1992-93 - First Division Season

In support of his confidence Gary Hetherington requested that the Rugby Football League select the Division One Champions Wigan as the Eagles first opponents in the opening game at Don Valley, a fixture that many clubs would seek to avoid as an opening fixture. He believed that such a fixture would attract a bigger opening crowd for the Eagles season, as well as television and sponsors. Throughout the summer the club prepared for the game as a major focus for developing their spectator and commercial support. The aim was to build up core support from 5,000 to 10,000 during the season.

To achieve this the club looked to heighten media promotion through closer links with the Sky TV rugby league team. Pre-match and half-time entertainment would be upgraded as part of the offering . The hiring of a local PR firm was part of the strategy to focus on increasing sponsorship and hospitality packages. Hetherington recognised that the club needed to create sufficient finances to enable them not only to survive in the top flight but also advance into the top half and maintain that status in the future,

To do that he had to build a team that was capable of delivering on the field of play. Hetherington retained 15 players from his successful promotion side from the previous season:

• Mark Aston
• Michael Cook
• Ian Hughes
• Tim Lumb
• David Mycoe
• Daryl Powell
• Ryan Sheridan
• Andy Young
• Paul Broadbent
• Anthony Farrell
• Dale Laughton
• Charlie McAlister
• David Plange
• Richard Price
• Hugh Waddell

He also promoted from the Alliance Team were Matt Crowther, Glen Reilly, Alex Thompson and Darren Turner, all of whom had had a successful season previously, but also were the first fruits of the Eagles Academy system.

The club also looked to add to the squad by bringing in the following players at various stages of the season:

• Paul Carr (Hunslet/South Sydney)
• Neil James (Leeds)
• Lynton Stott (Woolston Rovers ARLFC)
• Garry Jack (Balmain)
• Bruce McGuire (Canterbury)
• Chris Vasey (Dewsbury Loan)

The club also signed to play in the Alliance Dave Mann, Karl Randall (both from Dodworth) and Craig Davis (Normanton)

Paul Carr was the first to sign at the end of the previous season, He had had a very successful year, playing for Third Division, Hunslet, scoring 26 tries as a loose forward.

Bruce McGuire had previously played for the Eagles, before returning to Australia. An Australian international, he came on a free transfer after being approached by Kath Hetherington during the 1992 British Lions tour of Australia. Seen as the complete professional, he formed a strong partnership with Carr over the next two seasons.

A major publicity coup was the signing of Garry Jack. Having played for Balmain for eleven years, he had won all the honours in the Australian game, including the Golden Boot for the best Rugby League Player in the World. The holder of 22 Australian caps, he was another player who had been approached by Kath Hetherington and soon agreed to sigh for the club, though his long term aim was to move from playing into coaching, which he did the following season. Both Jack and McGuire, unfortunately were tied up in Winfield Cup commitments until September, so would miss the opening games of the season, including the Wigan game.

During the Summer, Daryl Powell played in all three Tests against Australia and also in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Mark Aston and Paul Broadbent were also due to be in Australia playing for South Sydney but found themselves drafted into the GB touring party playing in mid-week games.

Off the field another major signing benefited the Eagles immediate future. Whitbread agreed to extend their sponsorship of the club for another year. It brought a further £50,000 into the club’s coffers to support its activities on and off the field.

Prior to the big kick-off, as in previous seasons, the Eagles put a team into the annual Wigan Summer Sevens, where they yet again qualified for the play-offs, but were knocked out by Wakefield Trinity. They also played and beat Doncaster in the annual Jewson’s South Yorkshire Cup. The Alliance played the Dons on the same day, as well as turning out a team in the Salford Sevens. Later that week they were due to play in their annual game against the SW Yorkshire Amateur Select XII to contest the David Durie Cup, but because the Rugby Football League were in dispute with BARLA, they were forced to withdraw all first team platers from the game, with players from the Alliance and Academy squads representing the Eagles instead.

