Wigan to link-up with Welsh side
WIGAN have announced a partnership with West Wales Raiders – the League 1 side on the wrong end of the world record 144-0 defeat to York City Knights last month.
The agreement will see the Warriors run a series of talent development camps, coach education and school work in the area.
Wales was represented in Super League for a short period by the now defunct Celtic Crusaders, but rugby league has largely struggled to match the popularity of union in the country.
However, Wigan boast Wales international forward Ben Flower as one of their key forwards and have established links in south Wales in recent years.
“Over the last few years we’ve seen an emergence of Welsh Schools having success in the national school competitions, but they don’t have the same opportunities that the heartlands teams have,” explained the club’s head of youth development Matty Peet.
”We have kept an eye on one or two players and have been monitoring them but feel we could offer them and the Raiders support and opportunities to progress in the sport.”
West Wales Raiders chief executive Peter Tiffin said: “We couldn’t believe it when we spoke to Matty on how passionate he was to support us. It’ll be a two-way street in our youngsters get an opportunity to progress, whilst we can look at helping the young Wigan players gain an exposure to League 1 and adult rugby league that will help us build a player base that has progressed through the same system.”