1995-96 - Centenary Season

But all the eleven teams in the down sized first division had to fit in twenty games between late August to late January during their last Winter season. That meant clubs playing three games a week, plus Regal Trophy games, whilst having a month off in October to accommodate the planned Centenary World Cup which was being held in the United Kingdom.

The Eagles had retained a squad of twenty players from the previous seasons eighth place finish:

• Paul Broadbent
• Richard Chapman
• Matt Crowther
• Mark Gamson
• Ian Hughes
• Dale Laughton
• Richard Picksley
• Karl Randall
• Ryan Sheridan
• Lynton Stott
• Darren Turner
• Paul Carr
• Michael Cook
• Anthony Farrell
• John Glancy
• Lee Jackson
• David Mycoe
• Richard Price
• Keith Senior
• Bright Sodje
• Darren Summerill
• Andy Young

As their former captain Daryl Powell had left the club in the closing stages of the previous season, Gary Hetherington had no difficulties in appointing Paul Broadbent in his Testimonial Year to replace him.

Due to the need to complete their season by the first month in the New Year and then engage in the Centenary Challenge Cup, Gary Hetherington recruited a number of extra players throughout the shortened season to cover the potential problems of injuries that had impacted on previous seasons’ performances, in addition to preparing for their first season in the European Super League:

• Mark Aston (Featherstone Rovers)
• Josiaia Dakuitoga (Penrith)
• Jean Marc Garcia (France)
• Darren Hughes (Featherstone Rovers)
• David Lyon (St Helens)
• Waisale Sovatabua (Carpenter Motors Fiji)
• Sonny Whakarau (Doncaster)
• Frederic Banquet (Featherstone Rovers)
• Paul Dixon (Bradford)
• Andy Hay (Castleford)
• Johnny Lawless (Halifax)
• Danny McAllister (Queensland
• Crushers Australia)
• Jerome Vincent (France)
• Malakai Yasa (Fiji)

Players were also called up from both the Alliance and Academy squads, with Richard Armswood, Ben Brier Dean Lawford and Lawrence Taylor all playing in at least one game. The players spent most of their pre-season fitness training using the facilities at Pontefract Race Course

Reviewing the forthcoming season Gary Hetherington was very positive about how this season would develop.

The season kicked off with a home tie against Leeds on August 20th, watched by over 4,200, which was an encouraging start to the season The Eagles performance was sub-standard compared to what would be expected from the squad, giving away too many penalties and failing to control the ball on many occasions. Against an experienced side like Leeds, they were bound to get punished and they were, losing the game 34-6, with Sheffield’s only points coming from a Richard Price try and a Dave Mycoe conversion.

Three days later they faced Wigan in a mid-week night fixture. Trailing 26-8 at the interval, they managed to pull pack two tries in the second half but finished on the wrong side of a heavy 52-20 defeat. Scorers that night were Paul Carr, Darren Turner and Ryan Sheridan, with Dave Mycoe adding four goals.

Having faced the top two of the previous season, the Eagles travelled to Cumbria to face Workington at the weekend. Having had a number of good results against the Cumbrians in recent seasons, they were favourites to claim victory. But that was not to be. Behind 16-12 at the break, they were unable to catch up, due to the superior kicking game of their opponents, losing the match 26-20. An outcome from the game was that they lost the services of goal kicker Dave Mycoe, as he had to leave the field with a hamstring injury which was to keep him out of the squad for a number of weeks, joining the long list of injuries which the team experience from the start of the season.

Their next fixture was their second home game, this time facing Castleford. Commenting on the poor start to the season in the match programme, Hetherington offered no excuses:

The discussions between coach and players definitely had an effect as the Eagles raced to a half time lead of 26-8 through tries from Richard Price, Paul Carr, Darren Hughes and Ian Hughes. After the restart they were faced with a rearguard action as their opponents hit back, scoring eighteen points, but with further tries from Price and Sodje, with Freddie Banquet taking over the kicking role accounting for four goals, his first for the club, Sheffield could claim their first victory of the season and a precious two match points. Disappointingly, only 2,500 attended the fixture.

Despite the victory, Hetherington realised that he needed to add some quality players to the squad in preparation for the start of Super League in March of the following year. However, despite the monies available, he had a mayor problem financially, in that the club’s major sponsor for nine years, Whitbread had decided not to continue their relationship with club. 

