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The potential of Sheffield Eagles is enormous


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First off, it's great to see Sheffield Eagles playing in front of a crowd in their home city. This is what the club has been missing for many years. 

Before they 'merged' with Huddersfield, their crowds weren't too bad. They got crowds of up to 8,000 so there is potential there. It will take time to develop the ground to anywhere near SL level but with IMG on board anything is possible, perhaps investment could be sourced to put into the stadium and team. We are talking about a city with a population of nearly 600,000, anything is possible. 

In the short term, now that they can get matchday revenues it should increase the amount of money they can spend on players and make them more competitive on the field. 

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10 hours ago, The Daddy said:

First off, it's great to see Sheffield Eagles playing in front of a crowd in their home city. This is what the club has been missing for many years. 

Before they 'merged' with Huddersfield, their crowds weren't too bad. They got crowds of up to 8,000 so there is potential there. It will take time to develop the ground to anywhere near SL level but with IMG on board anything is possible, perhaps investment could be sourced to put into the stadium and team. We are talking about a city with a population of nearly 600,000, anything is possible. 

In the short term, now that they can get matchday revenues it should increase the amount of money they can spend on players and make them more competitive on the field. 

The potential of Sheffield is enormous with huge backing, a long term plan and probably a #### load of development officers there. I see no evidence that this has been a strategy to try and grow RL in the city.

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17 minutes ago, Scubby said:

The potential of Sheffield is enormous with huge backing, a long term plan and probably a #### load of development officers there. I see no evidence that this has been a strategy to try and grow RL in the city.

Exactly, there are two community clubs in the whole city. RL had a massive opportunity there in the 90s, which like all massive opportunities over the last 100 years it has spurned, and it will be a huge task to get the Eagles back anywhere near where they were. That said I really like the club and hope it happens, it would be superb to see them back in SL. 

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Another one to file under “potential but needs loads of money and a plan around it”, so massively unlikely. 

If Bramall Lane was bigger, I’d advocate Magic going there but I think it’s too small and Hillsborough is too old and probably a bit too far out from the city centre. 

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2 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Hillsborough is too old and probably a bit too far out from the city centre. 

It would have the advantage of Hillsborough Park for a festival kind of thing though. Alex Simmonds packing them in.

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1 minute ago, Leyther_Matt said:

It would have the advantage of Hillsborough Park for a festival kind of thing though. Alex Simmonds packing them in.

More reason to stay in the city centre and get the latest possible tram. That’s a recipe for a hangover in a city like Sheffield. 

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20 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Another one to file under “potential but needs loads of money and a plan around it”, so massively unlikely. 

If Bramall Lane was bigger, I’d advocate Magic going there but I think it’s too small and Hillsborough is too old and probably a bit too far out from the city centre. 

It holds 32,000 and is perfectly located for a weekend in the city.  Do we ever get near that number in at Magic concurrently? Seems to me that the crowd ebbs and flows depending on who is playing at any given time.

Edit: Attendance stats suggest that it's the perfect size 

Edited by David Shepherd
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6 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

Hundred percent.  Sport has no real other club staring themselves in the face for growth as much as Eagles. Even if Eagles only get bk to 3000 thats probably an extra £500,000 into the sport.  

Are you saying the Sheffield Eagles have more potential for growth than any other club in sport? 

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7 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Are you saying the Sheffield Eagles have more potential for growth than any other club in sport? 

I guess he's talking in Rugby League and I'd probably agree with him (well them and Doncaster). They're just on the periphery of the heartlands making player recruitment that much easier. One is a decent size city and Donny is very much up and coming.

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As long as Sheffield Eagles avoid listening to anyone on this thread and do what they need to do as a club then they will be fine.

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Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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17 minutes ago, David Shepherd said:

It holds 32,000 and is perfectly located for a weekend in the city.  Do we ever get near that number in at Magic concurrently? Seems to me that the crowd ebbs and flows depending on who is playing at any given time.

Edit: Attendance stats suggest that it's the perfect size 

It’s not perfect in the slightest, in fact it would be pretty poor. The beauty of Magic Weekend is the ability to move around freely and come and go, which is why city centre venues like Cardiff and Newcastle are so popular and why it helps playing it in a larger stadium so it’s much easier to move around and you’re not in a fuller, smaller venue up and down every few minutes because someone is leaving, someone needs the toilet, someone wants a buy, someone is bored of a game and will go for a walk etc. 

For one game like an international, like the World Cup game, it’s great for.

