Castleford Tigers

The Castleford Tigers are a West Yorkshire rugby team who play in yellow and black strips. The club is also known as known as ‘Cas’, ‘Cas Tigers’ and ‘The Glassblowers’, due to the fact that many of their early supporters worked as glassblowers, and they have a name for a lively and enthusiastic following. Recent years have seen the Tigers struggling to remain in the international Super League, and the on-pitch battles to secure their position have given fans some of the most exciting matches in recent memory.

The Early Days

Castleford rugby team had inauspicious beginnings as keen amateurs within local Yorkshire leagues, taking part in recorded competitions from 1896 onwards. The ‘club’ went professional in 1926 and moved to a home ground in Wheldon Road in 1927. Unusually for a Super League rugby league team, Castleford still play in this old-fashioned stadium, now known as The Jungle, which is famous for its atmosphere.

The club soon started making a mark on northern rugby, winning their first major trophy when they topped the Yorkshire League in 1932, followed by the Challenge Cup in 1935. In 1938, they made it to the Championship finals, but failed to take the cup. World War II meant the league was suspended soon after, and Cas officially abstained from league competition until the 1944-5 season.

Middle Years

During the 1950s and early 1960s, Castleford failed to achieve anything remarkable. Their next major success would not come for some time, and Castleford picked up where they left off when they were again beaten in the Championship finals in 1969, this time conceding defeat to arch-rivals Leeds.

However, this loss seemed to spur the team on, and 1969 and 1970 saw Castleford win the Challenge Cup for two consecutive years.

From the introduction of two divisions in 1973 until the Super League era, Castleford have constantly remained in the top division of the British rugby league.

During the 1970s Castleford edged up the league, and in 1984 they made it to the Premiership final, where they were beaten by Hull Kingston Rovers. However, they finished consistently high over the next few years, and finished in the top four clubs in the Championship for four years during 1990-1995.

This solid play was to come to fruition most spectacularly in 1994, when Castleford were dominating the league. As well as defeating Wigan to take the Regal Trophy, they were semi-finalists in the Challenge Cup and were also narrowly defeated in the Premiership final – and that season their coach, John Joyner, was named Coach of the Year by the Rugby League

Super League

Castleford added the 'Tigers' to their name in 1992. When a national Super League was suggested, Castleford resisted a merger with Wakefield Trinity and Featherstone Rovers, and went the unmerged team was a founder member of the Super League in 1996.

However, the team performed weakly at the start. With the resignation of coach Joyner, the team avoided relegation by a whisker in 1997, finishing 10th of 12 teams.

However, the next season, they managed to frustrate the bleak predictions of pundits to move up the league, finishing sixth at the end of the season, after putting in some good performances and pleasing their fans with a sprinkling of victories.

In 1999 they continued on this upward trajectory, finishing fifth, as well as making the semi finals of both the Challenge Cup and the Grand Final play-offs.

In 2000, the rise seemed to stall, as they repeated their fifth-place ranking and made the play-offs for a consecutive season.

They made the semi final of the Challenge Cup once again in 2002, but could not stave off relegation much longer and were sent down into Division One in 2004

However, they finished top of the league in 2005 and were back in the Super League, as well as competing in the Northern Rail Cup final, where they lost to Hull Kingston Rovers.

In 2006 they yo-yoed back into the relegation zone, and lost to Wakefield in an historic match at Wakefield’s Belle Vue stadium, dubbed ‘The Battle of Belle Vue’. It was a fight to stay in the league, and when Castleford lost it they were relegated, despite a high points total and the fact that they did not even finish bottom of the league! This was because a new French side, Catalan Dragons, had been given immunity from relegation while they found their feet.

Plans for the Future

Plans are underway near Castleford for the construction of a £75 million complex of which a 13,000-capacity stadium for the Tigers’ would be the centerpiece. Perhaps aptly for many of the Tigers’ supporters, the complex is a development planned for the old Glasshoughton Colliery.

A triumphant performance in Division One in 2007 saw the Tigers trounce Widnes in the league final. The Tigers have finally earn their promotion, and they look forward to competing in the Super League again in 2008.

Club Honours

• Challenge Cup winners: 1934-35, 1968-69, 1969-70, 1985-86

• Yorkshire Cup winners: 1977-78, 1981-82, 1986-87, 1990-91, 1991-92

• Yorkshire League winners: 1932-33, 1938-39, 1964-65

• Regal Trophy winners: 1976-77, 1993-94

• BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners: 1965-66, 1966-67, 1967-68, 1976/77

• National League One winners: 2005, 2007

• National League One League Leaders: 2007

Club Statistics

• Most tries in a season: 40 by St John Ellis 1993-1994

• Most goals in a season: 158 by Sammy Lloyd 1976-1977

• Most points in a season: 334 by Bob Beardmore, 1983-1984

• Most career tries: 206 by Alan Hardisty 1958-1971

• Most career goals: 875 by Albert Lunn 1951-1963

• Biggest win: 106-0 vs Rochdale Hornets, 09 September 2007

• Heaviest defeat: 6-64 vs Warrington, 21 April 2006

• Highest attendance: 25,449 vs Hunslet 9 March 1935

Ticket Information

Online box office, including price information and admissions policy: www.castigers.com

Telephone box office: 01977 555 703

Club ticket office: The Jungle, Wheldon Road, Castleford WF10 2SD
(Opening hours: Monday-Friday 9-5)

Contact Information

Address: The Jungle,
Wheldon Road,
Castleford,
West Yorkshire
WF10 2SD

• Website: see here
• Email: info@castigers.com

• Telephone: - Main Office/ Marketing - 01977 552 674
• Telephone: - Tigers' Den - 01977 555 336
• Fax: - 01977 518 007

Travel Information

The Jungle is less than a mile from Castleford railway station, off the M62. Detailed travel information is given on the Tigers’ website travel information page.