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| Chairman Stuart Murray and Joe Bell, the club's youngest player, receive Outstanding Performance Award from Mayor Stuart Drummond | England 16's scrum Half Mike Young and Joe Bell with the awards |
| Club Chairman Stuart Murray accepted the Outstanding Achievement award with the help of five year old Joe Bell - the club's youngest player. Congratulations and thanks go to Kathryn Waites who prepared the following successful nonminations [a couple of months ago before the Pyman Cup Final.] As a Club West Hartlepool RFC has had another successful season on and off the pitch. At a senior level the 1st XV have cemented their place in Powergen Division North 2 East with eyes on promotion next season and the now well developed 2nd XV have earned their place in the final of the Pyman cup after great victories over Hartlepool Athletic & Hartlepool RFC. The senior sides have produced players which have represented England Deaf (Tim Sawyer) and Durham County Senior side and under 21’s (Dan Boatman, Anthony Carr) The Mini & Junior section are the biggest Youth Organisation in town with hundreds of young boys and girls turning out on a Sunday morning to play Rugby. The Youngest sides the Mini’s start as young as 5 and go through to under 12’s. The emphasis is placed on the enjoyment of the game above competition but over the season there has been some great victories for the club. In April the club played host to The Durham County Under 11’s tournament with team coming from all over the county. The club's junior sides have had their usual share of victories over the season with 4 of the sides reaching the county cup finals. The star side of the Junior section has to be the Under 17’s with their Yorkshire league victories, successful cup runs and tour of Northern Ireland. The Junior sides have produced players which have represented the town, the County, North of England and England with many more coming through the ranks which are destined to shine. The club has also produced 2 players which are part of the Newcastle Falcons Academy and are destined for bigger and better things in the field of rugby. Overall the club has had a great season and with the development of their own home at Brinkburn the future looks very bright. Rising Stars Michael Young England Rugby Under 16’s As a product of West Hartlepool Mini & Junior section, Michael Young is a very talented young sports man. Over the years he has gained many representative honours but 2004 / 05 has been the greatest in his career so far. Mikey was selected early this year to attend a training camp with 78 other players from all over the country, from which 75 were selected to go forward. After many training camps and matches Mikey was selected as first choice scrum half for England Under 16’s. The under 16’s have had matches against Italy Under 17’s and Wales under 16’s (both home & away) Mikey was in the starting line up for the first 2 matches and on the bench for the last game against Wales, coming on for the last 20 minutes. Mikey was complimented by the coaches and many spectators on his playing ability and his attitude.
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Honours for Club and Mikey Young
By Dave Picken - May 19 2005Mikey and the Mayor
The club received two major honours at the Hartlepool Sports Council Awards at Seaton Sports Club. We won the Outstanding Club Performance and England Under 16 scrum half Mikey Young won a "Rising Star" award.