Rugby starlet in cliff fall tragedy
Reporter: Ken Bennett
Date published: 01 July 2009
Family, friends and villagers are today mourning the tragic loss of a talented young rugby player who died after plunging 70ft down a cliff.
Andrew Curwell (18), who lived with his parents at Delph, had been celebrating the end of his A-level exams with friends at Newquay in Cornwall.
He was found dead at the bottom of a cliff near the resort’s Great Western beach on Sunday. Police are not treating his death as suspicious.
A villager, who knows the family, said: “Everyone is devastated. They are a very nice family.”
Andrew, who has an elder brother, was a sixth-former at Rishworth School in Ripponden.
He played as second row forward for Leeds Rhinos rugby league club’s Gillette Academy U18 side after joining the club’s academy in 2007 and had previously played for Saddleworth Rangers.
Oldham-based former rugby league international Barrie McDermott, Leeds Rhinos’s head of youth development, said: “This is tragic news and our sympathies go to Andy’s family and friends at this time. Andy was an intelligent young man who loved playing rugby and had a bright future ahead of him. I know he was looking forward to going to university in the future.
“He was well liked by all his team mates and coaches and will be sadly missed by everyone.”
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: “At about 4.55am on Sunday, police were called to a report of a man’s body at the foot of cliffs between Towan and Great Western beaches at Newquay.”