On the eve of their opening game of the new season, Hetherington told supporters:

At last the big day arrived. Although the Eagles had hoped for a crowd of 10,000 to welcome their homecoming in the Championship, only 5,950 were present at Don Valley, with many more watching on BskyB’s new Big League programme. In the pre-match warm up, 100 local junior players, a brass band, a male voice choir and a fireworks display. But what followed on the field of play was an anti-climax.

Despite a try from Anthony Farrell converted by Mark Aston, the Eagles found themselves trailing at half-time 26-6. Wigan did not take it easy after the break scoring a further unanswered points to take the game 466. Defeated by eight tries to one, it was an inauspicious start to their season in the Championship for Sheffield and the Rugby League pundits were predicting a swift return to the Second Division for the club. Gary Schofield believed the Eagles were a nuisance team who would rely on obstructive football to survive.

But that appeared to spur Gary Hetherington and his players into decisive action:

The Eagles next match was away at Warrington. With Garry Jack and Bruce Maguire now in the team, it was a different team. Although they had never won at Wilderspool, they beat the home side, 12-10, with strong runs by Jack out of defence, and tries from Daryl Powell and Richard Price.

Five days later they faced Halifax at Don Valley in the first round of the Yorkshire Cup. In its last season as a competition, the Eagles had never progressed further than the early rounds of the competition. Yet a crowd of over 3,500, witnessed a strong performance from the Eagles, who dispatched their visitors 34-13, a team they had never beaten before. David Plange secured a hat-trick of tries in the game, whilst Gary Jack got his first for the club. Ian Hughes scored another following a fifty five metre sprint to the line. But Mark Aston only managed to convert three of the six tries.

Commenting on these victories, Hetherington felt vindicated:

The next team at Don Valley were St Helens. The game attracted over 4,200. It was another closely fought game, with David Plange scoring the Eagles’ two tries, but they were pipped at the post by former player Sonny Nickle who got the crucial score for the visitors enabling them to win the game 16-10.

Four days later Sheffield travelled to Bradford Northern in the inevitable tie up in the Second Round of the Yorkshire Cup. Plange continued with his try scoring form to get his second brace in two games, and with Anthony Farrell getting the crucial Eagles third try, they dispatched Northern out of the Cup with their first ever win at Odsal, 17-8.

September ended with a trip to the East Coast to face Hull KR. Plange was on the scoresheet again, with Gamson also crossing the whitewash, but it was Farrell’s try that secured the match points for the Eagles, as they ended up 19-6 victors. After the first month back in the Championship, they had won two out of their four league games, securing four points and were already positioned in the play-off places in eighth spot in the league table.

October brought two more league games, a Cup semi-Final, and a test against what was regarded as the best Rugby League team in the world. First up were Castleford at Don Valley. It was a game that could have been won by either side, but it was the Eagles who came out on top with tries from Farrell, Mycoe and a maiden try for Paul Carr in a Sheffield shirt. With Aston converting all three, as well as a crucial penalty, the club finished as winners, 20-16. It was the first time they had beaten Castleford.

Two days later they faced Hull in the Yorkshire Cup Semi-Final. The Eagles were behind after only nine seconds. The Eagles managed eventually to beat Hull 12-8, with a try from Bruce McGuire and four goals from Aston, progressing to their first and last Yorkshire Cup Final. In the audience of just over 3,000 were the visiting Australian tourists, eyeing up their opposition for their next game.

The weekend brought an away visit to Halifax. But they lost the league encounter 18-13, with the Eagles points coming through tries by McGuire and Mycoe, who also contributed four points with boot, with Tim Lumb also dropping a goal. Mark Aston sustained a knee injury during the match, so Mycoe took over the kicking until Aston’s reappearance on November 8th.

Three days later and the Eagles faced the might of Australia at Don Valley, a game that attracted the biggest ever crowd to Don Valley that season, 5,500. It was part of the Kangaroos World Cup Tour with four games in the United Kingdom, culminating in a test match against Great Britain. The Eagles approached the match as though they had been awarded a Test Match.

