Amateur
The town is also home to a large number of amateur rugby league teams comprising Senior and Youth teams. Most notable of these are Blackbrook ARLFC, Bold Miners, Clock Face Miners, Haresfinch Hawks, Haydock Warriors, Pilkington Recs and Thatto Heath Crusaders. Most of these teams and others in the area compete in the BARLA North West Counties competition (Pilkingtons in the Premier League, Haydock and Blackbrook in Division 1, Thatto Heath and Clock Face in Division 2). Thatto Heath compete in the higher ranked National Conference League.
The continued success and achievement of these teams at the grass roots level is important to the town and have provided many players who have gone on to play for the 'Saints' and other professional and semi-professional clubs. Significantly in recent years Blackbrook Royals have contributed 26 Lancashire Cup winning sides across 8 age ranges from U12 to U18, with two in the Open Age category and 10 National Cups. Pilkington Recs with 17 wins (and 6 times runner up) and Thatto Heath with 10 have ensured St Helens teams have contested have been represented in a significant number of North West Counties competition finals since 1994.
Thatto Heath alone have helped to contribute over 40 professionals to the game including current St Helens players James Graham, Keiron Cunningham (who also played for Wigan St Judes), Paul Wellens and Andy Yates, and former players Lee Briers and Steve Prescott. While Blackbrook have current St Helens representation in the form of first team regulars James Roby, Scott Moore, Paul Clough, Gary Wheeler, Jamie Foster and Andrew Dixon, with Jacob Emmitt, Sean Magenniss, Lee Gaskell and Paul Johnson on the fringes. Pilkington Recs meanwhile have recently contributed Gareth Frodsham and Tom Armstrong.
The St Helens RLFC Under 18's and 16's and St Helens RLFC Academy teams serve as official feeders to Saints.
Read more about this topic: Moss Bank, Sport, Rugby League
Famous quotes containing the word amateur:
“I have been reporting club meetings for four years and I am tired of hearing reviews of the books I was brought up on. I am tired of amateur performances at occasions announced to be for purposes either of enjoyment or improvement. I am tired of suffering under the pretense of acquiring culture. I am tired of hearing the word “culture” used so wantonly. I am tired of essays that let no guilty author escape quotation.”
—Josephine Woodward, U.S. author. As quoted in Everyone Was Brave, ch. 3, by William L. O’Neill (1969)
“The true gardener then brushes over the ground with slow and gentle hand, to liberate a space for breath round some favourite; but he is not thinking about destruction except incidentally. It is only the amateur like myself who becomes obsessed and rejoices with a sadistic pleasure in weeds that are big and bad enough to pull, and at last, almost forgetting the flowers altogether, turns into a Reformer.”
—Freya Stark (1893–1993)