Cups and Awards 2002/03 
The end of season Seniors' Presentation Dinner and the
two annual Mini & Junior Awards Dinners closed one
of the club's
most successful years in its history.
The Seniors celebrated their
first ever lifting
of the Thwaites/John Burgess Lancashire Cup, the winners' names first
being engraved in 1893. The competition was revived in 1971 after a
74 year break, and following three appearances in the final as runners-up, this is the
first occasion that the magnificent 110-year old Cup has appeared in the Lightfoot Green trophy
cabinet.
The 'C'XV also celebrated their
third successive season as top of the North West 3rd XV Assocaition
League.
The Senior Colts appeared in
the Final of the National Clubs Plate Competition,
at Franklins Gardens, Northampton losing 17 - 10 to Cambridge, and won the
Colts Sevens at Macclesfield.
The Junior Colts captured the Lancashire & Cheshire
Junior Colts League title for 'Division A', the Lancashire Junior Colts
Cup and the London Irish International Under 17s Festival Trophy.
The Under 13s won the Lancashire
Junior Cup against Widnes, whilst the Under 14s and Under 15s faltered in their
respective finals.
Senior
Awards
First XV
Player of the Year: Gary Monaghan
First XV
Players' Player of the Year: Richard Morton
First XV
Most Improved Player: Adrian Harrison
2nd XV Player of the
Year: Keith
Quigley
2nd
XV Most Improved Player:
Steve Mercer
Clubman of the Year: Ian
Edwardson
Mini Junior
Awards
Awards were made to players at each
age group, Under 6s to Under 17s. The two Dinners attracted players, parents,
sisters, brothers and other family members who joined Coaches and other
volunteers to celebrate the navy and white ribboned successes over the previous
36 weeks.
The principal guest
for the Minis' Dinner was Preston Grasshoppers' Director of Rugby, Alex Keay
appointed by the club during the season.
Later at the Junior
Dinner, in a fitting tribute to the Under 17s, the age group's lead coach Graham
Cox was the 'guest of honour' of an event his own squad dominated.
The Players' Player of the
Year - For each age group,
from Under 6 to Under 17 (including the Girls' squad), this award is decided on
by the playing members of each squad.
Under 6s: Ben Hackett
Under 7s: Alex Ward
Under 8s: Ben
Swift
Under 9s: Michael Haley
Under 10s: Sam Whyte
Under 11s: Kyle
Manson-Kullin
Under 12s: Alex Whyte
Under
13s: John Soper
Under 14s: Nick Smith
Under 15s: Garth Dew
Under 16s: Jack Crystal
Under 16s Girls:
to be announced
Under 17s: Chris Leck.
The Coaches' Player of the
Year - For each age group, from Under 6 to Under 17 (including the
Girls' squad), this award -decided upon by their respective coaches - recognises
achievement, contribution, attitude or improvement over the
season.
Under 6s: Alex Stewart
Under 7s: Jamie McMillan
Under 8s:
Rory Biggins
Under 9s: Ben Pinder
Under 10s: Chris Rigby
Under 11s:
Thomas Grimes
Under 12s: Matthew Balshaw
Under 13s:
Jonathan Mahon
Under 14s: Chris Tyrer
Under 15s: Adam Horrocks
Under 16s:
Henry Mayor
Under 16s Girls: to be
announced
Under 17s: Richard Brown
Representative
Honours - In addition to
the specific age-group awards, at the Junior Dinner, each player with a
representative appearance during the season is honoured for his or her
achievement by the Club and presented with a specially engraved 'Hoppers' glass
trophy.
Under 17s:
Mark Bennett, Mario
Bonati, Richard Brown, James Cooper, Chris Cox, Luke Cunningham, Andrew Dockray,
Douglas Fitzgerald, Chris Fox, Sean Gibney, Mike Jones, Adam Kwasnicki, Tom
Lever, Anthony Mellalieu, Ian Morgan, John Peterson, Tom Robinson, Andrew Smith,
Michael Taylor.
The 17s contributed to sides ranging from
England Clubs, North of England Clubs, Northern Colleges, North West Colleges,
Lancashire Schools 18s Group, Lancashire Clubs 17s Group, Welsh Exiles 17s, and
the Welsh Youth Under 18s training group.
Under 16s:
Jack Crystal, Jonathan Mather,
William Tattersall.
The 16s contributed to the Lancashire 16s Group Schools
'A' XV & 'B' XV and the Lancashire Development XV.
Under 15s:
Jack Aspden, Sam Chard, Garth Dew, Andrew Mockridge.
The 15s contributed players to the Lancashire 16s
Group 'A' XV, Aspden, Dew and Chard also featuring in the Lancashire Schools Cup
winning side.
Under 14s:
Paul Carlton, Matthew Hemmings, Richard Kwasnicki, Phillip
McDonald, Robert Melling, Ben Murphy, Nick Smith.
The 14s contributed to the Lancashire 14s
Group XV.
The 'Young Volunteer of the Year' Cup - Awarded to an individual (under the age of 18) for an
outstanding contribution during the season for rugby or club related activities
at Hoppers.
Mark
Rigbye
for his regular work assisting the First
XV, maintaining the match scores on the electronic scoreboard.
The 'Rugby Photograph of the Year' Award -
Awarded for the best photograph relating to Preston Grasshoppers' Mini Junior
or Girls Rugby, submitted to the Press Officer or Webmaster over the course of
the season.
Angie Fitzgerald
The 'Junior
Clubman of the Year' Cup -
Presented to a member of either the Under 17s or the Under 16s/18s Girls'
squad for an outstanding contribution throughout his or her 'Junior' rugby at
Hoppers.
John
Peterson
The 'Dutton Forshaw Top Team'
Trophy -
Engraved in the name of a coach, this is presented to the most successful age
group of the year
The Under 17s - Coaches:
Nigel Morgan & Graham Cox
VIP Sport England
Certificates - In recognition of their contribution to the
85 strong team of volunteers in Mini Junior Rugby at Hoppers, the following were
presented with Sport England VIP certificates:
Mrs Cheryl Grimes, Ray
Harris, Carl Balshaw, Paul Mahon, Mark Rigbye, Nigel Morgan (to add to those
awarded to John Bamber and Mrs Angela Capstick earlier in the
season).
The
following awards were presented earlier in the season:
At the annual Mini
Junior Sportsmans Dinner, held in October 2002:
The 'Knee High to a Grasshopper' Awards - Silver
platters, presented to players whose rugby career at Lightfoot Green has spanned
an unbroken ten-year period from Under 8s to Under 17s
Chris
Cox, Anthony Mellalieu, John Peterson, Jack Ward
The 'Founders
Cup' -
Donated by the founding fathers of Mini Rugby at Hoppers, Sep Cooper, Graeme
Smith and Martin Mears, the 'Founders Cup' regognises excellence in rugby,
whether at Hoppers or elsewhere, but connected to Hoppers' Mini Junior
organisation.
Graham Cox
At the 'VIP Race Night Evening, held in March 2003:
The 'V.I.P. Volunteer of
the Year' Cup - Awarded to an individual for an outstanding contribution
during the season for rugby or club related activities at Hoppers.
John
Bamber
for his contribution to First Aid
at Hoppers, spanning 25 years the last 21 of which has been largely devoted to
Mini and Junior Rugby.
and......
as noted above
at the Senior Club's Annual awards Ian Edwardson, coach to both the Junior
and Adults Womens squads, was presented with the 'Clubman of the Year'
award.
|
RFU.com 
Search
