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28 minutes ago
When you think of rugby league outside of its northern England heartlands, what clubs do you think of?
London Broncos, maybe? The Wimbledon-based club have had plenty of Super League pedigree over the years, not unlike Catalans Dragons or Toulouse, if we are thinking further afield.
Yet it is Telford – the Shropshire town wedged in between Shrewsbury to the east and Wolverhampton to the west – who will prepare to make their mark on the sport’s oldest competition this weekend.
Telford Raiders, current Midlands Premier Division champions, face Rochdale Mayfield in the first round of the 2025 Challenge Cup on Saturday, hoping to show the rugby league world that the sport is growing outside the M62 corridor.
BBC Sport spoke to club chairman Fred Baker about the club’s 20-year journey from inception to being two games away from bringing Super League opposition to Shropshire.
A 20-year journey to reach the Challenge Cup
Although Telford might not spring to mind for most rugby league fans as having a premier rugby league club in its confines, the Raiders have a fair pedigree among the sport’s amateur sides.
The club have won the Midlands Premier Division for the past two successive seasons while they clinched their place in this season’s Challenge Cup – and a formidable trip to Rochdale Mayfield – as winners of the 2024 Harry Jepson Trophy.
The Raiders’ history dates back to the mid-1990s when couple Dave and Janet Berry moved to the area from Hull and initially set up a primary school competition with one team – Randley Raiders – eventually taking off.
That team went on to become Telford Raiders, who entered the Midlands Division, which they have competed in ever since after their current incarnation was born in 2003.
“I joined the Raiders because I wanted my son to play,” Baker, who coincidentally also moved to Telford from Hull, said.
“Dave said, ‘That’s fine, but you’ll have to become a coach because there’s no one to coach them.’ So I ended up becoming a coach, and we just went from there.”
A coaching qualification followed, with Baker eventually holding a number of roles over the past 20 years, including coaching the men’s and women’s teams and now in his current position as chairman.
Despite their place in rugby league’s domestic pyramid, the Raiders have integrated themselves into the community and provided a pathway for local players to progress in a sport they might not have initially chosen.
Ricky Bailey is one such example, having come through Telford’s system to eventually play two Super League games for St Helens, while he also had a spell on loan with Leigh.
“We don’t have any particular links with any pro club. We’re a stand-alone club. In terms of recruiting and producing our own players,” Baker added.
“Over the years we have had players who’ve gone off to Super League, so we’ve had guys who’ve been in the scholarships at Warrington, Wigan and St Helens.
“We’ve produced players who’ve gone on performance pathways and moved up the ranks.”
Having been in existence for just over 20 years, Baker is jovial about the reason for their recent successes.
“I gave in coaching the first team a couple of years ago, and then they’ve never looked back,” he joked.
“I think at times you just recruit a good group of players who stick together for some years, and then they start to retire or move away, and you then find yourself perhaps not so strong.
“We’re just on a bit of an uptick at the moment, and, of course, success breeds success.
“When you are successful, people notice and want to come and see what it’s all about and want to join.”
‘Being from Wolverhampton doesn’t mean you can’t be good at rugby league’
Successful as Telford have been, the West Midlands currently only hosts one semi-professional team in League One’s Midlands Hurricanes, who are based in Perry Barr in Birmingham.
Baker believes a deep link with the community, such as the one Telford have cultivated, helps nurture a sustainable environment for clubs outside the heartlands.
“There is no reason, just because you’re born in Wolverhampton, why you couldn’t be the best rugby league player in the world, and I think we just have to keep trying to give people as many opportunities as possible,” he continued.
“There’s been examples over the years of rugby league expanding in terms of dropping a professional club in the middle of somewhere that has actually been a rugby league desert and with no infrastructure around it and for me that has never really worked.
“Whereas if you can have a link between that professional club and an established community game in the way that I think has happened at the London Broncos over the last few years, then you’ve got the real opportunity to grow your own players, grow your own fan base.”
With Super League clubs entering the Challenge Cup from an earlier third round stage from this season, and with all 12 clubs travelling away from home to kick off their campaign, the Raiders are technically two wins away from a potential huge home tie against a big team.
However, the Raiders have had to wait for their debut in the competition as the recent cold weather put paid to the tie’s initial fixture date last weekend.
“We’ve joked that if we beat Mayfield and then beat Oldham, then hopefully we’ll get Wigan at home,” Baker said.
“We’ve got a mountain to climb. It’s a fantastic opportunity. I really hope the players enjoy themselves. I know that they’ll go out and give. The best performance they can.”
