1991-92 - Up we go again

They were now in the newly structured Second Division, which replaced the one they had been promoted from. It constituted the three relegated teams from the Championship, Oldham, Rochdale, and Sheffield, as well as those teams that had finished between fifth and ninth in the old Second Division, Ryedale-York, Leigh, Workington Town, Fulham and Carlisle. The top three, Salford, Halifax and Swinton had been promoted to the Championship. The remaining Second Division clubs plus new club Scarborough Pirates formed the new Third Division.

Only two clubs would now be promoted or relegated, and the Second Division Premiership was also replaced by a ‘Divisional Premiership’, consisting of the top four of the Second Division clubs, with the top eight of the Third Division clubs in a play-off to face the top four of the Second Division clubs. 

The eight Second Division clubs would play each-other in a quadruple round robin. The idea behind this change was an attempt to ensure that those promoted to the Championship would be better placed to stay up, rather than face the yo-yo promotion relegation scenario that had become a reality in recent seasons.

In the off season, Fulham moved from their existing ground at Craven Cottage, and changed their name to London Crusaders. It was also reported that Leigh were facing financial difficulties, which would impact on the earlier performances in the league.

Hetherington had hoped to retain the majority of the team that had been relegated, but the top clubs in the Championship were looking to recruit the Eagles stars. St Helens put a bid in for Sonny Nickle but were not prepared to pay the price tag Gary Hetherington had placed on him. The move went to an RFL Tribunal that ruled in favour of the Saints and Nickle left the club for £80,000, with a further £25,000 should Nickle play for Great Britain against either Australia or New Zealand, even though Hetherington was not happy with the transfer money the club had received. Castleford also signed Dave Nelson, but Hetherington managed to agree a swap deal that brought David Plange into the squad.

The nucleus of the 1991-92 first team squad were:

• Mark Aston
• David Close
• Anthony Farrell
• Nick Grimoldby
• Dean Johnson
• Keith Mumby
• Richard Picksley
• Richard Price
• Andy Young
• Paul Broadbent
• Michael Cook
• Mark Gamson
• Nick Halafihi
• Des Maea
• David Mycoe
• Daryl Powell
• Hugh Waddell

To that group Hetherington signed the following players before the start and during the season:

• Tim Lumb (Hunslet)
• Anderson Okiwe (Nottingham Hoods)
• Craig Robertson
• Adrian Shelford
• Tony Tuimavave (Northcote/Auckland/New Zealand)
• Charlie McAlister (Oldham)
• David Plange Castleford)
• Iva Ropati (Featherstone New Zealand)
• Anthony Simpson

AJ Okiwe was an American Grid Iron Player who played for Nottingham Hoods. He contacted Gary Hetherington about a trial and was signed after playing for the Alliance in November.

Dale Laughton was promoted from the Alliance squad, and a number of other players also played for both the Alliance and First Teams.

Sam Panapa was expected to resign but opted to join Wigan instead.

The Eagles also decided to set up an Academy Squad, which would appear in the Academies’ Second Division. He signed a group of promising young players from a number of amateur clubs.

• Alan Byer and Chris Price (Kippax)
• Lee Mowbridge and Alex Thompson (Crown Mallet Hull)
• Ryan Sheridan (Dewsbury Moor)
• Ian Hughes (E Leeds)
• Michael Foster (Dewsbury)
• Craig Robertson (Paddock Huddersfield)

These players formed the nucleus of the Academy squad, which was joined by a number of other young hopefuls including Matthew Crowther, Darren Turner and Glen Reilly

Dean Riddle was also appointed to coaching staff. A former New Zealand sprint champion, the appointment was made to focus on increasing the speed of all players.

As with previous seasons the Eagles played a number of friendlies aimed at getting the squad match ready for the start of the season. On August 1st they met the SW Yorkshire Amateurs XIII in the annual David Durie Memorial Trophy. A mixture of Alliance and First Team players represented the Sheffield side and yet again secured the Trophy 44-10, with Nick Halafihi scoring a brace. 

