CELEBRATING THE FIRST 40 YEARS
How the first 40 years of the Sheffield Eagles was celebrated.
The Heritage Project has working with the Club to celebrate the 40th anniversary, on 2nd September 2024, with a range of events, activities, booklets and special memorabilia.
Where it all started
If Gary Hetherington had been offered the job of the manager at York in 1981 then the Sheffield Eagles would have never existed. Instead he used that unsuccessful interview as the inspiration for creating the new club that became the Eagles. You can read more about the motivation, challenges and achievements of Kath and Gary Hetherington in order to have a team in place for that first ever game on 2nd September 1984 HERE.
The First Game
There are not many rugby league clubs that can say it, but thanks to Dean Palmer, we have full footage of that first ever Sheffield Eagles game, including commentary by Martyn Sadler. You can watch it on the Heritage Project's YouTube channel using the link below. The channel now has over 60 videos from across the 40 years of the Club's history, all organised by playlists for each decade. This is the tip of the iceberg as the Heritage Project has digitised over 450 games - transferring them from VHS tape or DVD.
The First Season and the Following 40 Years
You can read a review of the first ever Sheffield Eagles season, the highs and the lows, the successes and the challenges HERE.
Thanks to the hard work of Eagles' fan Ian Swain he has researched and written summaries of every one of the 40 seasons in the Club's history to date. Almost 30 have been added to the website to create a comprehensive timeline. The remaining seasons will be added before the end of September. It's a chance for you to relive your favourite seasons or learn more about the years before you started watching the Club.
40 Years of Shirts
The Heritage Project has created a photographic record of as many shirts as possible - home, away, third and special kits - that the Sheffield Eagles have played in since their first game on 2nd September 1984.
The shirts photographed are a mix of those held by the Club and Brian Moore, the Club's kit manager - which includes many shirts donated to the Club by long term fan Dean Mitchell. Additional shirts were loaned for photography by Jo Stanser-Collins and Richard King. Some gaps remain, if you have any of missing shirts then please get in touch and we will see if we can arrange for them to be photographed. The shirts were photographed by Jake Borrill, with further photographs by Richard King.
Why not look for your favourite shirt or look back in time to see how the shirts have changed? You can find them all HERE.
40th Anniversary Booklet
The Heritage Project has worked with a group of volunteers to develop a 24 page booklet that tries to capture 40 years of the Sheffield Eagles and what the Club means to people. The title really captures the approach we've taken that is more than a straight historic record. 24 pages could never hope to cover every part of the history so the group focused on a different angle. There are stories about how the Club started, how there is a sense of family about the Eagles, the ups and downs of 40 years, what the spirit of the Eagles is, playing at 21 home grounds in 40 years, homegrown talent, the Eagles at Wembley, mascot memories, 40 years of change and the future. The group of seven - Steve Dalton, Jo Stanser-Collins, Dean Mitchell, Harry Welburn, Ian Swain, Alicia Newton and Sarra Bingley were supported by rugby league journalist Gareth Walker who we'd previously worked with as part of his Literacy Kicks project. The booklet has been designed by Elven Design who we also worked with in designing our children's activity booklet. We really hope you like it and enjoy the approach we've taken. Free copies will be available at the Heritage Game on 8th September and you can also read the stories (and download a pdf version) HERE.
40 from 40 Years
25th July 2024 saw the start of the countdown of "40 from 40 Years" - the list of 40 players each representing a season from the 40 years of the Sheffield Eagles. The final player was revealed on 2nd September, 40 years to the day of the Sheffield Eagles first competitive game - a 29-10 win against the Rochdale Hornets.
This list has been put together by the Sheffield Eagles Heritage Project who asked fans to nominate a player from each season. These nominations were then narrowed down to three from each year with fans asked to vote for one. This then created the "40 from 40 years" and we're sure there's going to be plenty of discussions about who has been included and who hasn't. 551 players have played for the men's team so far, so it was really difficult to narrow them down to 40.
You can find full details of the list HERE.
In addition the Heritage Project has produced a set of 40 cards to create a Sheffield Eagles card game. Each player has their own scores for the categories shown, The cards are for sale at the Heritage Game on the 8th September at a price of £5 per pack. All proceeds will go to support the work of the Eagles Foundation. There is a strictly limited number, with only 300 packs for sale.
SOAR - FLY WITH THE EAGLES
A free, 24 page booklet, aimed at 6-14 years olds available for free at Sheffield Eagles games, through the work of the Eagles Foundation and as a download. Find out more HERE.
Postcards
A set of five postcards, covering the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. Available for free (whilst stocks last) at Sheffield Eagles games.
Logos
You can see 40 years of Sheffield Eagles logos HERE.
Limited Edition Badge
The Heritage Project has produced a very special 40 years commemorative badge bringing together the first shirt and the most recent one. These will also be for sale at the Heritage Game for £3 each, with once again there being a strictly limited number of 200 for sale.