Warrington’s Blackpool-born forward Joe Bullock has welcomed a significant new investment from Blackpool Coastal Housing's Tenants Projects Fund which will allow the town’s community club Blackpool Stanley to introduce more youngsters to Rugby League.
The £10,000 support will allow more people play Rugby League at grassroots level in Blackpool and the Fylde Coast area, funding schools coaching sessions, equipment and training of volunteers in support of the Club Development Programme.
Bullock, a 29-year-old forward who joined Warrington from Wigan for the 2022 season having previously made more than 100 appearances for Barrow Raiders, started his Rugby League journey in Blackpool as a pupil of Highfield School.
“It’s great to hear that Blackpool Stanley have this funding to help with Rugby League development,” he said.
“The town has a good history in the sport and hopefully this will help more youngsters to get involved in the future.”
The development project to be launched in the next few weeks will deliver Rugby League focused PE lessons in schools within Blackpool Stanley’s catchment. Schools within the catchment have a high proportion of children from families who are tenants of BCH and Blackpool Stanley will ensure that BCH communities benefit from this award.
Simon Hornby, Chairman at Blackpool Stanley, said: “This award covers a large proportion of the first year costs of the development programme allowing us to get started. It is particularly exciting in this Rugby League World Cup year that we are able to kickstart our development plans. Our local schools have a number of BCH households attending and the schools based sessions we deliver will have a positive impact on the wellbeing of those families. We would also hope to recruit participants from the schools for club based teams along with parents who will fulfil volunteer roles.”
John Donnellon, Chief Executive at Blackpool Coastal Housing said “We are pleased our tenants have chosen to support the grassroots development of Rugby League in what is an exciting year for the sport. Getting our tenants involved in sporting activity directly or as a volunteer helps build our communities.”