Local dignitaries were invited to the game and a major publicity campaign was launched aimed at securing the support of business and the South Yorkshire public, but the wet weather before the game probably dissuaded a number of potential casual visitors from attending. The Australians were without Mal Meninga their captain, whilst the Eagles were without the injured Daryl Powell. He had picked up a knee injury in the Castleford game that meant he was unavailable to play for six weeks, which also meant he was unavailable for the Yorkshire Cup Final the following weekend.

Garry Jack was therefore Captain for the day, but the Eagles, whilst putting up a valiant performance, were outclassed for periods of the game, yet they also gave a good account of themselves for lengthy periods of play. They used the game to blood their Academy stars Ryan Sheridan and Alex Thompson, who were later picked for the GB Academy team. Another Academy star, Anthony Simpson scored one of the four tries for the Sheffield side, with Plange, Broadbent and Jack getting the other. With Mycoe scoring three goals, the Eagles registered a creditable 22 points, whilst they conceded ten tries from the Australians. Although the final score, 52-22 looked like an easy victory, the visitors had not concede that number of points for many a season.

Four days after their Australian test, the Eagles faced Wakefield Trinity in the Yorkshire Cup Final. Wakefield had beaten Doncaster, Keighley, and Featherstone on their road to Elland Road. In the league they had lost all their six games to date. Looking forward to the challenge, Mark Aston informed that:

On form the Eagles were favourites to win. Yet form in a Cup competition is no guide to the likely outcome of a Final. Wakefield, directed by their halfbacks, controlled the game.. The Trinity pack never allowed the Eagles to settle and play their fluent, imaginative attacking game. What also did not help was that they had played three games in a week, and they began to tire as the game progressed. McGuire get two tries in the game and Gamson got the third, with Mycoe scoring two goals and Lumb coming up with his usual drop goal, the Eagles were beaten by a team that had had a week’s rest since their last league game. The 29-16 defeat was the saddest moment for many Eagles fans in their first decade as a club.

But the Eagles fans did not have long to mourn, as the next league game was four days later at a floodlit Don Valley, their opponents, Warrington. Less than 1,700 watched the game as the Eagles did their first double over their opponents, beating them 15-10, with David Mycoe accounting for ten of those points, through two tries and a goal kick, whilst Aston scored the other try. 

Having no game the following weekend, the Eagles next fixture was a preliminary round tie in the Regal Trophy against Chorley Borough. With Academy squad players Crowther, Sheridan ad Thompson in the team, the game was sewn up by half time, even though their opponents fought back in the second half. The 38-10 victory meant a trip to Warrington in the first round.

In between those games the Eagles had their return fixture at Wigan, at the start of November, when the game was switched at the last moment to a Monday night to allow Wigan to recover from their endeavours in Brisbane, where they had lost the World Club Challenge to the Australian club. Supporters from other teams believed that if it had been any other club than Wigan, they would have been expected to play on the scheduled date by the Rugby Football League.

Expecting a tired and dispirited opponent, the Eagles were again at the wrong end of a 44-10 battering which suggested that as a squad they still had a long way to go to mount a successful Play-Off campaign. The change in date had a double impact on the club, as the Supporter Club had been planning over a number of months to hold the annual fundraising walk to Wigan for the original fixture date, so it had to be cancelled at short notice. The supporters had to look for an alternative date and venue.

Further defeat followed in the Regal Trophy as Warrington enacted their revenge for the Eagles double over them in the league, beating Sheffield 38-10. Yet the players bounced back in their next home tie, this time doing the double over Hull KR. Paul Carr’s two tries, and one each for Broadbent and Price. With Mark Aston back on form kicking six goals, secured a 28-16 victory. After nine games, the Eagles were again in the play-offs in seventh spot with ten points.