A temporary replacement had been found from the club’s own lottery, Superloot, but the income generated did not replace that which had been lost.

The Eagles were in front of the TV cameras the following Friday in a home game against sixth placed Warrington. The club’s previous experience of playing on Sky was a drop in the number of spectators, but over 4,100 turned up. The game marked the first appearance of Mick Cook, who had fulfilled a long term ambition of playing in Australia over the summer months, playing for Wagga Wagga Partners. With David Lyon making his first appearance in Eagles colours at full back, the Eagles struggled in the first half, falling 23-4 behind at the interval, their only try being scored by Banquet. A slightly improved performance after the break saw tries from Darren Hughes, Bright Sodje and Sonny Whakarau, his first for the club. But the effort was not sufficient to claim victory, as Warrington took the game 38-24, leaving the Eagles with only one win out of the first five games in eighth place.

A mid-week night fixture at St Helens brought further woe, the Eagles behind after forty minutes, 26-8, to their guests, before being thrashed 6220 by the end of the game. A further defeat followed at Halifax, 28-6, with the Eagles only points coming from Lynton Stott.

They had their last home game before the World Cup break against bottom side London Broncos. The Broncos were a team of Australian players with just one British born player in their squad, the Welsh International Ikram Butt. Mark Aston had been resigned from

Featherstone Rovers, and with him leading the team across the park, Eagles fans were expecting Sheffield’s second victory of the season. But that was not to be, losing out again to their opponents, 42-10.

Their losing streak continued at their away trip to Bradford at the start of October. Behind 24-2 at half time, they manged to outscore their opponents after the restart, 14-10, but still came away with nothing from the game. Scorers that day include Paul Carr with two tries, Keith Senior on his return to the First Team and new signing, Mark Aston. Aston had returned after a largely disappointing spell at Featherstone who had been relegated to the First Division following the restructure of the game. It took a bit of time before he would bed back into the squad and make an impact.

As the season broke for the Internationals, the Eagles were bottom of the table, having won only one of their nine games played. It was fortunate that there was no relegation at the end of the season, as on their current form the Eagles would have been prime candidates for the drop.

Expressing his strong disappointment about the way the season had gone so far, Gary Hetherington commented that:

Two critical signings that had been secured were Eagleman and the Radio Hallam Roadshow which became the main staple of pre-match entertainment at home games for seasons to come.

With the break for the World Cup tournament the Eagles did not play another competitive league match until November 5th. But a number of the team did, representing their countries in the World Cup. Both Paul Broadbent and Lee Jackson were selected to play for England, with Broadbent scoring a try in one of the group games. Freddie Banquet appeared for France, for whom he supplied kicking duties, whilst three players who would soon be on the Eagles books, Waisale Sovatabua, Joe Dakuitoga and Mal Yasa played for Fiji. 

The five week layoff enabled players to recover from their injuries before embarking on an intensive twelve training sessions per week schedule. Concentrating on strength and skills, the outcome was to ensure that they were in peak physical condition for the resumption of the league in November, and in the longer term, the start of Super League.

Hetherington was also busy in the transfer market as he sought to bolster the squad. Australian Danny McAllister joined the ranks, as did Paul Dixon, for £20,000 from Bradford Bulls. Dixon was a former Leeds player and GB International forward. He had signed up French player, Jerome Vincent and was looking at another couple of French players. His big coup was the signing of three Fijian Internationals from their World Cup squad, Mal Yasa, Jo Dakuitoga and Was Sovatabua. South African Rhino, Andrew Ballott, was also taken on as a triallist.

There were also some changes to Team Management. Peter Regan had left the club to take charge of Doncaster. Glen Knight remained the Alliance coach but would now assist Gary Hetherington in coaching the team on a full time basis, whilst Mick Cook was appointed player/coach. The conditioning and the physiotherapy side were also strengthened with the appointment of Maggie Kennet as sports masseur and Tony O’Brian as sports scientist and assistant to Simon Worsnop.

On the return of Championship rugby, the Eagles faced second to bottom Oldham at Don Valley on Bonfire Night in front of a crowd of just under 4,000. With McAllister and Dixon making their first appearances in Sheffield colours, it was Sheffield’s second victory of the season, as the Eagles comfortably won, 36-18, with tries from Andy Hay, Johnny Lawless, Ian Hughes and Keith Senior. Mark Aston back to his old form scored six goals. The Eagles had moved up to ninth spot in the league.

