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Sheffield Eagles.....an analysis


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What's the plan from here then?

I understand they move into their newly developed stadium next season, they are normally an ambitious club but since the stadium issues the club has become unsettled. I hope that the stadium move works out in their favour and they can build revenues and take the club forward from here.

It looks like they are starting to take a similar approach to development and ownership of the sport in South Yorkshire as Newcastle Thunder have in the North East. This has to be the way forward for Sheffield, they need to think big and OWN that whole Sheffield city and South Yorkshire region from the development of community clubs, taking RL to schools, increasing playing numbers, women's game etc and get their brand out there. They also need to get more locals into their squad. Newcastle have shown everyone the blueprint and now Sheffield can use the stadium development to wipe the slate clean and propel their whole organisation to the next level. 

The first aim has to be to develop their squad and make them more competitive, the performances this year have been well below what we should expect from Sheffield. 

The Sheffield Metropolitan area has over 1.5 million, and they need to tap into that large population. They should also try to build greater visibility in Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley 

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54 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

What's the plan from here then?

I understand they move into their newly developed stadium next season, they are normally an ambitious club but since the stadium issues the club has become unsettled. I hope that the stadium move works out in their favour and they can build revenues and take the club forward from here.

It looks like they are starting to take a similar approach to development and ownership of the sport in South Yorkshire as Newcastle Thunder have in the North East. This has to be the way forward for Sheffield, they need to think big and OWN that whole Sheffield city and South Yorkshire region from the development of community clubs, taking RL to schools, increasing playing numbers, women's game etc and get their brand out there. They also need to get more locals into their squad. Newcastle have shown everyone the blueprint and now Sheffield can use the stadium development to wipe the slate clean and propel their whole organisation to the next level. 

The first aim has to be to develop their squad and make them more competitive, the performances this year have been well below what we should expect from Sheffield. 

The Sheffield Metropolitan area has over 1.5 million, and they need to tap into that large population. They should also try to build greater visibility in Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley 

I agree with what you say almost completely. But would advocate working with Doncaster where possible in developing the game in South Yorks, rather than imposing themselves as THE South Yorkshire team and treading on Doncaster's toes.

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All good ideas The Daddy, but have they got the money and staff to do all of that? I doubt it. Personally I’d like to see them grow their gates by a few hundred and set up a community club or two (there are only two in the city currently I think) - that would be great progress. 

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4 hours ago, The Daddy said:

What's the plan from here then?

I understand they move into their newly developed stadium next season, they are normally an ambitious club but since the stadium issues the club has become unsettled. I hope that the stadium move works out in their favour and they can build revenues and take the club forward from here.

It looks like they are starting to take a similar approach to development and ownership of the sport in South Yorkshire as Newcastle Thunder have in the North East. This has to be the way forward for Sheffield, they need to think big and OWN that whole Sheffield city and South Yorkshire region from the development of community clubs, taking RL to schools, increasing playing numbers, women's game etc and get their brand out there. They also need to get more locals into their squad. Newcastle have shown everyone the blueprint and now Sheffield can use the stadium development to wipe the slate clean and propel their whole organisation to the next level. 

The first aim has to be to develop their squad and make them more competitive, the performances this year have been well below what we should expect from Sheffield. 

The Sheffield Metropolitan area has over 1.5 million, and they need to tap into that large population. They should also try to build greater visibility in Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley 

Do they have plans to set up more community clubs?They have an advantage over Newcastle as they have a lot of community clubs within 30 - 60 mins of Sheffield

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19 hours ago, The Daddy said:

What's the plan from here then?

I understand they move into their newly developed stadium next season, they are normally an ambitious club but since the stadium issues the club has become unsettled. I hope that the stadium move works out in their favour and they can build revenues and take the club forward from here.

It looks like they are starting to take a similar approach to development and ownership of the sport in South Yorkshire as Newcastle Thunder have in the North East. This has to be the way forward for Sheffield, they need to think big and OWN that whole Sheffield city and South Yorkshire region from the development of community clubs, taking RL to schools, increasing playing numbers, women's game etc and get their brand out there. They also need to get more locals into their squad. Newcastle have shown everyone the blueprint and now Sheffield can use the stadium development to wipe the slate clean and propel their whole organisation to the next level. 