Widnes were the next to visit Don Valley. Although they were tenth in the league, they were still viewed as one of the major players in the league. But only just over 2,100 attended the game which, although low, was more than the previous two home games. The visitors were outclassed in the first part of the game as the Eagles got five unanswered tries, two from Carr, and one each from Laughton, Broadbent and Plange. The visitors fought back to narrow Sheffield’s lead to just two points. They had a chance to level the scores with a touchline conversion with seconds to go. But they missed, the Eagles fans were relieved that their team had won 32-30.

The Eagles then nearly pulled off another surprise victory at St Helens the following weekend. The hosts were 12 points up after eight minutes and looked to be on to a big win. But four Eagles tries, two from Farrell one from Jack and another from Carr dragged the visitors back into the game. Having the momentum they would have won the game, if the game had been slightly longer. But as it was, they were beaten 30-20. The match also saw Mark Aston reach a thousand points in his career.

Having been knocked out of the Regal Trophy, Sheffield had to wait two weeks for their next fixture, a home tie against Leeds, who they had never beaten. Leeds had had a poor season to date, having won three and drawn one of their ten games. Given the Leeds captain’s views about the Eagles, the players were up for the game to make Gary Schofield eat his words, but he was not in the Leeds team for the tie.

In front of a crowd of 4,777, the Eagles came twice from behind before scoring three tries in the last twelve minutes. Gary Jack had made a storming run from the Leeds 22 to score a try for the Eagles, with Aston adding 9 points with the boot. With 56 minutes elapsed, Leeds were 1413 ahead , when the referee was stretchered off with a leg injury, to be replaced by the fourth official. The Eagles then overwhelmed the Loiners with both David Plange and Richard Price scoring two tries each, the Eagles taking the game 31-14. The win took the Eagles up into fifth place with 14 points, the highest position they reached during the season.

The win over Leeds heralded a string of defeats for the Eagles in their next four games. Boxing Day involved a trip to Hull, where Sheffield were looking for their first ever victory. They found their opponents very difficult to break down on their home soil and toiled throughout the game. 24-0 behind at half time, it could have been a cricket score, but Hull’s momentum died away and the Eagles managed to post 10 unanswered points, through tries from Plange and Farrell with a solitary goal from Aston.

The result led to a reappraisal of their style of play which appeared to have had negative consequences for the rest of the season and cost them the play off place they were aiming at. They adopted a more defensive style, focusing on the traditional style of four barges up the field and a kick on the last, dropping their adventurous style of spreading the ball wide and about. The focus now was getting good field position through maintaining strict control of the ball,

The Rugby Football League announced that they were looking into recommendations for restructuring the Leagues yet again as well as cutting down number of quota players from 3 to 2 and letting amateur clubs back into cup competitions. Due to the growing clamour for the introduction of Summer Rugby, Gary Hetherington having become an advocate of the switch, they had also set up a small working party to look into the issue.

Their next game against Halifax was postponed on New Years Day. when the ground was declared unfit, as the Eagles investment in a new pitch covering had failed. It was finally held five days later, with Aston on the bench as he had missed training due to fog delaying his return from holiday. Halifax controlled the game throughout and had a comfortable 26-10 win. When Aston replaced Lumb from the bench he was immediately sent off for a late tackle, reducing the home side to 12 men at a crucial stage of the game. The Eagles only points came from a Daryl Powell try and three goals from Mycoe, who was making his 100th appearance for the club.

Garry Jack was declared No1 in World Team 1993 Open Rugby ratings, whilst Ryan Sheridan, Alex Thompson and Alan Bover were picked for the Rugby League President’s Academy side to play Illawarra Academy, the top New South Wales team.

On the field the misery continued with a visit to Leigh, the other promoted team, a week later. Whilst Daryl Powell finally secured his 100th try for the Eagles against the league’s bottom club, he was on the wrong side of a 16-14 defeat that saw Sheffield tumble out of the top eight, falling to ninth place in the Championship.