An Eagles team again appeared in the Wigan Summer Sevens on the 11th, the tournament attracting teams from Wakefield, Leeds, St Helens, Oldham, and Hunslet, as well as the hosts Wigan. Once again, the Eagles fought their way through to the knockout stages losing to Wigan 24-12. A week later they faced local rivals Doncaster in the Jewsons South Yorkshire Challenge Cup. The previous season they had scraped a 13-10 victory. This time they recorded nine tries, with two apiece from Close and Picksley to take the trophy 46-15.

On the eve of the 1991-92 season, although one of the favourites to secure promotion, there were no guarantees that the Eagles would achieve it. Teams like Leigh and Oldham, a team they had not yet beaten in their numerous meetings, both having had recent experience of promotion and playing at the higher level, posed the major challenge to the Eagles promotion bid. But none of the other clubs could be categorised as passengers either.

Oldham were the first opponents at Don Valley at the start of September. Coached by former Eagles prop, Australian Peter Tunks, they were the equals of the home side throughout the match. It was Mark Gamson’s 200th appearance for Sheffield. Played in front of over 3,400, which was on a par with crowds at the latter end of the previous season,the Eagles were second best, playing catch up throughout the game. Behind as the half-time hooter was due, a Gamson try in the corner levelled the scores 8 all at the interval. The second half was no better as Oldham developed a 16-10 lead as the clock ticked down. Then Mick Cook finally pulled it back to level the final score at 16-16.

The Eagles poor form continued the following week at Carlisle, where they were punished for their indiscretions. Behind 9-2 at the interval, they went further behind after the restart as the Carlisle kicker hit seven out of seven, enabling the home side to take the match points, 23-12, Richard Price and Keith Mumby the try scorers. Commenting after the game, Gary Hetherington was totally unhappy with his side’s approach:

However reflecting back after the Eagles had started on winning ways, he believed that:

The following Sunday they were at home in the Yorkshire Cup against their perennial foes, Bradford Northern. Northern had had an equally poor start to their campaign, but in a mediocre encounter, the Eagles led 13-10 with a couple of minutes left, with a couple of tries from Richard Price and a strong defensive display from Hugh Waddell and Dale Laughton . Bradford were awarded a penalty, which reduced the lead to a single point. 

From the restart, Price slipped kicking the ball which went into touch. Bradford were awarded a penalty, which they elected to kick, scoring from the half way line, taking the game 14-13, and progressing to the next round. Not an auspicious debut for Laughton, following his promotion from the Alliance, but it did not stop his selection for the away game at London. He was the first “Home grown” player to emerge through the ranks to play for the club.

London were now playing at Crystal Palace National Stadium. They were no match for the Eagles who raced to a comfortable thirty point lead by the interval, Although the Crusaders fought back after the restart, reducing the visitors lead, it was the Eagles who secured their first win of the season, 44-22, with David Plange getting his hat-trick of tries, Iva Ropati scoring a couple and Nick Grimoldby scoring against his old club.

The first month of the campaign ended with yet another trip, this time to Ryedale-York. The Rugby Football league had contrived somehow to get a two to one imbalance between home and away matches until the end of January, which was then reversed until the end of the season. 

York were bottom of the league having lost all their league games, but it did not stop them nearly giving the Eagles a shock, as the visitors struggled to take control. It was their second consecutive game without Mark Aston in his pivotal role, and he would not return to the field until October. David Close had taken over kicking duties, scoring five goals to add to his four in the previous game. Daryl Powell was also not in the team due to injury. It was a Ropati try that clinched the game touching down between the posts, the Eagles victors 26-22. With five points from four games they were behind leaders Oldham, who had 6 points, but on a par with Rochdale and Carlisle.

October brought a further four games and four further victories. Workington Town were the first at Don Valley. Playing exciting, enterprising and adventurous rugby, the Eagles delighted the crowd with attacking football, overcoming their opponents defensive line five times. But only a disappointing 1,488 watched the 28-14 victory, a feature of the Eagles home games until March of the following year. The club looked at ways of increasing income from gate receipts. The preferred option for bringing in new fans was offering two for the price of one voucher. Leafleting around the area was tried as was leafletting large firms , sports clubs, public agencies, local and central government amongst other sectors. This had limited success but using the vehicle of the schools development programme also had an impact if the schools were to appear in the pre-match game.

An away visit to Leigh brought a further narrow victory, 14-13, the first time the Eagles had won at Hilton Park. David Plange scored the winning try as the Eagles defence grimly held out until the final whistle.

