THE present and future of Warrington Wolves Handball Club is continuing to look bright.

After missing out last year, the senior men’s team will seek to regain the England Handball National Cup – a trophy they have won five times in the past six years – when they take on Cambridge in Sunday’s final.

Joining them on their big weekend in Derby will be their under 19s and under 16s teams, meaning the Wolves have become the first club to feature in the finals for all three age groups in the same year.

“That’s a massive achievement in itself,” says Bill Baillie, who oversees coaching at the club.

“There was a disappointment last year when we didn’t make the cup final – that was the first time we weren’t in the final for seven years.

“We did have a bit of a transition last year as some of our under 19s moved up to the senior squad, so it’s been good for our young team to get over the hurdle of the semi-finals.

“The under 19s have proven to be one of the strongest teams of that age group and the under 16s are effectively an entirely local team made up of players from Warrington and Cheshire.

“It’s the first year we’ve entered a team in that age group so to get to the cup final is massive.

“The cup has always been a focus for the players because we’ve got such a history in it.

“Our under 16s and under 19s girls squads got knocked out in the quarter-finals in their first run-out – they both lost very narrowly.

“On another day, we may have had five teams there!”

Run as part of the Warrington Wolves Foundation, the club is one of the most successful in English handball thanks in no small part to their excellent National Cup record.

They have also won the National League twice, but one problem has dogged them consistently over the years.

Due to a lack of suitable facilities within the town, the team have been forced to play their home games at Trafford Soccerdome, which has been threatened with closure in recent times.

However, Baillie explained there may be some light at the end of the tunnel in their search for a home.

“It’s a big financial commitment for the club, but we’re desperate to get that permanent base in Warrington,” he said.

“Because of the ongoing politics at the Soccerdome, we’ve played a couple of games at Birchwood Leisure Centre.

“They changed the criteria for the National League and Birchwood falls within them so we can play there.

“The problem we’ve got there is trying to secure it as a venue for training and playing because other clubs use it. We want to work with the council and everything else on that.

“That’s the only reason we don’t continue to play in Europe because we are eligible, but once we secure a home base we want to bring European handball back to Warrington.”

The under 19s will be in action first as they take on Nottingham on Saturday, throw-off 5.30pm.

On Sunday, the under 16s take on West London Eagles at 10am before the senior side begin at 2pm.