Club History

Cottingham Tigers R L F C are members of the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA), the Rugby Football League (RFL) and the Kingston upon Hull Amateur Rugby League.

Cottingham Tigers R L F C was formed fifteen years ago as a means for the youngsters of Cottingham and the surrounding area to enjoy the game of rugby league.

The club has made remarkable progress since those early days and can now justifiably boast to be amongst the most progressive and well-organised clubs in amateur rugby league.

The club is entirely self-funded relying like many other amateur sports clubs on subscriptions, fund raising and sponsorship.

Six years ago the club finally found a home of its own, sharing the facility at the New Hilltop development on the site of the former De La Pole hospital with Westella and Willerby A.F.C and Cottingham Cricket Club as part of the Cottingham Young Peoples Sports Foundation.

The club are proud to boast that they were the first club in this area to receive the Sport England Clubmark accreditation. This is the award given by the national Governing body and to achieve it we have to demonstrate a good level of proficiency throughout the club in all areas of club management.

The club now boasts organised rugby league throughout the year at every age group.

Summer rugby is played by age groups under 8, 9, 10 and 11 and age groups under 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and open age play in the traditional winter months. From Summer 2012 the age groups under 12, 13, 14, and 15 will move to summer rugby. It is anticipated that the remaining age ranges will all move to summer rugby from 2013.

Approximately 200 children and young people enjoy the benefits of organised coaching and training at the club at least twice a week.

In Summer 2006 the club made the bold step to expand into summer rugby league under the guise of Cottingham Phoenix and were successful in winning the Northern Conference Premier League only to lose narrowly (in extra time) in the play off final.

Every coach at the club is a qualified rugby league coach to a level appropriate to that particular age group and they are all encouraged to progress beyond that level.

Each coach is accredited with attending the Child Protection Course organised by the Kingston upon Hull Amateur Rugby League and the club regularly runs refresher courses to allow members to remain up to date with current legislation and best practice.

The club has a Club Welfare Officer in place.

The club have a series of qualified first aiders attached to each team for the safety and welfare of all players.

We have a qualified sports physiotherapist available who provides advice re treatment of sports injuries and general conditioning and preventative advice.

The club have appointed a coach development officer. His role is to ensure that all coaches remain qualified and are equipped to provide the best possible advice to players and officials. This is achieved by regular coaches meetings involving representatives of the local rugby league service area.

We enjoy good links with the local schools with our coaching staff attending in the local schools to provide help and expertise. A schools development officer is appointed at the club. Indeed local schools have made use of our facility to fulfil fixtures against out of town opposition.

The club enjoys a healthy relationship with the Kingston upon Hull Amateur Rugby League with the facilities being used for the service area camps where prominent young layers from the area are identified for representative games and intensive training. In addition the end of season youth finals are held at Hill Top each year and this has now become a highlight of the local rugby league calendar.

Because of achieving Clubmark status, we applied for a grant in 2002 under the Sport England Community Club Development Fund to enable pitch refurbishments and the construction of permanent changing rooms to replace the existing and somewhat dilapidated temporary facilities.

We were successful in achieving this award but it quickly became apparent that the award would not cover the cost of the project so further funding was sought (in conjunction with Westella and Willerby Football Club) from the Football Foundation and also further funds were sought under the Government Landfill Tax credit scheme.

This was a long and very involved process with all three applications coming together in 2006, and the new facilities opening in 2008, with the total cost of the project coming in at just under £1 Million.

The club is fully aware of its responsibilities and is continually striving to improve the quality of service it provides to all its members and the community in general.