Newcastle Thunder News

The Newcastle Thunder are a professional Rugby League club located in the North East city of Newcastle.

The club grew out of the Gateshead Thunder club, who were originally established in 1999, with this version of the club forming out of the failed ‘merger’ of Gateshead and Hull FC.

Despite been based in one of England’s largest cities, the club often fail to gain a presence in the media, even in local media, but the struggle to find the latest Newcastle rugby news is no more, as we bring you all of the latest news headlines from across the globe.

Newcastle Thunder Breaking News

Here at 13v13 we bring you all of the latest Newcastle Thunder breaking news headlines from media sources across the globe.
If you read a headline that is of interest to you, simply follow the link for the full story.

Newcastle Thunder Latest News Today

If you have heard a rumour whilst out and about or if you are simply wanting to catch up on the latest comings and goings from the club, you are in the right place as we bring you all of the latest news from today.

Stadium

The club play at Kingston Park stadium to the north east of the city of Newcastle, which is a stadium that mixture modern stands with historic stands to create a stadium capable of hosting around 10,000 fans when full.

Historically, the club is also associated with the International Stadium in Gateshead, where the club played the majority of their home games for time under the name of the Gateshead Thunder.

Perhaps best known as an athletics stadium, the International Stadium is capable of hosting around 11,500 fans and it was the clubs home for their brief stay in the top flight.

Location

The club are located in the suburb of Kingston Park, in the city of Newcastle and close to cities international airport.

The ground is easily reached via the A1 and via the cities metro system, where the ground is just a shot walk from the Kingston Park stop on the green line, which links the airport, to the city of Sunderland via the city centre of Newcastle and Gateshead.

The city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, best known simply as Newcastle, forms the core of the Tyneside conurbation which is the 8th most populous area of the United Kingdom.

About

The sport of Rugby League is starting to develop a new heartland in the north east with the junior scene in the region thriving and sitting at the top of the pyramid in the region is the Newcastle Thunder.

The club have managed to take advantage of both their location in a big and thriving city as well as the numerous junior clubs in the region to attract a good selection of juniors to join their club and to also attract establish stars from the sports M62 corridor heartland.

Newcastle’s location relatively close to Cumbria has also allowed them to take advantage of the historically fruitful amateur scene in that county by signing up many of the up and coming stars of the future in Cumbria.

History

The clubs origins are in the nearby town of Gateshead, where the club played at the International Stadium and were known as the Gateshead Thunder.

The original Thunder team played in the Super League and were thought of as a expansion club for the future but after just a single season, they were forced into a merger with Hull that in reality meant Hull were paid to takeover the club, with all matches been played in Hull and all branding been Hull branding.

Although a difficult period at the time, it turned out to be to the benefit of the club as a group of supporters relaunched a club in Gateshead and named them Thunder.

On the field, things continued to be difficult with the new club starting off life in the 2nd tier of the sport, before dropping down to the 3rd tier in 2003.

Things did start to improve on the field after nearly finish with the wooden spoon in their first 3rd tier seaosn and by 2005, the club reached the play-offs for the first time.

In 2008, the club finally secured their first piece of silverware when they finished the League 1 champions and in doing so regained their place in the sports 2nd tier.

The club managed to secure safety the next seaosn but after a dispute between the clubs directors, they were forced to reform and relegated back to the 3rd tier.

In 2015, the club got a new owner and made the move to the nearby city of Newcastle, where they would take on the new name of the Newcastle Thunder and move their home matches to Kingston Park.

Under the clubs new ownership, who also own the cities Rugby Union club, Thunder have made it well known that their intention is to become a Super League and they have made the move from semi-pro to fully pro to try and achieve that aim.

More silverware was quickly added to their trophy cabinet as the club won the League 1 Shield and in 2002, the club gained promotion to the Championship.

Newcastle Thunder News Headlines

Here at 13v13 we bring you all of the latest Newcastle Thunder news headlines from local, national, and international media to bring you all of the latest news as and when it happens.

Newcastle Thunder News Update

As and when a breaking news story updates, we will bring it to you right here on this page saving you from having to search the web, social media and news outlets for all of the latest Newcastle Rugby stories.

As one of the most forward looking club sin the sport, there is lots of news that constantly comes out of the club and it can be difficult for even ardent fans to find all of the news, especially with the mainstream media picking and choosing what stories to cover.

No matter what the story is as soon as it breaks, we will bring you all of the latest news in one place.