Hoping to reverse their fortunes at Widnes, they were hammered 56-10, falling further behind the top eight. But a trip by Salford to Don Valley, their first ever appearance at the Stadium, brought some respite, albeit temporary. Ryan Sheridan standing in for the banned Aston made his mark on the game. Showing confidence, elusiveness, and pace he helped the Eagles to a 30-16 victory, with two tries each from Ian Hughes and Tim Lumb, with another from McGuire, complemented by Mycoe who added five conversions.

Reacting to the first victory in a while. Gary Hetherington told the media that:

The end of January brought a home tie in the Challenge Cup against lowly Leigh. Seeking revenge for their league defeat, and with Sheridan still playing at scrum half, the Eagles were 14-5 ahead at the interval, extending their lead in the second by a further eighteen unanswered points to claim victory 32-5. Sheridan scored a brace of tries, with Carr Gamson and Jack also crossing the Leigh line. Mycoe added another six goals to his total.

February began with a trip to Castleford and brought a narrow defeat, 14-8. Garry Jack scored the try and Dave Mycoe scored two goals. Neil James was sent off after throwing a punch whilst the teams were leaving the pitch.

The following weekend they faced Widnes in the Challenge Cup at Don Valley. Behind 26-6 at the interval, the powerful Widnes forwards and skilful backs demolished Sheffield 52-6, with Jonathon Davies claiming a hat-trick of tries and ten goals. David Mycoe, who had been badly injured in the game, had been recently called up to the GB U21s along with Ian Hughes and would be out for over a season. Powell did not play in the game due to chickenpox .

Leigh were the next opponents at the stadium and yet again they turned the Eagles over 8-6. It started to look like they would have a relegation fight on their hands as they dropped to 10thspot with 16 points, only two ahead of second to bottom Leigh. But Hetherington continued to be upbeat as Sheffield also were two points off the play-off places: 

March started in the same vein as Leeds got their revenge for their defeat in December. Sheffield arrived at Headingley, never having won there before. The Eagles kept in touch with their opponents first half, with tries from Jack and Aston, going in at the interval 18-10 behind, But Leeds dominated after the restart, scoring six tries, to finish the game well in control, 46-10. Afterwards in the dressing room Hetherington reminded the players that nobody was indispensable, and he hinted that he may resign as coach.

This seemed to work, albeit temporarily, as the Eagles faced Cup semi-finalists Bradford Northern at Don Valley five days later. Commenting to the Eagles fans in the match programme, Hetherington made known his unhappiness with the team:

A crowd of above 2,800 saw a close match in the first half, with the sides level at the break, six points each. But in the second half the Eagles comprehensively beat Bradford as they took charge. A Paul Carr brace, another try by Gamson, four Aston goals and Tim Lumb’s drop goal, saw Sheffield back to winning ways, 21-12. They moved up to ninth in the table one point behind eighth placed Warrington.

But it was normal service resumed the following weekend as they played Salford at the Willows. Salford were a point off the relegation places and had been heavily beaten by Wigan 70-6 the previous week. They were going to win come what may and an evil tempered game ensued, which saw both Bruce McGuire and Mick Cook sent off, reducing the Eagles to eleven men for a substantial portion of the game. Consequently they lost 48-12, the Eagles dropping back to tenth on points difference, now three points off the last playoff place.

March ended with the visit of Wakefield Trinity to Sheffield. They had just moved out of the relegation places after spending most of the season rooted there. The Eagles had run a special offer for the game to season ticket holders of United, Wednesday and the Steelers to come along to the game at half price. Another promotional offer was made to students and other sports fans. The outcome of these initiatives was a crowd of 3,245, the second best home crowd of the season. Cheered on by the crowd, Sheffield scored four tries in a skilful display, whilst Aston added five goals. The 29-19 victory moved them back up the table to ninth place.