 The following week and Rochdale Hornets were the visitors. Another Plange try after only 75 seconds put the home side on the road to victory. He followed it up with his second as well as adding his only field goal in an Eagles shirt. The match saw the debut of New Zealander, Tony Tuimavave, and the return of Des Maea. The 35-14 victory was followed by a further victory at Oldham. In an impressive display, the visitors dominated the game, running in six tries and David Mycoe landing seven goals. The 38-12 victory was the Eagles first against the Roughyeds.

By the end of October the Eagles were top of the league having played eight games and secured 13 points, three points more than their nearest rivals Oldham and Leigh.

For their winning run the Sheffield side were selected as Team of the Month for October. November continued in a similar vein, with a further two league victories and progression in the Regal Trophy.

Newly formed Scarborough Pirated were the Eagles opponents in the preliminary round of the Trophy. In the Pirates line up was former Eagles player Steve Lidbury. The Third Division outfit put up a strong rearguard effort, but could not hold out the Sheffield attack, conceding six tries. Tony Tuimavave scored his first try for the club and with David Mycoe kicking seven goals, the home side progressed to the next round, 38-12.

Further league success came the following week with a 12-6 victory over Carlisle. With no points scored in the first half, the visitors took an early second half lead before succumbing. They were the only team to lead the Eagles in the league so far that season. The following weekend, Sheffield were back in London, when they demolished the Crusaders, 29-12, scoring five tries in a fairly lacklustre performance.

November ended with two more rounds of the Regal Trophy. In the first round they were drawn away against Ryedale York. The game was played in fog, with Maea and Tuimavave giving powerful displays. Ahead 8-6 at the interval the fog thickened in the second, threatening a possible abandonment. A try from man of the match Maea and a drop goal from Aston, settled the game, 13-6. The Eagles reward, yet another cup tie against Bradford Northern.

Having held them to a narrow defeat in their previous encounter, the Eagles were at the wrong end of a 44-10 hammering, as the

Championship sides superiority told. Despite the month ending in defeat and the Eagles exit from the Trophy competition, the Sheffield side were again selected as Team of the Month.

Still top of the table with ten games played, the Sheffield side had 17 points, five points ahead of Leigh with 12m with Carlisle in third place with 11. November also saw Daryl Powell selected for his twelve consecutive GB Test Match against Papua New Guinea, whilst David Mycoe was called up to the U21 squad. Powell was the only Second Division player in the squad.

The Eagles had to make a long trip to Cumbria in the second week of December as they faced Workington Town. It was Ryan Sheridan’s debut game at 16 years and 4 months, coming off the bench to play at stand-off half, one of the youngest ever to play first team rugby. Ahead 12-0 at the interval, the home side had no answer to the Eagles second half performance, as the visitors ran out 35-2 victors, scoring five tries, including a brace from Ropati and Aston responsible for fifteen points.

Ten days before Christmas, they entertained Leigh at Don Valley. Leigh were fast becoming the Eagles main challenger for the title The game hinged on the controversial sending off of Tony Tuimavave for an alleged high tackle late in the first half. Sheffield were ahead at the time but failed to hold on to their lead with 12 men. Both Ropati and Maea scored tries, putting them ahead early in the second half, until a Leigh drop goal levelled the match. Then on 75 minutes, the visitors touched down between the posts, taking the match 16-10. With this victory, Leigh started an eleven league match winning streak which ran until early March.

The Eagles were still top of the table, but they were toppled by Leigh on Boxing Day, who beat Rochdale. Sheffield had travelled to York that day, who were bottom of the Second Division with a solitary point. The home side took control of the game and managed to eke out their first win of the season, 8-6.

Three days later, Sheffield made amends when they played York at Don Valley. They recorded their highest score of the season, beating York 584. In their ten try demolition, Ropati, Meaea and Plange all got a couple of tries each, whilst the young Ryan Sheridan contributed a try and David Mycoe added nine goals as well as a try. As the New Year approached, the club had now secured 21 points from 14 games a point behind league leaders Leigh who had played two games more. Oldham were in third place with 18 points.

