‘WEST CUMBRIA NEEDS ONE SUPERLEAGUE CLUB'
Kyle Amor
POWERFUL west Cumbrian prop forward Kyle Amor is slowly but surely making his mark in Super League. But the 24-year-old former Hensingham amateur would like nothing better one day than to ply his trade in Super League with a Cumbrian team.
Amor, currently on loan with Wakefield from parent club Leeds, is an enthusiastic advocate for the establishment of a Super League franchise in Cumbria. "I was lucky when I was spotted by Leeds' Gary Hetherington because he had come to watch a Doncaster player and must have liked the way I performed. I'm certain there will be up to a dozen players in Cumbria with the potential to play Super League who haven't been spotted yet. The area is rich in amateur talent and is crying out for a Super League club. It would be a big boost to the game here and give youngsters something to aim for," he says.
Amor believes recent achievements by Cumbrian county sides should be the spur to going for the top prize of a Super League franchise. "We put a Cumbria side together and it drew with the England side. Then when Cumbria was invited to play in the Nines we surprised everybody and got all the way to the final against Super League opposition. That Nines squad, made up of Workington and Whitehaven players, showed how the two clubs could work together. "Personally I don't think the derby games are anything like they used to be. It isn't the be-all and end-all anymore so the old die-hards, who would never agree to a merger, I believe are in the minority now," said Amor.
Although he played from a young age at Hensingham he remembers only doing half a season for most years up until he was 16, before he started playing more regularly alongside pal Scott McAvoy, now a pro with Whitehaven.But it was current Workington Town coach Gary Charlton who gave Amor's career a leg-up when he called him up for a BARLA Under-21's game against the Army. He did enough to impress and earn a full BARLA tour place Although a trial with Wigan did not produce the offer of a contract, he signed for Whitehaven and was soon spotted by Leeds' chief executive Gary Hetherington when he had been on a scouting trip to watch Doncaster's Michael Coady. The pair of them were signed and Amor was immediately loaned back to Whitehaven before getting his first chance with the Headingley side.
"I think I might have been a bit arrogant, thinking everything was going to be easy but really it was a big step and I was a bit overwhelmed in my three senior appearances.
This season I was loaned-out to Wakefield and although I started the first month on the bench I've been getting regular starts since then and the coach seems pleased with how I'm going for the team.
"It was always going to be tough for Wakefield after last year's financial difficulties. So many players had moved on but the new squad gelled pretty quickly and we surprised a lot of people by winning six of our first 12 matches. I will be seeing-out the season with Wakefield and then will be going back to Leeds where hopefully I will be involved in the end of season play-offs with them," he says.
Amor still has another year of his Leeds contract to run and would like to cement that in 2012, but some time in the future he would like nothing better than to be playing in front of a Cumbrian crowd in Super League.
