1986-87 - The Push for Promotion

Initially he had thought about following a developing trend in British Rugby League of appointing an Australian coach, as it was clearly obvious that the Australian game was well ahead of the UK’s in all departments. The game there had the resources, the prestige and the media coverage which the British game could only dream of. But given their current limited financial resources, such a move was unaffordable.

So he did the next best thing, He spent the summer trying to learn about

Australian training methods and commercial opportunities, through talking

to the leading lights of the game. On his return he felt he had gained enough insight to take on the role of coach himself.

He set about recruiting a new coaching team. He appointed Steve Ferres, who had been an Eagles player the previous season, but also had a wealth of experience as a scrumhalf playing for a number of top clubs. He also brought in Howard Cartwright, an ex- (York) winger. Both would remain with the club for several relatively successful years.

Off the field there were Board room changes. Geoff Dilley took over as Chair in May, following the resignation of Terry Sharman, who took over the role of Club President. Richard Pepper who had helped set up the supporters club joined the Board of Directors.

Hetherington had retained 16 players from the previous season:

• Mark Aston
• Dave Cholmondley
• Kevin Farrell
• John Glancy
• Gary Hetherington
• Steve Lane
• Roy Rafferty
• Gary Smith
• Derek Bridgeman
• Andy Dickinson
• Mark Gamson
• Billy Harris
• Paul Kuhnemann
• Daryl Powell
• Mitchell Sherwood
• Peter Wilders

To that core group he recruited throughout the season a mixture of players with experience and young players who were looking to make a mark, many from the amateur game:

• John Blazey
• David Close (Pontefract Labour
• ARLFC)
• Neil Kellett (Mansfield)
• Cliff Lyons (Manly Aus)
• Craig Miller (Carlisle/Aus)
• Kevin Nason (Doncaster)
• Sean Sarsfield
• Malcolm Taylor
• Peter Brennan (Halifax)
• Ian Crowther (Carlisle)
• Steve Lidbury (Lock Lane ARLFC)
• Trevor Midgley (York) 
• Nick Muir (Blackpool)
• Stephen Parkes (Moorends ARLFC)
• Greg Sheridan

Kevin Nason, a former BARLA International player’s signing was regarded as a coup at the time, whilst Cliff Lyons, who arrived at the start of October, was regarded as a celebrity signing. A Manly Sea Eagles player, he had appeared for Leeds in the previous season during the Australian offseason. He had picked up a four match ban at the end of that season, so his home club technically loaned him to the Eagles so that he could work off that suspension during his stay before returning to his home club at the start of the Australian season in the new year. Manly had paid his fare over to England. If this arrangement had not been in place the Eagles would not have been able to afford such a star player.

Gary Hetherington also played during the season, coming out of semiretirement when the Eagles faced an injury crisis during the season, playing in nine games.

In their preparations for the forthcoming season, the Eagles had a home friendly against St Helens. Played on the 20th August, Sheffield were ahead at half-time 14-6, Despite making a valiant effort they finally lost the match, 25-26. Try scorers that day were Andy Dickinson, Mark Gamson, Derek Bridgeman, Dave Cholmondley and Steve Lidbury, Roy Rafferty only managed two conversions and Cholmondley kicked a drop goal.

Reviewing the forthcoming season, Gary Hetherington commented:

Before the new season kicked off, there was a further change to the structure of the Second Division. The Rugby Football League Council had approved a scheme devised and proposed by the Eagles representative, Kath Hetherington, to reduce the existing 34 match schedule of the 18 clubs in the Division to a more manageable 28, thereby hopefully avoiding the fixture congestion at the end of the previous season. To achieve this a complicated formula was agreed that involved a six group of three clubs system based on the club’s previous seasons final position. The Eagles were placed in Group E and would not be playing the three group B teams, Blackpool, Rochdale, and Whitehaven. 

Promotion would be decided by an end of season top eight play-off, with two teams gaining promotion, but four being relegated from the Championship. Consequently for the 1987-88 Season, the Second Division would again comprise 20 teams, and the Championship 14. 

