Community Foundation in Blackpool

• Wigan Warriors Community Foundation are pleased to report increases in Rugby League delivery in Blackpool.
• The project has seen delivery to over 1400 participants.
• Find out more by emailing Tom Marsh – t.marsh@wiganwarriors.com.

Since September 2022, Wigan Warriors have been delivering Rugby League sessions across Blackpool, with over 1400 participants benefitting from the development plan.

Wigan Warriors Community Foundation are committed to spread the word on Rugby League and have been delivering in Blackpool and the Fylde since September 2022.

With over 40 participants recruited and 7 new volunteers, the Community Foundation have delivered into 5 local schools to Blackpool Stanley, Layton, St Kentigerns, Boundary, Christ the King and Devonshire as well as creating new links with schools around the town such as St Nicholas’ and Roseacre.

Alongside the school delivery, ‘Kicks’ sessions have taken place in partnership with Blackpool Football Club at Boundary Primary School.

Four festivals are already in place from February to March and a Year 6 festival recently took place with three schools in attendance, with over 30 participants from each of the schools. The festivals scheduled for March will involve four schools at Year 3 age and six schools at Year 4 age.

In addition, we have also run a Teacher CPD event with the RFL at Boundary Primary school, which included staff from four schools and Active Blackpool.

Finally, the parternship also sees us work closely with Blackpool Stanley RL, with their U9s team being able to participate in three fixtures since September, playing Widnes West Bank, Pilkington Recs and Ince Rose Bridge.

Blackpool Community Coach, Tom Marsh said: “It’s been a great 5 months working with Simon and everyone at Blackpool Stanley. The vision they have for the club is great for the local community. The teachers in the schools are great to work with and very supportive of the Development plan in place. Hopefully within the next 6-12 months we can expand the team working in Blackpool and develop Rugby league throughout the town.”

If you would like to get involved, please contact Tom Marsh on t.marsh@wiganwarriors.com.

St Kentigerns participated in the recent Y6 festival, with teacher S.Hogarth commenting: “The Y6 children had a fantastic afternoon at the Rugby Festival! Tom and the coaches showed great enthusiasm with the children and really kept them engaged throughout the whole afternoon.

“The children loved learning new skills and then applying them into the matches at the end. A few children were tentative to get stuck in at first but by the end they were all covered in mud, sliding over the try line and diving to grab tags. All the children came back to school buzzing and wanting to take part in more events. A fantastic afternoon enjoyed by all!

Mrs Evans and Mr Williams of Layton Primary School also said: “The pupils first learnt the rules and then engaged in a few friendly tackles. The finale was a series of short games, where everyone participated and got extremely muddy! The event culminated with an awards ceremony. The children even got to lift the Rugby League Challenge Cup that Wigan Warriors had won in 2022! All involved had a fantastic time and are looking forward to playing rugby again.”

James, Lexi and Isaac from Layton Primary School added: “Throughout the rugby tournament, we learned a lot of new skills to improve us as players.

“We enjoyed all the games, and we had a lot of fun our favourite game was the tag rugby as it was a great experience. We also really liked the sequences of the passing game as we learned the rules on how to pass the ball whilst running and jogging. At the end of the rugby tournament, we went against other schools such as Waterloo and St Kentigern’s. Whilst playing against these schools we learnt that rugby is a complicated and tiring sport! Overall, we had a lot of fun and rugby is a great sport as we learnt new things and skills.”