship title that same year.

In 2007, Thatto Heath went up rapidly through the leagues to the championship.

Thatto Heath won the Division One title in 2010 and promotion to the Premiership and in 2011 Thatto Heath went on to win the Conference League Premiership title defeating Siddal in the final. Captained by Mark Beech, Crusaders then went on to become European champions the same year.

In 2015, Thatto Heath were relegated from the Premier Division after finishing 11 from 12 teams, ending their five-year stay in the top flight. Thatto Heath appeared in the playoffs in each of the seasons in the Premier Division (except for 2015), including finishing top of the table in 2011 and 2013.

2024 NCL Squad

2024 Thatto Heath Crusaders NCL Squad
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First team squad								Coaching staff
1 Daniel McGahan – FB, WG 2 Jake Dickinson – WG, CE 3 Adam Saunders (vc) – CE, WG 4 David Pike (vc) – CE 5 Ellis Keppel – WG 6 Sean Kenny – HK 7 Ryan Houghton – SH, FB 8 Max Dudley – PR 9 Lewis Foster – HK 10 Adam Hesketh – PR, LK 11 Connor Dwyer – SR 12 Jamie Tracey (c) – SR, PR 13 Andrew Lea – LK, PR		14 Connor Dutton – HK 15 Jamie Holroyd – PR, SR 16 Lewis Stewart – PR 17 Loui Pauls – PR 18 Sam Haynes – CE, SR 19 Gabe Parker – HK 20 Tommy Smith – PR 21 Paul Hunt – LK, SR 22 Jonny Rae – PR, SR 23 Ben Stelmaszek – PR, LK 24 Jordan Cella – PR 25 Alex Davies – HK 26 Oliver McMahon – LK, SR		27 Daniel Mark – SR 28 Jacob Brown – WG 29 Kameron McCabe – WG, CE 30 Connor Foster – SH, LK				Head coach Mike Woods Assistant coaches Paul Hatton Martin Horton Lee Gannon Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice-captain(s) Updated: 1 Jan 2024 Source(s): N/A

2024 transfers

Gains

Player	Club	Date
Andrew Lea	Rochdale Hornets	January 2024
Ellis Keppel	Pilkington Recs	January 2024
Sam Haynes	Swinton Lions	February 2024

Losses

Player	Club	Date
Nathan Taylor	Crosfields ARLFC	January 2024
Adam Carr	North Wales Crusaders	January 2024
Greg Wilde	Culcheth Eagles ARLFC	January 2024
Jamie Morris	Garswood Stags ARLFC	January 2024

Juniors

Thatto Heath run a junior team in the Gillette National Youth League.

Honours

National Conference League Premier Division
- Winners (3): 2010–11, 2017, 2021
National Conference League Division One
- Winners (3): 2002–03, 2009–10, 2016
National Conference League Division Two
- Winners (1): 2000–01
BARLA National Cup
- Winners (3): 1986–87, 2000–01, 2018–19 (A Team)
BARLA Lancashire Cup
- Winners (5): 1988–89, 1989–90, 1992–93, 1996–97, 1999–2000

Women's team

In 2013, the Thatto Heath Crusaders women's side competed in the Women's Rugby League Conference where they finished top of the Premier League^[1] and defeated Bradford Thunderbirds 32–6 to win the Grand Final.^[2] Following becoming league champions in 2014, 2015 and 2016 the team became founding members of the RFL Women's Super League in 2017. The club also won the Women's Challenge Cup four years in a row from 2013 to 2016. Ahead of the 2018 season, the side were bought out by St Helens R.F.C.^[3]

While this means that they no longer play in the top tier of Women's competition, as of the 2021 season they continue to field teams in lower leagues (e.g. National Conference League) under the Thatto Heath Crusaders name.

Honours

RFL Women's Rugby League:
- Grand Final (4): 2013,^[4] 2014,^[5] 2015,^[6] 2016^[7]
- League Leaders (1): 2013,^[8] 2016
Women's Challenge Cup (4): 2013,^[9] 2014, 2015, 2016

References

^ "Premier League Table". Women's Rugby league. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.
^ "News". Women's Rugby League. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.
^ "St Helens join forces with Thatto Heath Crusaders to enter Women's Super League".
^ "News". Women's Rugby League. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.
^ "Thatto are just champion". Rugby-League.com. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
^ "Thatto Heath – Grand Final Champions!". 4 The Love Of Sport. 5 October 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
^ "Leigh Miners and Thatto Heath take the honours at Grand Finals Day". 4 The Love Of Sport. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
^ "Premier League Table". Women's Rugby league. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.
^ "Civic salute for for[sic] triumphant women's rugby league squad". St Helens Star. 28 August 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2023.

External links

[1] "Premier League Table". Women's Rugby league. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.

[2] "News". Women's Rugby League. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.

[3] "St Helens join forces with Thatto Heath Crusaders to enter Women's Super League".

[4] "News". Women's Rugby League. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.

[5] "Thatto are just champion". Rugby-League.com. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2023.

[6] "Thatto Heath – Grand Final Champions!". 4 The Love Of Sport. 5 October 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2023.

[7] "Leigh Miners and Thatto Heath take the honours at Grand Finals Day". 4 The Love Of Sport. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2023.

[8] "Premier League Table". Women's Rugby league. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.

[9] "Civic salute for for[sic] triumphant women's rugby league squad". St Helens Star. 28 August 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2023.

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