The season kicked off with a home-tie against Mansfield Marksmen on 31st August . In front of a crowd of only 594, the Eagles ran in seven tries, with a hat-trick from Andy Dickinson and a debut brace from Steve Lidbury. With six conversions from Roy Rafferty, Sheffield were comfortable victors, posting their highest score to date, 40-5. This was followed three days later with a further home win in the preliminary round of the Yorkshire Cup, against South Yorkshire neighbours, Doncaster, but by a much narrower margin, 22-20.

The next league game involved a trip to Keighley the following Sunday where the winning run continued with a 29-16 victory. But the run ended abruptly in the next round of the Yorkshire Cup. Travelling to Dewsbury, the Eagles lost by a single point, 10-9 and were out for another season. Derek Bridgeman was sent off in the match, which had a bearing on the outcome of the game.

This was followed by a trip to Fulham who were facing financial troubles and had only started their season two weeks previously under new management. Taking advantage of their opponents weakness on the field, Roy Dickinson secured another hat-trick, whilst Rafferty kicked twelve goals from twelve attempts, as well as two tries giving him, the club record for points scored by one player in a game, 32. The 68-14 demolition of Fulham was the highest score achieved by the visitors and was a club record for many seasons to come.

A home revenge victory at the end of the month, 31-10, continued the run, with Steve Lidbury scoring a further two tries. The September performance secured the Rugby Leaguer Coach of the Month award and the Daily Mirror/Lada Cars Team of the Month award for the Eagles, the first time they had secured both theses accolades.

October started with a close home victory over Huddersfield, 12-9, with Derek Bridgeman scoring two tries. Next a trip to third placed Swinton, who were also unbeaten in the League. After their hosts took an early ten points lead, Sheffield scored three tries in ten minutes to temporarily go in front, but by half time the sides were level at 18 points each. Then Swinton took the initiative , and despite a further two tries from the Eagles, the hosts claimed the game with two late tries, 46-26. Although defeated at Swinton the Eagles scored more points than their hosts had conceded all season, but their defence let them down.

The next visitors to Owlerton were Carlisle, who were beaten comfortably 24-10, but this was followed by three successive defeats. This coincided with the arrival of Cliff Lyons who had to sit out the first four games due the four match ban he had received for being sent off in Manly’s last match of the season. The first defeat was at fifth placed Runcorn, where they lost 22-4, with the only try being scored by Andy Dickinson, in a real off day for the whole team. This was followed by a home defeat to twelfth placed York, 32-14 and then at the start of November a trip to tenth placed Bramley saw the Eagles trailing 24-4 at half time. Then Cholmondley was sent off just after the restart and, although they put in a much better performance in the second half, still ended up losing 24-14 at full time. After being top of the table at the start of October, they had fallen to fifth at the start of November.

They also struggled in their next game against Fulham at Owlerton. Having soundly beaten them in the away fixture, they only just managed to scrape a victory, 17-8. This was followed by another close win at Huddersfield, 12-8, The Eagles then faced Batley at home, with Cliff Lyons playing at stand-off. His superior class was apparent as he masterminded a 24-4 win, putting in Steve Parkes for a fourth minute try before crossing the whitewash himself fifteen minutes later. Taking over from an injured Roy Rafferty, he made three conversions. Yet in the first round home tie of the John Player Trophy, match against Bramley, he missed the first two kicks and was replaced by Paul Kuehneman as kicker. Nevertheless, the Eagles ran out 14-6 winners.

Trouble had been brewing in the boardroom between recently appointed Chair, Geoff Dilley, and Gary Hetherington. Dilley was a major shareholder, and Hetherington was under the impression that he wanted to either remove him from the club or wind up the Eagles because of the financial difficulties it was facing at the time. An extraordinary General Meeting of the shareholders was held at the start of December. A proposal was put to the meeting for the removal of all six Directors. Hetherington, Richard Pepper, and David Durie survived these proposals with no votes against. But Mel Bedford, Gerry Mullins and Geoff Dilley were removed.

Kath Hetherington was voted onto the Board as a Director and the Eagles proceeded with a slimmed down Board of four, which was reduced to three with the unfortunate death of David Durie later. Since then, the Eagles were not inflicted with any boardroom rivalries until the 1990s. However Dilley and Bedford sought legal redress to recover monies they felt the club owed them, but this matter was settled out of court.

