Castleford support Help for Heroes charity

Castleford Tigers are supporting the tremendous work undertaken by the ‘Help the Heroes’ charity, with the club donating £4 from the sale of every adult away shirt to this most worthy cause.

The tragedy of British soldier’s deaths whilst serving abroad and the impact upon their families was brought home to the club when two local boys lost their lives last year in Afghanistan. Both were followers of the Tigers and in both cases the route of the cortège took in the Jungle. And the area lost another young man in the conflict just last week.

The poignancy of these moments created a feeling within the club that we should try to do something to help, and this was reinforced when the Army Veterans played a ‘Legends XIII’ at the Jungle to raise funds for ‘Help the Heroes’.

Having considered how we might best achieve this, a decision was taken to donate £4 from the sale of each adult 2010 away shirt and at the same time we determined that the colour of the shirt would be predominantly red, reflecting the ‘Help the Heroes’ logo. We hope that the colour and design, whilst something new, proves popular with fans who support their rugby heroes each week. With their help we would like to raise as much money as possible for the real heroes.

Pictured with Joe Westerman are relatives of the two local soldiers (James Backhouse and Craig Hopson) who died in Afghanistan last year.

L-R: Andrew Backhouse (James Backhouse’s father), Sharon Backhouse (James Backhouse’s mother), Joe Westerman, Lynn Hodson (Craig Hopson’s mother), Eleanor Fradgley (Craig Hopson’s girlfriend)