Three thousand people and 106 junior rugby league teams gathered at Leeds Corinthian’s Nutty Slack ground in Middleton over the weekend (3 & 4 August 2024) to take part a festival of rugby
This weekend’s event was the third annual festival put together by the Hunslet Rugby Foundation working in partnership with the Kicking for Grassroots. With a year-on-year increase in teams wanting to get involved the festival had to split over two days this year. Community clubs came from across the north of England, from Hull in the east to St Helen’s in the west.
Michael Nuttall, Hunslet Rugby Foundation’s Manager said:
“The festival was a huge success and something we as a team are extremely proud to have put together. However, this could not have been made possible without the support from our sponsors and the incredible help from our fantastic volunteer team, a huge mention though to our own team who have put so much time and effort into the organisation of this festival. The festival is a true testament to the ever-growing success of our Foundation and we can’t wait welcome all of the teams back next year with some exciting things to come.
“Huge thank you to the Leeds Corinthians for hosting, South Leeds Welcome Centre for providing yet again a wonderful service with the barbeque and a huge thank you to all of the teams that come along to make this weekend possible. Until next time!”
Luke Thompson from the Lambwath Lions, one of three clubs from Hull who attended, commented:
“We came last year and got the chance to play against teams we don’t normally play against, so we’ve come again this year with our under 7s, under 8s and under 9s. We’ve all had a great time and we’ll be coming again next year.”
Cllr Emma Pogson-Golden (SDP, Middleton Park) was there with her son who plays for Hunslet ARLFC, she said:
“It’s just been a really good event. We were here last year, everybody enjoys themselves, it’s fun and it brings the community together.”
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