Tigers PDRL geared up for Bradford festival

Castleford's PDRL side are in action on Saturday in Bradford!

Castleford Tigers Foundation’s PDRL stars return to the field this weekend as they head to Odsal Stadium for the most recent Physical Disability Super League festival which will be hosted by Bradford Bulls.

The Fords are currently on a remarkable run of an incredible seven consecutive victories over the last three festivals, taking the scalps of strong sides such as Wigan, Wakefield and Warrington along the way.

Recently, Cas PDRL players Mark Gummerson, Connor Lynes, Nick Kennedy, Richard Fisher, Michael Parker, Ryan Lazenby and George Wilshaw had the honour of being involved in a standout game for the sport where the England Community Lions took on a PDRL Select side at Warrington’s Victoria Park.

This coming Saturday Cas’ PDRL side will come up against the hosts Bradford Bulls, local rivals Leeds Rhinos, and Wigan Warriors.

The action gets underway at 10am with the Tigers taking on the Warriors, and to preview what should be a fantastic day of PDRL, castlefordtigers.com spoke to former Cas man and now Bradford player, Mick Colborn.

Colborn spent three years at Wheldon Road before swapping the Tigers for his boyhood club Bulls this campaign, and he explained just how much he and his team are looking forward to playing at the iconic Odsal Stadium.

“We are all buzzing because it is the first ever festival at Odsal Stadium and the team is really geared up for it. I always like coming up against my old teammates from Cas and we play them again this weekend.

“Everyone is really looking forward to it, especially to be able to play at such an iconic ground. To be able to lead the Bulls out at that ground, it’s going to be an amazing moment.”

Mick played a vital role in establishing Bradford’s PDRL team in 2022 and Colborn was delighted to announce that participation numbers have grown significantly over the year.

“Helping the foundation at Bradford Bulls to form the first-ever PDRL team at the club is absolutely brilliant and it’s been an honour. When we first formed the team back in February, we started with just four players. However, through this season amazingly we have just gained and gained more people who want to get involved and I think we now have around 23 or 24 players signed up.”

Colborn began his PDRL journey with the Tigers after serving in the military for 24 years and was a standout player for the Fords, which was illustrated by his selection for Yorkshire in the 2020 PDRL Origin match.

The lure of being able to represent his hometown club was too strong for Mick to ignore, however, he stated that he will always be thankful for the Fords who introduced him to the sport.

“It was back in 2019 when I got in touch with one of the coaches at Cas. I went down to my first training session, and I loved it. They started my love for PDRL, and I’ve never looked back since. I owe everything to the Tigers for that.”

Physical disability rugby league is growing year on year with the number of players getting involved increasing each festival, with the Fords welcoming a number of new faces in 2022.

In closing, Mick outlined that the increase in numbers and the landmark World Cup this year are huge positives for the sport he loves moving forward.

“The festivals this year have been magic because the sport is getting bigger all the time. There are a couple of new teams coming into the league next season as well which is massive. With the World Cup coming up later in the year, it is going to showcase our sport even more which is good for everyone involved.”

Everyone at the club wishes our PDRL team the best of luck this weekend!

If you would like to get involved with Castleford Tigers PDRL team then please contact matlancaster@castigers.com.

Would you like to support and sponsor one of our PDRL players? Not only will you be actively supporting them, you would be supporting Castleford Tigers Foundation in its delivery of a whole host of programmes to help make peoples’ lives better.