Sheffield Eagles

[Sheffield History]

Foundation

Sheffield was not historically a rugby league area but in 1984 Gary Hetherington, at that time in the later stages of his playing career, decided to start a new professional club in the city. Hetherington was both manager and player in the first season, building the team using experienced players from traditional areas. He also began signing up promising young players, one of whom was Mark Aston, later to be a critical part of the Eagles' survival as a club.

The first games were played at the Owlerton Stadium, but after stadium safety became an issue the Eagles began their nomadic journey around South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, playing at several temporary venues including Hillsborough, Bramall Lane, Saltergate and Oakwell. Finally in 1991 the World Student Games was held in Sheffield and the newly built Don Valley Stadium became home for the club.

Progress

On the field the club progressed steadily, improving their league position until in 1988/89 they finished third in the league table and made it to the Premiership final at Old Trafford. In the final they outplayed Swinton, beating them by 43-18 and gaining promotion to the top flight of rugby league. They survived one season but were then relegated. This was a temporary decline as they immediately regained their place in the First Division, winning the second division title and Premiership. In 1992 they reached the Yorkshire Cup final, losing to Wakefield Trinity.

Despite this, the Eagles became a fixture in the top flight over the next few seasons, with notable firsts including being part of the first game of the SuperLeague era (against the ill-fated Paris Saint Germain franchise in 1996) and being the first English team to beat an Australian team on English soil in the World Club Challenge in 1997. When a Rupert Murdoch-funded Super League competition was first proposed, part of the deal was that some traditional clubs would merge. Sheffield were to merge with Doncaster to form a South Yorkshire club that would compete in Super League. This, along with other proposed mergers, were strongly opposed by supporters and never materialised.

Wembley 1998

May 2, 1998 is the greatest day in the history of the Sheffield Eagles. Having beaten Leigh, Egremont, Castleford and Salford the Eagles faced the mighty Wigan at Wembley Stadium in the final of the Challenge Cup. Wigan were overwhelming favourites with a side containing some of the best players of the modern era, including Andy Farrell, Jason Robinson and Henry Paul. Sheffield coach John Kear devised a game plan that was executed perfectly by the team on the day. Star of the show was scrum half Mark Aston, who won the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match. The Eagles led from start to finish, running out 17-8 winners in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the competition.

Dark days

Just as the club seemed to be on the verge of its greatest period, following the win in the Cup Final, things began to go wrong. The expected increase in attendances didn't happen and the team didn't perform well, finishing close to the relegation zone only one year after the Wembley triumph. In late 1999 the club accepted an offer from the RFL to merge with the Huddersfield Giants, making a new team Huddersfield/Sheffield Giants, playing games in both Sheffield and Huddersfield. This team (known disparagingly within the rugby league community as Shuddersfield) lasted only one season before reverting to the Huddersfield name. The main reason for this was the lack of acceptance of the new venture by both sets of supporters, but in particular in Sheffield.

Between the end of the Super League season and the start of the next semi-professional season (only 3 months) legendary player Mark Aston reformed the Eagles from scratch with the support of the Super League clubs and Barrow and entered the Northern Ford Premiership taking Bramley's vacated place.

Rebirth

From 1999 to the present the Eagles have played in the semi-professional leagues, first the Northern Ford Premiership and then the second division of the LHF Healthplan National League. Mark Aston assumed the role of player manager, continuing on the field until 2004, when he officially retired from playing. After the 2004 season Mark replaced his father Brian as Chief Executive, bringing in a new head coach in Gary Wilkinson at the end of the following year. As soon as the new club was reformed, it vowed to never overstretch its finances to achieve success. This made life difficult as the Eagles were denied the money received by other clubs in the NFP for TV rights as part of the deal that allowed them to re-enter the professional leagues.

In 2003 the team finished top of National League Two and reached the Grand Final, agonisingly losing 13-11 to the Keighley Cougars. Victory would have sent the Eagles into National League One, but this was not to be and a second play-off against the Batley Bulldogs ended in failure for the demoralised squad. Until 2006 the team struggled to match this effort, with key players retiring or being signed by bigger clubs - young players Mitchell Stringer and Andy Raleigh went on to sign for Super League clubs. At the start of the 2006 season Gary Wilkinson was brought in as coach and the team finished in second place, qualifying for the play-offs for the right to join champions Dewsbury Rams in National League One. On September 22nd 2006 they beat the Celtic Crusaders at the Don Valley Stadium to qualify for the Grand Final for a second time. In the Grand Final on October 8th they beat Swinton Lions 35-10 to be promoted to National League One. To the surprise of many Wilkinson resigned as head coach on October 15th 2006, citing personal reasons.

National League One is a springboard to a potential return to Super League, although this may also be dependent on the RFL's adoption of a franchising or licensing system. As Sheffield Eagles' chairman Ian Swire, remarked, after the 2006 Grand Final victory, "We showed on Sunday that we can compete, and that in the near- to not-too-distant future we will get back into Super League".

[SteveHB]

https://www.ebay.co.uk

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[Lysanderix]

I went to their first game at Owlerton dog track. The area wasn’t really big enough and was extended at each corner by artificial turf. There was a running commentary over the loudspeakers advising the many in the crowd who were new to the game and hadn’t a clue about its finer points.

I also went to Wembley to see them win the Challenge Cup….a great day for the underdogs!

Sadly, I only have a passing interest in the game these days ,but had some great days out visiting a host of small grounds…such as Doncaster and those that had seen finer days….such as Salford….to say nothing of visiting Saltergate where it seemed the local police presence almost matched the numbers in the crowd!