Rugby league stars of the future come together for The Nick Smith Foundation’s Smudger U7s tournament

The event has become an annual fixture since first taking place in 2018 in memory of Siddal legend Nick ‘Smudger’ Smith who died from motor neurone disease at the age of just 38. He was passionate about encouraging young people to take up and keep playing the sport he loved, rugby league.

Nick made over 400 appearances for Siddal, including captaining the side for many years, and the aim of the Smudger U7s is to bring together junior clubs who do not usually get the chance to play together so the youngsters can learn from each other and test their skills.

This year, boys and girls from Cutsyke Raiders, Hunslet Warriors, Greetland Allrounders, Drighlington, Heworth, Illingworth, Elland, King Cross Park, Batley Boys, Keighley Albion and Shaw Cross Sharks joined the U7s from Siddal for the event at Chevinedge on Sunday (4 September).

As well as taking part in a series of matches, they received a copy of Smudger’s Top Tips for rugby league and were inspired by players from Halifax Panthers who supported the event by providing their advice and encouragement to the youngsters.

Stephen Naylor, chair of The Nick Smith Foundation, said: “It fills me with huge pride to see so many young players from across Yorkshire come together to learn about and play the sport Nick loved, and to have a fun morning being active and being inspired to be the best they can be both on and off the pitch.

“Thank you to the coaches and parents from all the clubs who joined us for this year’s Smudger U7s, thank you to the players from Halifax Panthers who took the time to be with us, and thank you to our brilliant team of volunteers who put in a huge amount of time and effort to organising this event and making it such a success.”

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