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13 minutes ago, David Shepherd said:

I guess he's talking in Rugby League and I'd probably agree with him (well them and Doncaster). They're just on the periphery of the heartlands making player recruitment that much easier. One is a decent size city and Donny is very much up and coming.

Makes a change from York and Newcastle. 
 

Anyway as London have shown, the size of city isn’t necessarily important. In fact there’s a fair argument to say that having big football teams on your doorstep reduces potential, whatever the size of the place, and somewhere without that as competition would have more potential, even if smaller in size. 

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25 minutes ago, David Shepherd said:

It holds 32,000 and is perfectly located for a weekend in the city.  Do we ever get near that number in at Magic concurrently? Seems to me that the crowd ebbs and flows depending on who is playing at any given time.

Edit: Attendance stats suggest that it's the perfect size 

What really is the point though of Magic in a ground like that in Sheffield? Some clubs have grounds not a great deal smaller than that and if we are talking some of the derbies we see this year you may as well have Wigan v Saints getting 20k+ at the DW and the Hull derby getting 20k+ in Hull.

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I have had a chat with the Development Officer in the past year for various reasons. She was brilliant and helped out with what i was initially talking to her about (some coaching help etc). But the Coffee turned into 2 and 3 while we chewed the fat over RL in the city and some of the plans she had and ideas she had were brilliant. If she can get some funding through the foundation etc then I think she can do loads in building the junior clubs and the junior sections. 

This season, as mentioned on other threads, Jack Howieson (now DoR at Sheffield Tigers RU club, national 2 RU club) has set up an Under 14s and Under 15s RL team in the summer, Under 14s first game was last Saturday Under 15s is tomorrow night. This has brought in some players to Tigers from other RU clubs and schools in the area and its new players to RL mostly. This is the more affluent side of the city too and where there are company owners and senior directors etc so its a great potential area for support. This is just one, if this works I can see them speaking to other clubs to show how this has helped Tigers keep revenue through the summer but also introduce new players, parents, supporters to the club which then will also impact on Eagles. I'm very excited by how it has started and think its a brilliant positive move.. Eagles need to capitalise on it too (push games to the kids/parents etc)... 

Bramall Lane would be perfect for the challenge cup semi double header/triple header and I think would get good support. The match against Greece will be good, i have a group going and know of many others. The Lane will host 3 of the womens Euro 2022 group matches plus a semi final (maybe a quarter rather than semi i cant remember) so it will be interesting to see what numbers go to that too. Its perfect for a city centre ground not far from the train station etc 

I dont think they need to overthink anything, just keep doing what they are doing. There have been people wanting to invest money in the past, especially pre stadium build, but it was dependent on the council allowing them to do certain things which they refused to do and that scuppered the investment. Whether they were right to do this as the demands were unfavourable I dont know but it shows there is interest to invest around.. it just needs a favourable wind. 

The ground is step 1.. eagles need to then push forward and slowly grow it, use the Greece game as a springboard, free /discounted ticket for the first match of next season with a code given out or something similar.. but the feeling i get is they know that its a mix of top and bottom and the DO and Foundation team get what their part in it is and are working on it too... 

I'm pretty positive about it but people need to temper their excitement too.. 5 year plan I'd say to be stable and settled, then we can start to look at the bigger jumps if we can.

Edited by RP London
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2 hours ago, RP London said:

I have had a chat with the Development Officer in the past year for various reasons. She was brilliant and helped out with what i was initially talking to her about (some coaching help etc). But the Coffee turned into 2 and 3 while we chewed the fat over RL in the city and some of the plans she had and ideas she had were brilliant. If she can get some funding through the foundation etc then I think she can do loads in building the junior clubs and the junior sections. 

This season, as mentioned on other threads, Jack Howieson (now DoR at Sheffield Tigers RU club, national 2 RU club) has set up an Under 14s and Under 15s RL team in the summer, Under 14s first game was last Saturday Under 15s is tomorrow night. This has brought in some players to Tigers from other RU clubs and schools in the area and its new players to RL mostly. This is the more affluent side of the city too and where there are company owners and senior directors etc so its a great potential area for support. This is just one, if this works I can see them speaking to other clubs to show how this has helped Tigers keep revenue through the summer but also introduce new players, parents, supporters to the club which then will also impact on Eagles. I'm very excited by how it has started and think its a brilliant positive move.. Eagles need to capitalise on it too (push games to the kids/parents etc)... 

