Rugby Club Issue 59 | Page 68

Sheffield Tigers FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/RUGBYCLUBMAG We see greater use of the clubhouse for functions and community groups as vital to the future of the club, and are investigating options to fund and increase the available space by extending the clubhouse.” Notable Players “Our longest serving 1st XV player is Richard Joel. Joely has played 1st XV for Tigers since the late 1990s with a bit of a break for about three years and will have played 200 games for us by the end of the season. Other notable 1st XV players are Nick Pearson, a big carrying number 8 with 138 appearances, Alex Drage, a stroppy and cocky scrum half with 125 and Tom Outram, a languid goal kicking 10 with 124. 68 Issue 59 Our junior section produced our first ‘home grown’ international this year when giant second row Guy Borrowdale was capped by England U16s. Guy is now on the Leeds Academy books. We have had several friendly overseas internationals finding a temporary home at Tigers, notably Harry Toews of Canada, Ed Knaggs of US Eagles and a few years ago a certain Flip van der Merwe who was capped in the Autumn by South Africa and kindly donated one of his first international shirts to the club.” The Future “Pete Swatkins, our star 15, has trained with England 7s and Jamie Broadley, a 13 or wing, is surely destined for higher honours in the not too distant future. An up and coming back rower is Frank Wragg whose grandfather, George Oxley, has been involved with Tigers for over 60 years so we are delighted that this, and similar family associations, endure and help bring on the next generation of Tigers, while many of the current committee have played for and served the club in various roles for decades (and it shows in some cases!) Running an amateur club in National Two is hard work and it is only due to our wonderful sponsors and the dedication of the entire playing and coaching staff that we can pull it off. Our junior section runs three teams at present and we are actively seeking players, both junior and senior, to put out more sides across the whole club.”