Portico Panthers (Moss Bank Branch) have been in existence since late 2014 when a small group of volunteers put out the message to the local community and formed a brand new Junior Rugby League club based at the Elliot’s Field site on Windermere Avenue, Moss Bank, St. Helens.

The Moss Bank ward has been described as one of the most deprived and impoverished areas of the town and with very little structured activities for children aged 18 and below. The volunteers looked to try and create a new venture and encourage the children from the area and beyond to engage in a team related sport and also a new active interest into the area.

In the first weeks of meeting and training we attracted a small number of children, around 12 in total, of various ages to train with the coaches and learn and develop the game. As the weeks went on and more recruitment and “word of mouth” went around the numbers began to increase enough so that we could form competitive teams to take part in the North West Counties Junior Leagues and play games on a weekly basis.

We managed to attract enough interest in the children of the area to form teams ranging from 6 to 12 years of age and began to play competitive games from March 2015.

Since then the teams have continued to grow and are now completing their second full season of fixtures for their age groups with a great deal of success in such a short time. The Under 12s and Under 8s teams have been viewed for Group Promotion for the coming year which is a phenomenal achievement from the Kids, Coaches and their supportive parents in such a short space of time.

We now attract a registration of 70 children and are hoping to continue our growth with added teams as we continue to go forward.

Despite all the success the club is not a cash rich organisation and largely lives from hand to mouth through the season with reliance on subscriptions, donations, sponsors and fund raising to help the club to run and meet it’s operational costs.

As we continue to grow we are becoming more dependent on trying to form our own facilities on the Windermere Avenue site so that our teams have the space to get changed before and after games and an area for recreation and gathering after matches have been completed. The local social club we had used suddenly closed in February 2017 which has effectively left us homeless! As the teams have grown and become more successful we continue to hope that the growth will continue in the future but are in real need of our own facilities close to the pitches for all to enjoy and continue the community spirit which has been worked on so much in the years gone by.

To help continue this journey we have continually applied for grants and assistance and were delighted to be awarded a grant by Sport England to help us fulfil our dream. However, the caveat put in is that we have to show that we are able to contribute £20,000 towards the project which, for a club of our size, is a mountainous task. What has made that more difficult is that we have also been given just SIX months to try and show this money is achievable!!! Therefore we are desperately asking for donations and assistance to get us near to our target and ensure that the funding is released to us and our community club finally has it’s own home.

We have come so far in such a short time and brought a fantastic team activity to the area which did not exist just 3 years ago. This “home” would be the sweet icing that all that hard work from everyone concerned has earned.

Thank you very much for your support of the Panthers!

#coyp #theadventurecontinues