Bramall Lane would be perfect for the challenge cup semi double header/triple header and I think would get good support. The match against Greece will be good, i have a group going and know of many others. The Lane will host 3 of the womens Euro 2022 group matches plus a semi final (maybe a quarter rather than semi i cant remember) so it will be interesting to see what numbers go to that too. Its perfect for a city centre ground not far from the train station etc 

I dont think they need to overthink anything, just keep doing what they are doing. There have been people wanting to invest money in the past, especially pre stadium build, but it was dependent on the council allowing them to do certain things which they refused to do and that scuppered the investment. Whether they were right to do this as the demands were unfavourable I dont know but it shows there is interest to invest around.. it just needs a favourable wind. 

The ground is step 1.. eagles need to then push forward and slowly grow it, use the Greece game as a springboard, free /discounted ticket for the first match of next season with a code given out or something similar.. but the feeling i get is they know that its a mix of top and bottom and the DO and Foundation team get what their part in it is and are working on it too... 

I'm pretty positive about it but people need to temper their excitement too.. 5 year plan I'd say to be stable and settled, then we can start to look at the bigger jumps if we can.

An interesting post that makes a great deal of sense.

Like many others, I was delighted to see the Eagles back in Sheffield on Monday night and very happy to see an enthusiastic, noisy crowd rewarded with a win in an entertaining game.

I don't think there's any doubt that the Eagles have great potential, as do Doncaster, the other club in South Yorkshire. After the decision to make Doncaster a city, we now potentially have a South Yorkshire city derby in Rugby League, if they can get into the same competition.

It's worth recalling that when the Eagles played Widnes at Bramall Lane in 1989, a week after Widnes had beaten Canberra in the World Club Challenge, they had a crowd of around 8,000 and it was a great event. So they have a lot of lost ground to recover.

In those days I lectured at Sheffield Hallam University and I took several colleagues to the game, all of whom were impressed by what they saw. Unfortunately, however, the Don Valley Stadium was never going to be a suitable venue for Rugby League, although the crowds there were usually quite respectable.

I hope the new stadium will be gradually enlarged and that the Eagles can draw regular, rising four-figure crowds and that they can encourage more community development of Rugby League in the city.

When I lectured at Hallam, it's fair to say that the Eagles had plenty of name recognition. I don't know whether that is still true, but I'm sure that the conditions now exist for the club to make significant progress. I wish them well.

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1 hour ago, Martyn Sadler said:

An interesting post that makes a great deal of sense.

Like many others, I was delighted to see the Eagles back in Sheffield on Monday night and very happy to see an enthusiastic, noisy crowd rewarded with a win in an entertaining game.

I don't think there's any doubt that the Eagles have great potential, as do Doncaster, the other club in South Yorkshire. After the decision to make Doncaster a city, we now potentially have a South Yorkshire city derby in Rugby League, if they can get into the same competition.

It's worth recalling that when the Eagles played Widnes at Bramall Lane in 1989, a week after Widnes had beaten Canberra in the World Club Challenge, they had a crowd of around 8,000 and it was a great event. So they have a lot of lost ground to recover.

In those days I lectured at Sheffield Hallam University and I took several colleagues to the game, all of whom were impressed by what they saw. Unfortunately, however, the Don Valley Stadium was never going to be a suitable venue for Rugby League, although the crowds there were usually quite respectable.

I hope the new stadium will be gradually enlarged and that the Eagles can draw regular, rising four-figure crowds and that they can encourage more community development of Rugby League in the city.

When I lectured at Hallam, it's fair to say that the Eagles had plenty of name recognition. I don't know whether that is still true, but I'm sure that the conditions now exist for the club to make significant progress. I wish them well.

Thanks Martyn

I think there is still name recognition. If you were to say you were going to an Eagles game people would roughly know what you meant, they may get the type of Rugby wrong but thats not rare or uncommon in a place where football is king, but I think people would remember who they were. I've seen a fair bit about the filming of the Full Monty TV show and they have Gary still in the same Sheffield United shirt at times. Hopefully the old Eagles Shirt can get a run out and a bit of brand recognition with it too. 

If we can just turn a little of it into the crowds and can get a steady 1,500 then hopefully that will show that a little more development can increase again and just slowly build it back. 

DVS was in the hands of the council who never seem to get the fact that you have to invest to keep things in a good state, which in turn gets better quality of events getting you more money to reinvest etc. Hopefully the Scarborough Group will at least get that and be a bot more helpful in terms of expansion and keeping the facility up to scratch, the shorter lease may also help that. 

