Coventry Bears Looking for Positive Start in the Big League
Coventry Bear's Tom Tsang is excited about the first League 1 Cup draw hosted by the city and is looking for a perfect start to their first season.
The draw takes place on Friday and will be broadcast live on BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire from 6.45pm and Tsang will be there to see who the Bears are drawn against for their first competitive game in 2015.
Coventry Bears have grown to become one of Rugby League’s most successful community clubs after forming back in 1998 and Tsang is pleased with the way their plans are going.
“We’ve just completed week two of our pre-season training and it’s going really well,” said Tsang.
“There are 25 contracted players here and about 15 still on trial. All of them are of a good standard.
“With us being the new guys on the block and having the Cup draw in Coventry it gives us an opportunity to let others know what we have been up to and how we are preparing for 2015.”
The draw sees the 14 Kingstone Press League 1 clubs join Kingstone Press Cider National Conference League teams West Hull and East Leeds in the bag from which eight ties to be played over the weekend of February 28-March 1 2015 will be selected.
“The club has a bit of history with Hemel Stags and I suppose Oxford is our nearest team so a home tie against either of those two would be nice,” said Tsang.
“The team are heading to a training camp in Spain on February 5 for four days to fine tune a few things. We’ll be playing a couple of friendlies when we’re back to get us ready for our League 1 Cup fixture.
“People in Coventry love their sport so they’ll be getting behind us. We’ll be working hard on and off the field to make the Bears a success in Rugby League over the next few years. This is the start of something big.”
The draw for the first round of the 2015 League 1 Cup will be broadcast live on BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire on Friday December 5 between 6.45pm and 7.00pm.
Rugby League fans around the country can listen to the draw as it happens live on the BBC website and BBC iPlayer by visiting www.bbc.co.uk/bbccoventryandwarwickshire
Tickets for the 2015 League 1 Cup final which will be played at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool as part of the Summer Bash on Saturday May 23 cost from as little as £10 and can be purchased by calling the RFL Ticket Office on 0844 856 1113 or by visiting www.rugbyleaguetickets.co.uk