A week later they faced Bradford Bulls in the second round of the Regal Trophy at Odsal. It was the second time in two years that they were nilled as they went out of the competition. losing 22-0. Bradford did not progress any further, losing to Leeds in the next round. The game was to mark the Eagles’ last defeat until January, as they started on an unbeaten eight match run in the Championship.

That run started with a visit to Headingley to face Leeds, a ground where they had not won a game since their birth. Their second placed opponents were on a six match unbeaten run. With Joe Dakuitoga making his first appearance in British Rugby League, it was an even first half, but the Eagles found themselves trailing their hosts 14-2 at half time. Yet they gradually took control in the second, finishing as 2722 winners. Tries from Lawless, Farrell, Dixon and two from Andy Hay, with Aston adding three goals and a drop, saw them over the finishing line.

With an enforced break of ten days, due to the next round of the Regal Trophy, they had time to prepare for their next opponents, third placed St Helens in a mid-week game. The Saints had put sixty points past them in their previous encounter. In the match programme, Gary Hetherington commented:

Mal Yasa appeared for the first time for the Eagles, but his first performance was viewed by one of the lowest crowds at home that season, 1,743. Those who were present saw a Sheffield side secure revenge for their previous drubbing at the hands of the Saints. With two tries from Paul Carr, and Farrell, Gamson and Stott also crossing the St Helens line, coupled with six goals from Mark Aston, the Eagles moved up to eighth place in the league, courtesy of their 32-18 victory.

December started with a Sunday trip to Warrington, a game in which Was Sovatabua debuted. Fifth placed Warrington, fresh from beating Leeds in their previous tie, were ahead after four minutes. With five minutes to half-time the Eagles had managed to draw level eight apiece, with a converted try from Stott and an Aston penalty. An Aston chip kick with minutes to go to the half time hooter, was latched onto by Dave Mycoe, whose converted try gave the visitors a deserved 14-8 lead.

The second half was all Sheffield, with Aston providing a fine individual display. A drop goal and penalty just after the resumption extended the lead to nine points and then he scored a try on 66 minutes to extend the lead to 23-8. A second Stott try and two late tries for Sodje and Sovatabua, his first for the club, took the points, but the victory was marred by the dismissal of Paul Dixon for a high tackle. The 33-8 victory resulted in the Eagles falling one place to ninth with 10 points by virtue of an inferior points difference to clubs above them.

Workington Town were the next to visit Don Valley, and they made the Eagles battle hard for victory. For the first sixty minutes they gave a solid and disciplinary display of defence, hanging on to an 8-6 lead. But as the game reached the hour mark, a sixty metre run to the try line by Jo Dakuitoga started a five try onslaught in the last quarter of the game. Two tries from Paul Carr, and scores from Stott and Garcia, ensured the Eagles won the game 34-8. Sheffield were now back to eighth with 12 points, along with five other clubs with better points differences.

The following weekend they travelled down to London to play the Broncos. They were the first team to beat them at home. On seven minutes a Dean Lawford kick lead to a Paul Carr try. On 16 minutes, Hughes ran through three Bronco defenders to score, and a quarter of an hour he was on the score sheet again. Carr completed a successful first half with his second try, with Dean Lawford’s drop goal giving the Eagles a 21-6 half time lead. As the home side responded in the second half, they were unable to claw back the score gap, due to a resolute Sheffield defence. With David Mycoe involved in everything the visitors did, they secured their fifth victory on the bounce, 21-14, moving up to seventh with 14 points.

The Halifax match was another mid-week home game and attracted the lowest crowd of their Don Valley season, 1,594. Hetherington made nine changes from the Broncos game. The game was a seven try extravaganza, sending home fans home with a big smile on their faces, happy with their early Christmas present.

Bright Sodje was the first to score with seven minutes on the clock, latching onto a Sheridan pass before racing thirty metres to score. On 20 minutes Broadbent broke the Halifax line for Garcia to touchdown. Just after the half hour, a barnstorming run by Hay, opened up the defence for Stott to make a simple try. The 22-4 half time lead was soon 28-4 as Sheridan and Mycoe combined to put Sovatabua in for his first Eagles try at Don Valley. With further tries from Sodje and Lawless , the 38-14 victory put Sheffield into fifth place before the end of the old year.

