Having been at Tottenham on Saturday, it’s interesting to reflect on the Challenge Cup Final 24 years ago, when Sheffield Eagles defeated Wigan 17-8 on 2nd May that year in the biggest shock result in the history of Challenge Cup Finals.
It was the penultimate Cup Final to be held at the old Wembley and a great day for those who believe in Rugby League expansion, given that the Eagles had been formed just 14 years earlier by Gary Hetherington and his wife Kath.
Many of us believed that the result heralded a great future for Rugby League in Sheffield. But little did we know that the Eagles’ viability as a Super League club would cease at the end of the following season.
Going back a little earlier, 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, from 1991 the club would move into the Don Valley Stadium, making it their regular home base. Sadly, however, that was never going to be a suitable venue for Rugby League, although the crowds there were usually quite respectable, at least while the club was in Super League.
The Don Valley Stadium had been a white elephant, created originally to host the World Student Games, and it closed in 2013, being demolished soon afterwards. The Eagles then played at the city’s greyhound stadium, Owlerton, in 2014, which proved unsuitable and after that they became a nomadic club, somehow managing to survive against the odds under the guidance of Mark Aston.
So, like many others, I was delighted to see the Eagles back in the Steel City last Monday night and very happy to see an enthusiastic, noisy crowd rewarded with a win in an entertaining game.
There is little 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.
Last Monday’s game was another fine presentation by Premier Sports, with the game itself being a great one to watch. The Eagles fell to an early 0-12 deficit, but then roared back into the game and ended it with a 34-24 scoreline in their favour.
And their supporters looked to be having a great time, while they certainly created a great atmosphere.
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 hope that in the years to come, their supporters will look back at last Monday night as a genuine turning point that presaged the rise of the club to much greater heights.
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