England call for quartet

HAPPY quartet: Tyrell Coley (left), Marc Howard, Stefan Whaley and Jamal Braithwaite.

HANDBALL: OLDHAM students will provide four of the final 20 for this season’s England under-19s handball squad.

North-East Manchester Hawks’ captain and playmaker Stefan Whaley — a student at Oldham Sixth Form College and former Royton and Crompton pupil — was in the squad last season and retains his place.

He is joined by another OSFC and ex-R&C pupil Jamal Braithwaite, a talented right winger, and goalkeeper Marc Howard, who is at Blue Coat Sixth Form having also been part of the R&C pilot scheme which launched handball in the Oldham area two years ago.

And the fourth local player to get his national call-up is left winger Tyrell Coley, who is at Crompton House School. A dozen members of the squad are heading for Outrupp in Germany during half-term and Braithwaite, Howard and Coley will all get valuable extra coaching on the continent.