January brought three consecutive away games in the league and culminated in an away tie in the Challenge Cup. They travelled to Oldham on January12th and showed their rivals that they meant business taking a 22 point lead by the interval. Although Oldham managed to score three tries in the second half, it was the Eagles who were triumphant, 44-18. In their eight try demolition, Daryl Powell secured a hat-trick, with Ropati adding a further two to his growing total. Sheffield scored four tries in the last twenty minutes, with Maea intercepting the ball on the Eagles 25 and running the length of the field to touch down. This defeat effectively ended Oldham’s chances of securing the title leaving it as a straight battle between leaders Leigh and second placed chasers, Sheffield.

Rochdale was the next port of call three days later, as they tried to close down Leigh’s lead in the league. Tim Lumb was in the team having joined from Hunslet. In a much closer affair than the previous week the Eagles won the game 26-12, with Ropati scoring a further two tries. The third game in the week was at Carlisle. An even closer fight, they were trailing 22-21 with ten minutes to go. Aston fed the ball to Paul Broadbent who bulldozed his way over the Carlisle line to give the Eagles victory 25-22, Again Ropati had added a further two tries to his tally for the season.

January ended with a first round tie in the Challenge Cup again away at Third Division Whitehaven. The scoring spree returned, this time ninetries, including a David Plange hat-trick, as the Whitehaven defence could not hold out against a determined assault. With Tony Tuimavave securing a further two tries, the 56-4 victory finally brought them a home tie against Championship side Hull.

It was a dour affair and at one stage it looked as though Sheffield would pull off a shock victory, but the visitors stole the game with a match winning try with a quarter of an hour to go. Commenting on the 11-6 defeat, Gary Hetherington’s view was that:

As the Eagles entered their last eleven games of the campaign, they had now secured 27 points. Leigh were on 28 points, but still having played two games more.

The remainder of February brought three more games for both clubs. Whilst Leigh won all their games, Sheffield had a minor setback, which put them three points behind the leaders.

Struggling Workington Town were the first fixture at Don Valley. Having already experienced two defeats at the hands of the Eagles, they soon went behind trailing 22-2 by half time. The situation did not improve after the break, and although they managed to score a converted try, they lost the match 48-8. Ropati was again on the scoresheet with two, Plange touched down another two, whilst Dale Laughton scored his maiden try for the first team.

The following weekend and it was a top of the table clash, as Sheffield travelled to Leigh. Leigh strengthened their claims with a narrow victory. The Eagles cause was not helped as Mark Gamson was sent off for alleged punching. Although reduced to 12 men, it was not until the dying minutes that their hosts secured the victory 26-24. Tony Tuimavave scored two tries, with Ropati and Waddell getting the other two. In the three games played so far, Leigh had won two, scoring 55 points to the Eagles 48.

London were the visitors at the end of February. In front of a crowd of only 1,315 they again fell to the Eagles attack, with Iva Ropati securing four tries in the 36-12 victory. The visitors included former Eagles players Tim Wilby and Nick Halafihi.

As the season moved into March Leigh were still in first position with 32 points from 20 games, whilst the Eagles were on 29, having played only 19. With the points bonanza in a number of games the Sheffield side had also a superior point difference of 230 to 135 Rumours of Super League and Potential Breakaways 

Rugby League circles were full of talk about the top clubs plotting to break away from the League and setting up their own Superleague during March and April. A meeting had been arranged. of all fourteen Championship clubs, plus Second Division Sheffield and Oldham, with Leigh joining later.

They were pushing for more votes per club at Rugby League Council meetings, rather than the one vote per club that applied currently. Other demands included a bigger slice of the television money and a cut to the eight per-cent levy to the league. Gary Hetherington became spokesman for the clubs, while the others left out called the meeting illegal. The League’s Board Of Directors said they would look at the proposals. 

These, ‘top seventeen’ clubs were also asking for the present three division system to be scrapped for next season, to be replaced with a two division scheme. This would consist of sixteen clubs in each division, with the bottom four teams relegated to a new league consisting of amateur and development area clubs, with the bottom two teams of the Second Division having to apply for re-election, rather than a straight demotion. They also wanted the Lancashire and Yorkshire Cups scrapped, and to be exempt from the Preliminary Rounds of the Challenge Cup and Regal Trophy.