In the middle of March, the Rugby League Council, in a special meeting, voted on restructuring the three leagues. It was decided, 28-6, to revert to two divisions again and relegate the bottom three clubs of the Third Division to the new National Conference League, (made up of the top amateur clubs, plus the three who dropped out of the Third Division), 

From next season there would be a two division structure of sixteen teams in each league. The three demoted clubs were promised automatic promotion to the Second Division if one finishes top of the NCL. After an outcry, the Chairman defended the action on the grounds that it was introducing ‘minimum standards’. The three expelled clubs and Highfield afterwards pursued legal action against the RFL decision, but to no avail. 

That meant that there would be no relegation from the top division.

With the relegation dogfight no longer an issue, the Eagles could focus on the play-offs and on catching Warrington who were one point ahead in eighth spot. They had three games to do it, against Bradford. Wakefield (who they had already beaten in March), and Hull.

Bradford away was the first of those ties in early April. Northern had just been knocked out of the Challenge Cup at the semi-final stage. But Sheffield proved they were no match for a team which needed to win to secure home advantage in the play-offs. They put the Eagles to the sword, beating them, 50-8.

Hull arrived at Don Valley the following week, one place behind Sheffield in 10th place. The Eagles needed to win their last two games if they had any chance of catching Warrington, who were now three points ahead, and hope that they lost their remaining fixtures. It was closely fought match, with Sheffield taking an 8-4 lead at the interval, Hull securing their points just before the whistle. After the break, with minutes to go, the Eagles were 18-12 ahead, when the visitors yet again scored to level the tie 18 points each. That’s how it finished and any hope of making the playoffs evaporated.

That left an away trip to Wakefield where the Eagles played a desultory game losing to an equally despondent Trinity team. The 20-6 defeat meant that Sheffield finished 10thin the League on 21 points, as Hull won their last game to move into ninth on points difference. This poor finish to the season had a number of fans wondering whether the club needed to change its coaching staff.

Hetherington agreed that if the team was to progress in the following season it needed somebody else to take over the coaching reins. He made it clear to the press and the players that he was now looking for a successful and experienced coach for the 1993-94 season. Whoever was to come in would inherit a successful Academy side and an Alliance squad that had been performing satisfactorily.

With his resignation the club also saw a number of players move on both during and at the end of the season:

• Garry Jack (Salford)
• Charlie McAlister (Whitehaven)
• Chris Vasey (Hunslet)
• Neil James (Retired)
• Anthony Simpson (Ryedale York)
• Hugh Waddell (Swinton)

In the four seasons that Hugh Waddell played for the Eagles he appeared in 83 games and scored 24 tries.

Mark Aston was again top points scorer with 137, closely followed by David Mycoe with 108. Aston was also top goal scorer with 59 goals and 3 field goals. Top try scorer was David Plange with 18 and runner up was Paul Carr with 12.

Mick Cook was again selected as the Players Player of the Year for the fourth time, and he once again topped the tackle count.

As the season ended the Eagles flew off for a short holiday together in Spain. On their return they looked forward to an uncertain future with an unknown coach.

Whilst the Alliance Team had a year of solid progress during the previous season, their focus this year was to secure promotion to the Alliance Championship. Throughout their season they were close to securing the goal, but just fell short as they lost a couple of crucial ties to take them into the top two promotion spots.

Both the Academy and the Eagles Women’s teams had secured promotion at the end of 1991-92. The Academy side held their own against the more established teams in their Championship. They beat Wakefield 39-10, thrashed Widnes 42-4, but lost to St Helens 46-27 and were knocked out of the Academy Challenge Cup by Bradford 21-11. Overall they finished sixth in their league, with twelve points from 14 games.

At the start of the season the Women’s side were presented with the SADRLA Mainline trophy by the Lord Mayor of Sheffield for outstanding achievements in amateur rugby league. They had gained .promotion to the First Division, but the Rugby League decided to increase player numbers to eleven a side minimum. Unfortunately some key players had moved away from the City and one or two bad injuries occurred during the season. Although they won their inaugural game against Guiseley Angels 34-18, in subsequent games they were continuously short of players, being beaten heavily in numerous games and were forced to concede some matches towards the end of the season. As a consequence they were relegated back into second Division.