The first aim has to be to develop their squad and make them more competitive, the performances this year have been well below what we should expect from Sheffield. 

The Sheffield Metropolitan area has over 1.5 million, and they need to tap into that large population. They should also try to build greater visibility in Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley 

Garbage. It's this sort of attitude that breeds resentment towards Sheffield as a city amongst the other metropolitan areas.

Why do you assume that kids at Doncaster Junior clubs should be more interested in Sheffield than their local team? 

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As an Eagles Fan, i don't understand the resentment and hatred towards the Eagles from a lot of other teams... 

And agree why should someone from Barnsley or Donny not be able to go play for teams closer to the such as Doncaster, Huddersfield or Wakefield.

Sheffield on its own has over 500K residents, and its those we should be aiming for, and looking back to the 90's when I was at Secondary school, do training sessions with kids, and pass out free tickets to the home games, and advertise the game to the people of Sheffield... 

We have an amazing history, and sport and need to tell people about it. The OLP Needs to be full to the rafters and people coming down for their first game and becoming lifelong RL fans and spending money... 

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Sheffield should be targeted as an area for development. The CC semi final double header could be taken there, maybe an on the road game, some internationals etc.

I'd also like to see the RFL work alongside clubs like Sheffield, Newcastle, Coventry, London and the Welsh clubs in developing the community game as these are big markets for new players and already have established professional clubs to use as a focal point for developing RL.

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1 hour ago, JM2010 said:

Sheffield should be targeted as an area for development. The CC semi final double header could be taken there, maybe an on the road game, some internationals etc.

I'd also like to see the RFL work alongside clubs like Sheffield, Newcastle, Coventry, London and the Welsh clubs in developing the community game as these are big markets for new players and already have established professional clubs to use as a focal point for developing RL.

Absolutely. I never understood having the Challenge Cup semi final at Bolton (aside from it being cheap to hire). Magic Weekend at Newcastle, CC semis at Sheffield, maybe one England game a year in Coventry/ Midlands then obviously cup final at wembley. Maybe even play more high profile internationals in Wales

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On 04/09/2021 at 16:14, The Daddy said:

It looks like they are starting to take a similar approach to development and ownership of the sport in South Yorkshire as Newcastle Thunder have in the North East.

Tbh, we could do with every club in British RL trying to copy Newcastle Thunder's approach to development. Problem is we can't clone 30 copies of Mick Hogan, nor do we have 30 people willing to put similar amounts of money into development.

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4 minutes ago, Mr Plow said:

Absolutely. I never understood having the Challenge Cup semi final at Bolton (aside from it being cheap to hire). Magic Weekend at Newcastle, CC semis at Sheffield, maybe one England game a year in Coventry/ Midlands then obviously cup final at wembley. Maybe even play more high profile internationals in Wales

If Sheffield, Newcastle and Coventry can develop the community game in and around their cities then that could massively increases the RL player pool and give the sport a bigger footprint

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1 hour ago, JM2010 said:

If Sheffield, Newcastle and Coventry can develop the community game in and around their cities then that could massively increases the RL player pool and give the sport a bigger footprint

Sheffield had an Academy. It was closed down by the RFL, along with several others.

"We'll sell you a seat .... but you'll only need the edge of it!"

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2 hours ago, Mr Plow said:

Absolutely. I never understood having the Challenge Cup semi final at Bolton (aside from it being cheap to hire). Magic Weekend at Newcastle, CC semis at Sheffield, maybe one England game a year in Coventry/ Midlands then obviously cup final at wembley. Maybe even play more high profile internationals in Wales

The game has to look after its financial interests as well though. Just throwing games around at places which will get lower attendances and probably not much in the way of local support, like a Challenge Cup semi which is a very partisan event, probably isn't much use to anyone.

