It has been announced that former Castleford Tigers player and club stalwart Nathan Massey has confirmed his decision to retire from rugby league, calling time on the sport aged 35.
Massey played a whopping 302 games for Castleford Tigers and spent almost the entirety of his career with the club before moving to join rivals Featherstone Rovers for the 2024 season.
Despite Rovers signing Massey in a bid to utilise the forward as one of their key players in their promotion push, he would only play seven times for the Flat Cappers, making four appearances in the Championship.
Featherstone confirmed his retirement with a brief statement last night: “Nathan Massey has announced his retirement from Rugby League with immediate effect.
“The club would like to thank Mass for his services to the club and congratulate him on a brilliant career.”
His last game for the club came on July 14th in a victory over Halifax Panthers and now, just under four weeks later, it’s been confirmed that he has retired.
Castleford Tigers also shared a statement confirming that their club legend had retired, taking to X this morning following their defeat to Hull KR to pay tribute to Massey.
“Last night, Nathan Massey announced his retirement from Rugby League with immediate effect. From all at the club Mass, all the best in retirement and thank you for your service to the Tigers.”
🫡 Last night, Nathan Massey announced his retirement from Rugby League with immediate effect
From all at the club Mass, all the best in retirement and thank you for your service to the Tigers
Massey started his playing career back in 2007, debuting for Castleford Tigers in a thumping Challenge Cup win as they hosted amateur side Lock Lane, winning 88-10.
His next game for the Ford and his first Super League appearance would come over a year later in a 34-31 loss to Warrington Wolves before hs spent much of the remainder of the year out on loan.
His breakthrough season came in 2012 when he played 27 games, missing just one all season, and from then on he became a regular for the club featuring in 15 or more games every season.
Massey made his 300th appearance as a Castleford Tigers player in a home win over Hull FC. It was expected that he could retire at the end of the season but made the move to Featherstone for 2024 where he would play a further seven games to cap off an incredible career.