Dwain Chambers set to play rugby league
Speculation was mounting last night that Dwain Chambers, the disgraced sprinter, is to make a dramatic career switch to rugby league. Castleford Tigers, the bottom club in the engage Super League, are apparently set to announce his signing on Monday.
Chambers, who recently came second in the 60 metres in the World Indoor Championships in Valencia and served a two year ban imposed in 2003 after testing positive for the growth hormone THG, had a brief dalliance with American Football and the San Francisco 49ers in 2004, but the move to rugby league has come as a bolt from the blue.
The signing of Chambers, 30 next week, would coincide with Castleford’s submission to the Rugby Football League of their application for a three-year Super League licence from 2009. The club has called a press conference for Monday but refused to comment on the story following a deal for its publication in a Sunday newspaper.
David Smart, the Castleford spokesman, issued a press notice, stating: “At present I can’t say anything, other than to say that you will probably appreciate what the conference is about come Sunday morning and the story is such that I would imagine that you’d certainly wish to attend.”
Chambers is banned from the Olympics Games for life as a result of his served drugs ban and has been frozen out by athletic promoters throughout Europe. The situation has forced him to look elsewhere and rugby league has stepped in with an extraordinary offer by Castleford, who were promoted back to the Super League last year but have won only one of eight matches this season and are two points adrift at the bottom of the table.
In March last year, Chambers signed a deal with American Football team Hamburg Sea Devils but never played for the club which subsequently folded. He has never had experience of rugby of either code but this has not prevented Castleford from stepping in for an athlete who has mostly been shunned by his colleagues since his drugs suspension.
He would almost certainly be played on the wing where his speed could be devastating, although there are bound to be questions of someone who has never made a tackle in his life and whose move could be interpreted as a publicity stunt by Castleford and Chambers himself. He will become the highest profile sprinter to turn to rugby league since Berwyn Jones, the British 100 yard record holder, joined Wakefield Trinity in 1964. Jones was selected on the 1966 Great Britain tour to Australia and enjoyed a five-year career.
Speculation was mounting last night that Dwain Chambers, the disgraced sprinter, is to make a dramatic career switch to rugby league. Castleford Tigers, the bottom club in the engage Super League, are apparently set to announce his signing on Monday.
Chambers, who recently came second in the 60 metres in the World Indoor Championships in Valencia and served a two year ban imposed in 2003 after testing positive for the growth hormone THG, had a brief dalliance with American Football and the San Francisco 49ers in 2004, but the move to rugby league has come as a bolt from the blue.
The signing of Chambers, 30 next week, would coincide with Castleford’s submission to the Rugby Football League of their application for a three-year Super League licence from 2009. The club has called a press conference for Monday but refused to comment on the story following a deal for its publication in a Sunday newspaper.
David Smart, the Castleford spokesman, issued a press notice, stating: “At present I can’t say anything, other than to say that you will probably appreciate what the conference is about come Sunday morning and the story is such that I would imagine that you’d certainly wish to attend.”
Chambers is banned from the Olympics Games for life as a result of his served drugs ban and has been frozen out by athletic promoters throughout Europe. The situation has forced him to look elsewhere and rugby league has stepped in with an extraordinary offer by Castleford, who were promoted back to the Super League last year but have won only one of eight matches this season and are two points adrift at the bottom of the table.
In March last year, Chambers signed a deal with American Football team Hamburg Sea Devils but never played for the club which subsequently folded. He has never had experience of rugby of either code but this has not prevented Castleford from stepping in for an athlete who has mostly been shunned by his colleagues since his drugs suspension.
He would almost certainly be played on the wing where his speed could be devastating, although there are bound to be questions of someone who has never made a tackle in his life and whose move could be interpreted as a publicity stunt by Castleford and Chambers himself. He will become the highest profile sprinter to turn to rugby league since Berwyn Jones, the British 100 yard record holder, joined Wakefield Trinity in 1964. Jones was selected on the 1966 Great Britain tour to Australia and enjoyed a five-year career.
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