On the field, December started with a home defeat to Barrow in the second round of the John Player Trophy, 14-8, when a perfectly good try by Cliff Lyons had been disallowed, which if they had the video referee at the time would have been allowed. This was followed by an away victory at York, 28-18, followed by an away loss to Workington Town, 28-16. Mark Aston took over the goal kicking from an injured Rafferty, retaining the role until the end of March.

December ended with the Christmas fixture against Mansfield, Their hosts had only won two games all season and languished at the bottom of the table. A five try performance, with two from Dickinson, and Lidbury, Kuhnemann and Lyons, on his last appearance for the Eagles before returning to Australia, saw the Sheffield side end the year with a victory 26-10 and sitting well in the play-off positions in third place.

As in previous seasons. January was a month of defeats and matches postponed for the Eagles. Their Carlisle game was moved to Penrith because Carlisle’s ground was waterlogged. Playing recent recruit, Australian Nicky Muir at standoff, they lost 17-6. This was his only game for the Eagles. They turned to amateur David Close, as a replacement. Their next tie was a home fixture against Bramley which, to beat the icy weather was moved to Headingly with its underfloor heating. Losing 14-12, it attracted the fourth highest crowd of the season, 709 and made the experiment financially rewarding for the club.

The final match of the month was another home fixture, this time against second placed Swinton. It was a much closer affair than their previous encounter, the Eagles narrowly losing 17-14.

February kicked off with a first round match in the Challenge Cup. Playing on a Thursday night, because heavy frost on the scheduled Sunday had made the Owlerton pitch unplayable, the Eagles narrowly lost 8-6 to Keighley, with Mark Aston responsible for the home side’s points. They were unable to break down the visitors defence, who managed to secure progress to the next round through their close marking and fierce tackling.

Three days later Sheffield managed their first victory of 1987, with the visit of Workington Town. David Close scored his maiden try, one of five scored as the Eagles rallied putting on the best performance of the year so far, to take the game 34-14. But the next fixture at Hunslet brought yet another defeat, as the top of the table outfit won the game 18-10. Making his debut at that game was Neil Kellet, who had been one of Gary Hetherington’s targets when he first started recruiting in 1984. It turned out to be a fortuitous signing, as the Eagles season turned around in the last eight weeks of the regular season.

As March arrived the Eagles found themselves still in the playoffs in sixth position, having fallen from the fourth position they held at the start of the year. If they continued with their current run of form, Hetherington’s goal of achieving a playoff position was very much in doubt. With seven games left, two of them against high flying South Yorkshire rivals, Doncaster, they had to win the majority of those games, and that is what they actually did.

Keighley were the next to visit Owlerton at the start of March. It took a last gasp try by Kevin Farrell, a former Keighley player, to secure the match points in this closely fought encounter, 18-15. Then a trip to Tattersfield saw the Eagles lose 14-8 on a waterlogged pitch, even though the Dons had hired a helicopter to hover over the pitch in an attempt to disperse the pools of water, Initially leading 8-0, they found themselves penned into their own twenty five as they were besieged for much of the second half, the Eagles defence failing to keep their opponents from scoring the winning points.

This was followed by two further away trips to Dewsbury and Batley. Both were lying in the lower reaches of Division Two. Both were comfortably beaten, with Mark Aston kicking four goals in the Dewsbury victory, 28-6. He kicked a further four goals and scored a try in the 28-7 win at Mount Pleasant. The two victories consolidated the Eagles in sixth position in the League.

After three consecutive trips away, they were back home at Owlerton and welcomed back Roy Rafferty from injury. In the three months since his last appearance, Mark Aston had proven to be a worthy replacement, kicking 26 goals in that time. Their opponents were top of the table, Hunslet, who needed a victory to ensure their promotion to the Championship, With the largest home crowd so far that season in attendance, the Eagles had built up a 16-6 lead by half time, with Rafferty scoring two of the tries and Andrew Wilson scoring the other. The second half saw Hunslet pinning the home side in their own half for long periods, with Mark Gamson playing a pivotal role in the defence with his last minute tackling. They only conceded a single converted try in that half, beating the league leaders 16-12.