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7 hours ago, M j M said:

The game has to look after its financial interests as well though. Just throwing games around at places which will get lower attendances and probably not much in the way of local support, like a Challenge Cup semi which is a very partisan event, probably isn't much use to anyone.

I doubt if more than 100 people from Bolton go tbf, and even if they did and liked it there then isn’t a Bolton team for them to support. Sheffield is easy to get to from anywhere in the heartlands, much more attractive for a night out and there is a local semi pro club - so much more sensible than Bolton. 

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8 hours ago, Griff said:

Sheffield had an Academy. It was closed down by the RFL, along with several others.

Building the community game is needed first before an academy. A Sheffield academy at the moment will just be trying to recruit juniors from the same clubs as everyone else. I would like to see Sheffield, Coventry, York etc with elite academies but they need a strong community game first to make it sustainable 

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3 hours ago, JM2010 said:

Building the community game is needed first before an academy. A Sheffield academy at the moment will just be trying to recruit juniors from the same clubs as everyone else. I would like to see Sheffield, Coventry, York etc with elite academies but they need a strong community game first to make it sustainable 

I think the community game in York is reasonably strong. Last time I checked there were three well established community clubs, teams at two universities and a masters team within the city itself.

I haven't included Wetherby or Sherburn in that because, although both clubs are within 10 miles of the edge of York, they're as closely related to Leeds and/or Castleford in RL terms.

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3 hours ago, Eddie said:

I doubt if more than 100 people from Bolton go tbf, and even if they did and liked it there then isn’t a Bolton team for them to support. Sheffield is easy to get to from anywhere in the heartlands, much more attractive for a night out and there is a local semi pro club - so much more sensible than Bolton. 

There’s a lot of Wigan and Leigh fans in Bolton to be fair.

Yes of course it’s a football town, however there are nearby RL teams to follow.

And you’ll see a hell of a lot more rugby league shirts in Bolton than I ever saw after three years living in Sheffield.

All that said I wish Sheffield Eagles luck in the future.

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3 hours ago, JM2010 said:

Building the community game is needed first before an academy. A Sheffield academy at the moment will just be trying to recruit juniors from the same clubs as everyone else. I would like to see Sheffield, Coventry, York etc with elite academies but they need a strong community game first to make it sustainable 

It's the pathway which creates the interest.

"We'll sell you a seat .... but you'll only need the edge of it!"

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27 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Does anyone involved with Sheffield Eagles know why they failed to gain traction in the city after winning the Challenge Cup and also playing in the top flight?

How big did the crowds get and where did they go?

Are there any lessons to be learned before we spend resource trying a big push there as some are proposing?

Yes, SL made them ‘merge’ with Huddersfield and effectively erased the club. 

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53 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

There’s a lot of Wigan and Leigh fans in Bolton to be fair.

Yes of course it’s a football town, however there are nearby RL teams to follow.

And you’ll see a hell of a lot more rugby league shirts in Bolton than I ever saw after three years living in Sheffield.

All that said I wish Sheffield Eagles luck in the future.

That’s good to hear. Are they actually people from Bolton or people from Wigan/Leigh who are in Bolton though? Shame there isn’t a Bolton club if there’s interest there. 

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46 minutes ago, Eddie said:

That’s good to hear. Are they actually people from Bolton or people from Wigan/Leigh who are in Bolton though? Shame there isn’t a Bolton club if there’s interest there. 

Both I would say (you’re right about the ex-pats) and there is an amateur club called the Bolton Mets.

Quite a lot of people in north Bolton will have been to watch Wigan at some point, particularly in the hey day.

Obviously Bolton Wanderers is the main sporting priority in the town, but rugby league (Wigan and Leigh mainly) has always had a following in the town too.

I would say though a well planned event in Sheffield coupled with a promotion of the Eagles would be worth it and I’m not arguing that Bolton forever be a Challenge Cup semi option, but it isn’t a bad one either.

 

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17 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Yes, I know that bit, I’m talking about before then.

I lived there in the mid 90s and the Eagles were quite visible, plenty of publicity and articles in the local press etc. They used to get about 4k iirc. 

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