Commenting on the issue Hetherington advised Eagles fans that:

The Council came up with their own idea, of sixteen teams in the Championship, the Second Division of fourteen and a Third Division of twelve, consisting of the six remaining clubs and six ‘A’ teams from the Alliance League, who would not be promoted. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Cups would be scrapped as well to ease ‘fixture congestion’.

Then at a Council meeting on May 6th yet another fixture formula was raised. I n the end a proposal to have the Championship of sixteen and a Second Division of twenty was just three votes off the three-fifths majority, so the league structure stayed as they were.

On the field, the Eagles were at home to Oldham in their third game in a week, the second time it happened to Sheffield in the season. In front of a crowd of over 2,5000, a clear example that the new marketing strategy was starting to bear fruit, the Sheffield side lost only their second home league game of the season, 14-10. Behind, 10-2 at half time, the Eagles were catching up their opponents in a bruising game when four players were sent off, Mark Aston and Richard Price being amongst them. 

With Leigh winning at York, the Eagles slipped further behind in the race for the title.

The next visitors to Don Valley were Rochdale Hornets. In front of a crowd of over 3,800, Sheffield dominated the first half, leading 17-1 at the interval. Rochdale fought back in the second, but it was only a converted try from Anthony Simpson, promoted from the Alliance, that secured the two match points, 23-17, for the Eagles. With Leigh again winning at home to Workington, 68-6, it looked as though the race to be Champions would go down to the wire.

Before their fourth and last game against Leigh, they had to make yet another trek to Cumbria, to face Workington. The match could have gone wrong for the Eagles as they found themselves trailing 12-3 at the start of the second half, after playing a strangely lethargic display. But as Tim Lumb came off the bench, his strong running and try reversed the game. With David Mycoe’s kicking six goals and Tuimavave scoring twice, they ran out 36-18 victors. Meanwhile Leigh had lost to Carlisle, narrowing their lead to three points.

Billed as a potential Championship decider, the Eagles faced Leigh at Don Valley in their next game. The previous three games had been close nail biting affairs, and this latest match was expected to be no different.

In a display of scintillating rugby, the Eagles demolished the league leaders, who appeared to have not turned up for the game. Over 3.200 were present as the Eagles were well ahead at the half time whistle, 366, before dominating the second half, scoring a further 25 unanswered points to take the much needed match points, 51-6. Both Iva Ropati and Das Maea scored twice in this nine try display, whilst Aston added a further seven goals to his tally. Sheffield were again in the top spot by a single point.

But with four games left, it was suddenly announced that leading try scorer, Iva Ropati, was leaving the club. He had led the Eagles to believe that he was keen to stay but in fact he had signed for Oldham three weeks before and was due to join them on 31 March. However without the Eagles permission he could not have played for Oldham that season as the deadline for signings was the 30th. Oldham however agreed to a request that Eagles sign their former captain, Kiwi Charlie McAllister as a replacement. 

Without Ropati the Eagle travelled to Rochdale were they lost in another below par performance 34-18. With Leigh beating London, they again replaced Sheffield in first position. As Tony Tuimavave and Des Maea returned to New Zealand, Adrian Shelford joined the first team.

Carlisle’s visit to Don Valley the first week in April, brought in the largest ever crowd to watch a home Eagles game, 6,393. As part of a major marketing initiative nearly everyone entered for free. A very ordinary first half saw the Eagles behind 14-6, but in the second half the Eagles again scored 26 unanswered points to take the tie, 32-14. With two tries each from Paul Broadbent and David Plange, and a try from debutant McAllister, Sheffield were again top of the table, as Leigh lost to Rochdale. Now back in the driving seat, the Eagles had to make sure of the title winning their last two home games. That is what they did.

London Crusaders were easily dispatched 38-4 in a six try display, with Aston again successful with the boot, with seven goals, but the crowd was well down to just under 2,000 as paid entrance was reintroduced.

The season ended with the visit of a relegated Ryedale-York side. Unlike the close affairs earlier in the season, the visitors were again easily dispatched, 42-7, with Charlie McAllister contributing the first of his back to back hat tricks of tries. The crowd of 2,872 witnessed the Eagles lift the Second Division trophy, as they achieved their primary goal of promotion back into the top division.

Winning 21 of their 28 games, and drawing one, the Eagles had amassed 43 points, one more than their immediate rivals Leigh, and a superior point difference of 420 to 217.