As the season entered April, two matches remained until the Eagles first appearance in the Play-offs, both at home. First up were Runcorn Highfield, who had surprisingly beaten the Sheffield side in the previous October. The home side made up for their lacklustre display that day, by registering their second highest victory of the season, In their centenary match they won 52-12. The game did not kick off until 7.30 pm due to a potential clash with the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough.

The 609 in attendance, witnessed a feast of nine tries, with Neil Kellett scoring the first. He was then followed by two tries apiece from Aston and Close, with Wilson, Rafferty and Smith also getting on the scoresheet. Steve Lidbury secured his seventeenth and last try of the season, whilst Rafferty completed the match with eight goals.

The last match of the league programme was against their South Yorkshire rivals. Expecting a repeat performance, the largest crowd of the season, 1.922 witnessed a close affair, with Doncaster running out 16-14 victors. Finishing on 34 points and having won seventeen games, ten of which had been at Owlerton, the Eagles had fulfilled Gary Hetherington key objective of finishing off the season in the new play-off system. However they could have finished higher if they had not dropped some points unexpectedly against poorer teams

In their first playoff game, they faced an away trip to third place Whitehaven whom, because of the new structure, they had not played at all during the season. In another close affair, they had a 12-6 lead at half time. However in the second half they were outscored by four tries to two, with Whitehaven progressing to the semi-final, 29-24. The Eagles scorers on that day were John Glancy, Andy Dickinson, Daryl Powell, and Neil Kellet, with Roy Rafferty converting all four tries. Whitehaven were knocked out in the next round by Swinton, who beat Hunslet in the Grand Final 27-10.

The Eagles third season confirmed that, under the guidance of Gary

Hetherington, they were fast becoming a rising force in Rugby League. Overall under his leadership they had won nineteen League and Cup games. Mark Aston won player of the year in his first full season, whilst Steve Lidbury was invited to join the Great Britain Under 21 squad to play France, although he did not play in the match. It justified Hetherington’s ability to spot, select and develop young talent, a facet that would continue in future seasons as the Eagles progressed to greater heights.

Top points scorer was Roy Rafferty with 184, which included 11 tries, followed by Mark Aston with 80, including 7 tries. Steve Lidbury was top try scorer with 17, closely followed by Andy Dickinson with 15

However despite an improved performance on the field, average home crowd numbers fell again from 748 to 656. The average for the Second Division was 979

The season also saw the growth and development of the new Colts side as the Eagles development programme started to bear fruit. Playing at Steel City Community Centre at Shiregreen and coached by Darryl Powell at the latter end of the season, it was a steep[ learning curve for the young squad, who were at the wrong end of a number of high scoring defats as they were pitched against more experienced squads. However they managed a couple of victories, beating Huddersfield Barracudas 14-8 and Dewsbury 11-6. The Eagles also ran a number of junior teams during the season. 

Other local teams linked to the Eagles had mixed fortunes. Hillsborough Hawks were playing in Division Five of the West Yorkshire League and finished in mid table. Norfolk Bridge Plumpers, however, did not win a game all season.

As the season closed the Eagles saw a number of players move on:

• Dave Cholmondley (retired)
• Paul Kuhnemann (Australia)
• Craig Miller (Fulham/Wentworth Australia
• Billy Harris (Batley)
• Cliff Lyons (Manly)
• Kevin Nason (Not Known)

John Blazey, Peter Brennan, Trevor Midgley, Nick Muir, Sean Sarsfield, Greg Sheridan, Mitchell Sherwood, and Malcolm Taylor all played a couple of games for the club and left during the season.

In his three seasons at the Eagles, Billy Harris made 45 appearances and scored 5 tries, whilst in the two seasons he was at the club, Dave Cholmondley played in 49 games, recording 5 tries, 11 goals and 5 drop goals.

A successful season on the field for the Eagles but would they achieve Gary Hetherington’s goal of promotion within two seasons, only time would tell.