There was no Boxing Day fixture, which had become the norm in Rugby League, but the next game was an away fixture at Castleford on New Years Day.

Reports started filtering in the press that the Eagles were chasing Jonah Lomu, the Kiwi’s Rugby Union Star, who it was rumoured was looking to quit the Union code and seek a career in Rugby League. Apparently both Gary and Kath Hetherington travelled to the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, to meet his manager Phil Kingsley Jones, ready with a cheque for £1million. That was to be divided over three years, with RFL chief executive Maurice Lindsay preparing to subsidise the move through funds made available by News Corporation. The intention was to get him on board for the start of the season

Wigan had equally made a play, with a world record bid, while Leeds entered the frame, The news even appeared in Time magazine, which if it had gone ahead would have been a coup for both the club and game in general. Only the intervention of a sportswear firm, believed to be Adidas, had halted Lomu’s move to Rugby League, and he stayed in rugby union

The other news, which turned out to be true, was that the opening game of the European Super League tournament was to be held in Paris on March 29th, between Paris St Germain and Sheffield Eagles. 

However the initial make-up, when the fixtures were released, was in fact Oldham Bears vs Paris Saint-Germain for the historic night. After a phone call with Wigan counterpart Maurice Lindsay, it was decided that the Oldham name would not have had the pulling power in France. With two footballing sides in Sheffield who had both played in the Football Premier League, Hetherington pitched Sheffield Eagles to be the travelling party. Lindsay duly accepted

The Eagles started marketing packages for the game as part of their Christmas offer to fans.

The Castleford game was another excellent performance by the Eagles. They nilled their hosts in the first half to take a twenty points lead into the second. They scored a further twenty-two points after the sbreak, only conceding fourteen to take the game 42-12. Both Sodje and Lawless scored two tries each, with further tries from Stott, Garcia, McAllister and Hay, with Mycoe rounding off the scoring with five goal from seven. The victory confirmed the Eagles in fifth place in the Championship with 18 points.

Their ninth victory, which became a club record at the time, was at home to Bradford Bulls four days later. The Eagles totally outclassed their opponents as they sought revenge for two earlier defeats that season.

On a rain drenched pitch, which impacted on the Eagles style of play, they ground out a result. They were ahead after two minutes from a Mycoe penalty for a late tackle. Two chances for Sheridan and Broadbent were denied by the Bulls defence before Hughes bludgeoned his way through four defenders to score. Just before the half hour, Sodje secured the Eagles second touchdown, ensuring that Sheffield went in at the interval with a 12-0 lead.

Just after the restart a Mycoe drop goal extended the lead, before Dixon scored from close in to give the hosts, what was. an unassailable lead 19-0. Despite two scores from the Bulls, it was the Eagles who claimed victory 19-10, moving them into fourth spot with 20 points, the highest league position they had held in their short life as a club.

With two games left, the Eagles looked to climb higher as they were only in their current position due to an inferior points difference with third placed St Helens. They had two games left, home to Wigan and away to Oldham. Wigan, the league leaders were their first opponents whom they met a fortnight after the Bradford victory. Wigan however were a different kettle of fish. In front of Sky’s cameras, and the Eagles largest crowd of the season, 4,639,they managed to keep in touching distance with Wigan, restricting them to a lead of 20-12.

As the game progressed in the second half, both sides scored, but Wigan extended their lead to 30-18 before an incident occurred which could have changed the outcome. With 52 minutes gone, Paul Carr had a try disallowed for improper grounding by the referee, but the TV cameras showed that it was a try. Although both teams scored again later, Wigan taking the game 36-24, ending the Eagles unbeaten run, there was a strong view that the final result would have been different if the Carr try had stood.

A completely different team travelled to Oldham two days after the Wigan defeat. The players tried to put the Eagles back to winning ways, they were only behind 8-4 at the interval, yet despite three tries in the game from Garcia, Senior and Ian Hughes, with two conversions from Dean Lawford, they ended up as losers 26-16. The two defeats in their last two games, meant that Sheffield finished the season in fourth spot, the highest they had ever finished, with 20 points, sixteen points behind league Champions Wigan.