The rearranged playoffs involved the top eight teams from the Third Division and the top four from the Second Division. The eight Third Division sides kicked off the process, with the top four sides playing at home against the remaining four (1v8; 2v 7; 3v6 and 4v5), The winners of those games would then travel to the four Second Division sides.

Keighley Cougars beat Bramley after a replay to have the honour as lowest placed qualifiers of visiting Don Valley Stadium. Having played two matches in the week leading to the game, the visitors were sorely outmatched. Over 1.200 witnessed the Eagles demolish their opponents by the highest score of the season, 72-4. Amongst the 12 tries scored by Sheffield, McAllister secured his second hat-trick as did David Mycoe, Mark Gamson scored twice, with Aston kicking 12 goals.

Their semifinal match the following week was against another Third Division side, Batley who had dispatched Leigh in the previous round 156. Attracting a crowd of over 2,500, the visitors put up a stronger performance than the previous visitors, After a quarter of an hour they led 16-6 and were still four points ahead at half-time, 22-18, But second half tries from Plange, McAllister (who had both scored in the first half) and Broadbent saved the day, as the Eagles went forward to their day at Old Trafford, 36-22.

Their opponents were Oldham, who had beaten Dewsbury and London Crusaders to get there. In their four previous encounters in the league, the Eagles had won three and the sides had drawn one. The Eagles were therefore clear favourites to win.

The Sheffield side dominated the opening stages of the game with Powell scoring after four minutes, before Oldham countered after seven. But Eagles pressure began to tell as by the half hour mark Powell had scored two more to secure his hat trick, and Oldham were down to 12 men as they had a player sent off. As the interval approached, Sheffield were ahead 16-3 and Eagles fans thought that the result was a foregone conclusion. But the 12 men hit back on the restart, scoring in the 51st and 58th minutes to level the score at 16 each. Shortly after it was 20 all before Tim Lumb got a try which Aston converted and then added a penalty, giving the Champions an eight point lead. In the dying moments, Keith Mumby made the result certain, going in under the posts. With Aston’s conversion, the Eagles won the Premiership title, 34-20. The Eagles supporters celebrated next door at the cricket ground and the team were feted at a Civic reception days later.

At the awards night, Mick Cook was yet again Player’s player of the year. New season records were recorded for try scorer ad goal scorer that season. Departed Iva Ropati had scored 30 tries in the season, whilst David Plange had 24, Richard Price 17 and David Mycoe 16. Mark Aston had kicked 98 goals and 6 field goals with his nearest rival David Mycoe had 44 goals to his name. Aston was again top points scorer with 210, with Mycoe in second place with 152 and Ropati with 120.

In addition to those who had left during the season others left as the season closed:

• David Close (Ryedale York)
• Nick Halafihi (London)
• Anderson Okiwe (Nottingham)
• Adrian Shelford
• Nick Grimoldby (Doncaster)
• Dean Johnson (Hunslet)
• Iva Ropati (Oldham)
• Tony Tuimavave (New Zealand)

David Close had been with the club for five seasons. He had played in 81 first team games scoring 16 tries 54 goals and 8 drop goals. For the Alliance he had played 23 games, scoring 4 tries, 36 Goals and 2 drop goals.

Nick Grimoldby in his Sheffield career had played in 45 first team games over four seasons, scoring 7 tries. He had also played for the Alliance seven times scoring a single try.

Nick Halafihi made 26 appearances for the First team, scoring 3 tries over his two and a quarter seasons at the club. He also appeared in 38 Alliance games recording 18 tries.

Daryl Powell played for Great Britain in 9 tests, two against Papua New Guinea, France and New Zealand and three against Australia.

David Mycoe played in two U21 tests against France and one against Papua New Guinea, whilst Richard Picksley played in one game at U21 against France.

The Eagles believed their time in the competitive Second Division would enable them to be fit to successfully compete in the Championship on a much more equal basis than when they had previously been promoted.

Sheffield ran teams in both the Alliance and Women’s leagues during the season, whilst fielding for the first time a team in the Academy competition as well as fielding a Junior Eagles team at various age levels.

