Saturday’s refreshingly novel Betfred Super League Grand Final between Warrington Wolves and Wakefield Trinity seems to have captured the imagination of the whole of Rugby League – and that includes the former players of both clubs.
Rugby League Cares work with Rugby League Commercial to provide discounted tickets for Past Players Associations at major domestic and international occasions.
And Colin Maskill, who leads RL Cares work with the Past Players Associations, has been delighted by the response for the 2026 title decider – when Super League is guaranteed its sixth champion club.
“Since the Semi Finals last weekend the applications have been coming in thick and fast,” he said.
“As you’d expect, the late rush has been mostly from Warrington and Wakefield – some great names like Mike Nicholas, Ronnie Duane, Gary Price and Nigel Wright.
“I reckon we’ll be up towards 300 tickets spread around the ground from former players of all clubs, which is exactly the reason we work with Rugby League Commercial to make these tickets available.
“There are so many benefits to the players in staying in touch with former team-mates and even opponents – and it’s been great to see Past Players Associations really building up their membership and momentum in the last few years.”
Wakefield Trinity have been a great example of that, with their Association one of the most active in the sport.
It’s led by Lee Robinson, who didn’t play for Trinity but qualifies as a long-serving physiotherapist at Belle Vue in the 1980s and ‘90s when the great David Topliss was coach – and is now also the club’s heritage officer.
He will combine both those roles later this year with several former Trinity players heading for the Menin Gate Memorial in Belgium to pay tribute to Herbert Finnegan and John Yates Ogley – two of the seven Wakefield players who lost their lives in the First World War, out of a total of 29 who served in the conflict.
“We relaunched the Association around 2017, and had been building steadily for a few years with our golf days and introducing the Hall of Fame,” Robinson explained.
“And in recent years we’ve had great support from Matt Ellis and his family. We have breakfast clubs at the ground, an exercise and social club, and it’s great to have an owner who is such a fan of the club and its history.
“We’ll be scattered all over the Stretford End on Saturday, cheering on the lads – it’s going to be a great occasion.”
Mark Forster will be one of the former Warrington players backing Sam Burgess’s Wolves, as a stalwart of their Past Players Association since his 18 seasons of service to his hometown club.
“We’ve got an active association and there will be quite a few of us at Old Trafford on Saturday,” said the former winger, who was added to Warrington’s Hall of Fame in 2015.
“Debbie Blackburn at the club does a great job keeping the former players involved, whether it’s crown green bowling or coming to games.
“I’ve got great memories of us winning the Premiership at Elland Road in 1986 and in some ways this game is like that. They’ve got the squad, they’ve got the ability all the way through the team. I’m really looking forward to it.”
It’s too late to take advantage of the RL Cares Past Players ticket offer for the Grand Final, but for any details of Former Players Associations throughout the game, email Colin.Maskill@RLCares.org.uk