Before teams could concentrate on finalising their preparations for the forthcoming Super League season, they had the little matter of the Challenge Cup to complete. Although the final was in April, the majority of the rounds were to be held before the opening game in Paris.

The Eagles were drawn away to Huddersfield in the Third round of the Cup. Scoring two early tries, Sheridan after six minutes and Lawless after 15 minutes, the Eagles looked to be in control. But when Mycoe was stretchered off their opponents scored twice to level the scores at half-time and a potential upset was on the cards. Then Lawless took control, scoring a try on the restart, the kick taken by Crowther. With 47 minutes gone, Hay intercepted a loose pass and paved the way for a Stott try. Then Dakuitoga touched down, followed by a drop goal from Stott, the game ending with a Dixon try under the posts.. With Huddersfield only managing a penalty in the second half, the Eagles were worthy 35-14 winners.

The victory brought a Fourth round tie away to Halifax. It was a close contest, but despite two tries from Price, and one from Stott, with Crowther converting all three and Aston popping up with a penalty, the Eagles went out of the Cup 24-20, with Halifax progressing to the Quarter Finals, where they lost to Leeds.

After a slow start to the season the Eagles finished in their highest ever position since their formation in 1984. In this shortened season, Dave Mycoe was top points scorer with 69, followed by Mark Aston with 56. Mycoe was top goal scorer with 32 goal and 1 Field Goal, whilst the runner up Aston converted 25 kicks and also got two Field Goals. Top try scorer was a tie between, Paul Carr, Johnny lawless and Bright Sodje, all with 10.

With success the crowd numbers improved on previous seasons, reversing the downward spiral. Average crowds at Eagles home games rose 10.6% to 3,106, whilst the average for the league only grew by 0.5%. Consequently the Eagles crowds were about 53% of the League average of 5,877 a 3% improvement.

Both the Alliance and Academy squads had fairly successful seasons. Both recruited from outside and within. Ben Cooper James Brown

Chris Molyneux Alan Langham Lee I’Anson all joined the Academy. Jason Davidson, Richard Armswood and Gareth Maidment were all offered contracts, played in the Alliance

The Alliance side finished fourth in their league, after a disastrous run prior to the break for the World Cup. Performance on the resumption after the tournament saw them move up the league from the relegation spot they occupied. They even reached the semi-final stage of the Alliance Challenge Cup, beating Rochdale 62-24, Widnes 46-10 and

York in the Quarter Finals 50-0, to get there. In that game against Leeds, they were 20-14 behind with 15 minutes left on the clock, before Darren Turner levelled the scores with a converted try. Leeds eventually pipped them to a place in the Final, with a late penalty goal, taking the game 22-20.

Most of the Eagles activities off the field were focused on preparing the club and its players for their new adventure in Super League. The players they were to retain were put on full time contracts. Those that were not left the club for pastures new. 

• Richard Armswood (Workington)
• John Glancy (Batley)
• Lee Jackson (Newcastle Aus)
• Karl Randall (Batley)
• Jerome Vincent (France)
• Andy Young (Doncaster)
• Frederic Banquet (Wakefield)
• Darren Hughes (Featherstone)
• Richard Picksley(Doncaster)
• Darren Summerill (Wakefield)
• Sonny Whakarau (Wakefield)

John Glancy played for the Eagles over six seasons, appearing in 128 games, scoring 14 tries. Most expensive signing, International Player Lee Jackson appeared in 55 games over three seasons, but only managed to score 6 tries.

Richard Picksley was at Sheffield for six seasons, during which he played in 65 matches accumulating 17 tries, Stalwart Andy Young’s 129 appearances, over a quarter from the bench, scored 32 tries over eight years at the club.

The Eagles continued to support Rugby League Development both within schools and the wider community, aided by those players now on full term contracts, adding their experience to the youngsters who were involved in the coaching sessions. Thirty Two teams from local schools were now involved in the South West Yorkshire Schools League.

When not focusing on Super League preparations, the Eagles were involved in the Testimonial Year for long time servant Mark Gamson.

After being the first woman to be allowed on the Rugby League Council, eleven years previously, during the season Kath Hetherington was elected the first Lady President of the Rugby Football League for 199596 and was involved in all the activities involved in the during the run up to and the start of the First Super League season.