Playing at Broughton Road, the Alliance side won half their Second Division 20 league fixtures ending in the top half of the table. They were knocked out of the Challenge Cup by St Helens And failed to progress in the ne Spring Cup, beating only Bramley in their group, losing their other games to Doncaster and Rochdale. The team’s performances were affected by the number of players in their squad who were picked to lay for the Academy side at various stages of the season.

Another successful side were the newly formed Academy squad. Coached by Glen Knight, it was very much a learning season for the squad in early games, but during the season they had notable victories against more established squads Salford 26-16 and 28-10, St Helens 26-12, Halifax 27-16 and Batley 45-10 and 34-0. These results enabled them to win the Second Division Championship at the end of the season.

The Junior Eagles had been founded in 1988 by the families of Eagles supporters, By 1991 they had 150 members with ages ranging from 5 to 17, regularly putting out teams in various competitions at U9, U11, U13, U14, U15 and U17. Although they had no formal links with the club, Gary Hetherington and the Eagles staff were extremely supportive of their activities and developed close links between the two organisations. During the season they secured a new home at Hillsborough Sports Arena. A highly successful Summer Rugby Touch Tournament was held at the Arena

A girls team was formed during the season that beat Lostock Warriors

(Preston) 16-14 and they also participated in the Rugby Football, League’s national Girls Rally, playing against both Wigan’s Girls team, which they lost 4-0 and a team from St Helens, who beat them 5-0. Don Valley held a similar event in March.

School and Community Development Activities continued to grow and develop. At school level sessions in Sheffield Rotherham and Barnsley and North Derbyshire, around 2,500 boys and girls participated with coaching led by Eagles players and volunteers at secondary level. Rugby League was included in the timetable of 2/3 of Secondary Schools and 40 primary schools.

The standard of schools at RL improved with 16 schools turning out teams in various South Yorkshire competitions. A further 3,000 primary school pupils were given training in summer term. Sheffield Schools RL Association set a target for 1998 to see a Sheffield City team at Wembley Stadium in the curtain raiser for the Challenge Cup

At the junior level the Steel City Hawks completed their first season in the SW Yorkshire Junior League. Stocksbridge Sharks reformed and were rebuilt, whilst Maltby Miners Welfare had decided to form a club

Off the field the club signed a long term rental lease with the City Council which would initially cost them £25,000 a year. They were also presented with a bill for £53,000 for their first season at Don Valley. The club realised that they would have to place even greater effort in improving their overall finances, with a particular focus in improving the number attending matches.

Crowds had averaged 3,767 during their second season in the Championship. The first two months of the new season had seen crowds averaging 2,150, but then it dropped off in the winter months with seven home games being watched by an average of only 1,654. A marketing strategy was developed a various initiatives were tried, including bring a friend, an improved match day experience and the introduction of the Golden Eagles Gamble match day lottery which is still operating today. In the last eight matches of the season crowds increased to an average of 3,070, although this figure includes the 6,000 plus crowd that attended the Carlisle game which had free entry. Overall the crowd average was 2.384, compared to a Divisional average of 1,907.

January saw the introduction of Super loot as the new lottery, replacing

Cashline, with Brian Aston, father of Mark in charge as lottery manager. The first Eagles Golf Classic was held in October at Hillsborough Golf Club with 23 teams of four coming from local businesses.

All these initiatives required the support of the army of volunteers that ensured that Eagles games took place. The Support Club organised yet another sponsored walk this time to Ryedale-York’s ground at the end of September. Their Spring Draw raised £3,000 for the club. Radio Sheffield backed the Young Members Club with a live spot every Saturday morning when the mascot drawn for next game and was announced on air. 

One bizarre inter match activity was the Sugg Sport Golden kick at half time. Participants had to kick a ball 25 metres between the uprights and then kick it to hit crossbar. If they were successful, they were guaranteed a prize of £1,000. Fortunately for the club no one was able to do it

The Women’s team however had a more successful year. Starting their second season in Division Two, they lost a pre-season friendly to Stanningley. 13-12 and were knocked out by Dudley Hill in the first round of the Challenge Cup, 38-26 

Defeating Carlisle 62-10, Barrow 82-0 and 50-0 and Fulham 68-0 they won the Second Division title, although they were knocked out of both Division and Aggregate Cup tournaments. The team captain Susan Jackson also played for the Yorkshire Women’s Team.