During the season there was further growth of the sport through the successful development programme. The south west Yorkshire Coaching association had increased to 65 members, with 117 schools receiving coaching, with thousands of pupils involved. 33 primary schools took part in mini-leagues and 18 secondary schools were playing in the South Yorkshire Leagues at all age levels. Sheffield Schools also entered the English Schools League at both U13 and U11 levels.

As in previous seasons the Eagles ran a number of curtain raiser games before the main match. In October the inaugural Touch Rugby League final was held, followed by an eight a side was held at U13 for Sheffield schools in December, which saw 150 pupils participate, receiving membership of the Young Eagles Club. Before the St Helens fixture the Eagles girls team played St Helens Vikings, whilst Don Valley also played host to the Student Nat West Rugby League Knock Out Cup final.

The Junior Eagles went from strength to strength, operating two teams at U16 and one at U14 levels in the West Yorkshire Leagues, both finishing in the top halves of their respective leagues. The U12s were runners up in the West Yorkshire Cup and League. With a squad of 20,their girls team sent two teams to the National Girls Rally at Huddersfield where they picked up runners up medals at U16. Simon Lomas was selected to play for Yorkshire Schools, the first Sheffield player to be awarded the accolade.

The Eagles Development programme also ran an Advanced Training Centre for outstanding young Rugby League players at Don Valley with 80 attending sessions, concentrating on basic skills, guidance on fitness and nutrition.

SARDLA also achieved their ultimate goal, set in the previous season. A Sheffield Schools U11 team selected to play against Rochdale Schools in curtain raiser for Wembley Cup Final. The side included a number of players from the Junior Eagles as well as from all parts of the area, including Barnsley, Rotherham and NE Derbyshire. A programme of funding activities raised sufficient monies to send them to the event, with the COOP sponsorship the team’s kit.

Off the Field the Focus continued on Boosting crowds and Improving Finances.

Due to promotion, the crowds increased on those achieved during the promotion season. An average of 3,213 was achieved through a variety of marketing ploys, as well as an improved match experience. In addition to running pre-match events such as games between local teams, new novelty events took place. One was the Meadowhall Big Ball Push. This involved two teams competing to carry a large, inflated ball to one end of field and scoring by throwing it over the bar and catching it the other side. They would then progress up to the other end to do the same again to score.

But the average achieved was the lowest in the Championship, often inflated by the attendance of away supporters from the better supported teams. Wigan averaged 13,643, whilst Leeds averaged 10,840 and St Helens 9,310. Only Leigh, Salford and Hull KR had support a similar level to that of the Eagles and all tended to finish in the bottom end of the division. Low attendances impacted on the funding that was available to recruit better players, and if the Eagles were to compete on a level playing field with the better supported clubs, much more finance needed to enter the clubs coffers. As part of the attempt to do just that, Bob Gorril, formerly of Sheffield Wednesday, was appointed as the new Commercial manager 

In February, the club sought to increase their presence in the City Centre by opening the Eagles Shop in Orchard Square, which the Board felt was an opportunity to promote the team to s wider Sheffield public.

The Eagles were ever reliant on the Support Club army of 80 volunteers who helped to deliver all essential activities on match day. A club room was established for season ticket holders, whilst yet another sponsored walk was organised to Wakefield Trinity’s ground for the last away fixture of the season, replacing the original one that had been planned for the away game at Wigan. That raised around £5,000 to assist the club finances. Overall the Support Club raised £10,000 during the season.

As a result of Sheffield’s attempts to improve its match experience, the Eagles were awarded the accolade of top club as far as ground and match day facilities were concerned by the Rugby League Supporters Association

The Eagles had avoided the perennial drop back into the lower division due to the late changes in the league structure. They had just failed to get into the end of season divisional play-offs. Whilst they awaited the arrival of a new coach, their focus for the new season was to make that leap into the play-offs in the forthcoming season.