 

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There are some interesting posts here, but if I'm honest, I'm not reading too much that suggests that there is enormous potential in Sheffield.

I hope I'm wrong and will be looking forward to seeing what happens when they host the England World Cup game later this year, but I'm just not sure.

I have enjoyed the many trips to the City over the years, I'd love them to do well.

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16 minutes ago, Dave T said:

There are some interesting posts here, but if I'm honest, I'm not reading too much that suggests that there is enormous potential in Sheffield.

I hope I'm wrong and will be looking forward to seeing what happens when they host the England World Cup game later this year, but I'm just not sure.

I have enjoyed the many trips to the City over the years, I'd love them to do well.

I wouldnt disagree with you. I think Sheffield could do well, then grow, but its going to take a lot of work and there are, of course, no guarantees. But I do think with a helpful wind there could be a really nice Championship club in Sheffield which could have a good junior set up throughout south yorkshire. Then from there who knows. Thats how I am looking at it anyway.

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I'd love to see a strong Sheffield club competing at the top of rugby league, just like I'd love to see a strong London club, but neither has happened and probably won't but we can hope?

Incidentally, would Sheffield playing in front of say, 3,000 be acceptable?

And would Sheffield playing in front of, say 6,000 in a 30,000 seat stadium also be acceptable?

Good luck to them.

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43 minutes ago, RP London said:

I wouldnt disagree with you. I think Sheffield could do well, then grow, but its going to take a lot of work and there are, of course, no guarantees. But I do think with a helpful wind there could be a really nice Championship club in Sheffield which could have a good junior set up throughout south yorkshire. Then from there who knows. Thats how I am looking at it anyway.

Agree 100% with this mate. 

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Sheffield is a massive football city, and we need to market the game to these fans, at the end of the football season, and get them to experience Rugby League... 

One thing the Eagles excelled at when I was at school, was the players coming down to train us, and spread the game that way, and they gave away free tickets to us school kids, and a reduced priced admission to the game for the parents, and it seemed to work... I know the development team are back doing that, and now we have our home, they get back to the initiatives that work. 

We also need to do something the RFL are ###### at promote the game, promote the family atmosphere, get the Eagles everywhere, get the South Yorkshire Cup back up and running, get down to Meadowhell on a Saturday and meet people, get into the City Centre and do the same...

The team at the Eagles are going in the right direction but a long way to go...

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7 minutes ago, Pie tries said:

First step - get your own home to put down roots…(tick)…..now anything’s possible

(London et al - take note)

One of the things that has been limiting crowd promotion is the state of the stadium. You don't want folk turning up for the first time, thinking "this is carp" and never coming ever again. With an 800 limit, we're not quite there yet  but that should change before the end of the season.

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

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14 hours ago, meast said:

I'd love to see a strong Sheffield club competing at the top of rugby league, just like I'd love to see a strong London club, but neither has happened and probably won't but we can hope?

Incidentally, would Sheffield playing in front of say, 3,000 be acceptable?

And would Sheffield playing in front of, say 6,000 in a 30,000 seat stadium also be acceptable?

Good luck to them.

3,000 would be amazing. Its been a long hard struggle since being sold down the river. 9 years without a proper home where you can do some of the things mentioned on here and without a set up that has been able to support junior development has meant almost a missed generation of people. Building from where we are to 3,000 would be a job very well done and should be congratulated.. of course you then put down the champagne and work out your next target after that (keeping the 3,000 and building). 

One thing I really dont like at the moment is this need to be in much larger stadiums than you need, 30,000 seater stadiums when you only get 6,000 crowds etc. Its not about the size of the stadium its the quality and atmosphere in it, if you cant fill it then what the hell is the point, its just money spent on building a ground too big and keeping it going that could be spent elsewhere (or rental costs higher than they need to be). If you get 6,000 then get a 15,000 stadium tops maybe a 10k.. if you sell out a big game then thats great, sell it out, have a great atmosphere and make people want to get tickets (you can even put the price up as supply is outstripping demand). But that is 1 or 2 games a season, for the rest of the time you are rattling around the ground and the ground looks empty, it also costs more to maintain if its larger etc etc.  A really nice 10-15k stadium with 6-8k of people in for the majority of the matches and 2-3 lock outs a year would be fab.

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  The bank opposite the stand goes back a far way.If needed and investment was found a terrace could be put in to hold 5/6 thousand spectators with no problem.Pathway from the road so it would be easy to put gates and entrances at the top of the bank.Long way off at present but they need to have a goal to aim at.

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