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More stories will be added on a weekly basis, so keep coming back to see what's new. Very soon the search function will be added allowing you to easily search the entire site for stories, players, games or any other reference.

Learn more about Sheffield Eagles through the stories we've researched and focused on. If you'd like to share your memories and stories with the project then get in touch. 



The Heritage Project is working with the Club to celebrate the 40th anniversary, on 2nd September 2024, with a range of events and activities. 

How it began You can read more about how the Sheffield Eagles started ,HERE, including video of the whole first game including commentary. Did you also know that before the first ever competitive game on 2nd September, where the Eagles beat Rochdale Hornets 29-10, there were three friendly games. You can read about those ,HERE,. 

How we are celebrating the 40th anniversary Launch - there will be a special photo opportunity that marks the start of the 40th anniversary celebrations, not only will this celebrate the history of the Club but also its future.
40 from 40 Years - celebrating 40 players, one from each season.
Badges - similar to the badge produced for the 25th anniversary of the Challenge Cup last year we'll be producing a badge to mark the 40th anniversary that will be for sale later in the year.
Heritage Game - this year's heritage game (the home game closest to the first ever game on 2nd September 1984) will be on Sunday 8th September, against Bradford. We'll be organising a series of guests and activities for the day, to be announced closer to the match.
Celebration dinner - the Heritage Project is supporting the Club in organising a celebration dinner in September to mark the 40th anniversary. This will similar to the Challenge Cup celebration meal with a three course meal, special guests and videos to mark the 40 years.
40 years of shirts - we're still in the process of pulling together details of every shirt the Club has ever played in before we photograph them. The photos will then form part of the Heritage Project website as well as being used as a key part of the 40th anniversary celebration.
Commemorative brochure - we're putting together a 24 page booklet celebrating the 40 years of the Sheffield Eagles. We'll cover the highs and lows, the achievements and the memories. 
Children's booklet - in addition to the commemorative brochure, we're also putting together another special booklet, aimed at children. 
Heritage numbers - we're in the process of producing the final batches of heritage certificates for the men's, women's and wheelchair teams so that we can hand them out to players throughout the season.

Get involved To mark the 40th anniversary we're producing a 24 page booklet about the Sheffield Eagles. We're still at the early stages of developing it but we're looking to focus on some of the key stories from the last 40 years, share memories, look at the changes to the Club over that time and look forward to the future. Would you like to be involved in putting it together? It could be researching or writing stories. It could be about being part of the steering group to help shape the ideas. It could be about proof reading the final version. It could be just about being part of the process and learning what's involved in producing something like this. We're looking to work with the rugby league journalist Gareth Walker (who we worked with on the Literacy Kicks project) to provide mentoring and advice to people involved, giving you more chances to learn. If you're keen to get involved, have any questions or want to learn more then get in touch. 



Share your memories As part of the 40th anniversary celebrations we're looking for players (past and present) and fans to share their memories. Ideally we'd like to put together a short film, made up of people's memories to share as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations. For the Challenge Cup 25th anniversary celebrations we had some great short clips from players who couldn't make it on the night. We want to build on that this year. So if you're a former player and want to share some memories of your time at the Club then please do so. If you're a fan - it doesn't matter how long for - share with us some of your memories and what the Eagles mean to you. Just send us a couple of minutes of your thoughts and we'll piece it together into a longer video capturing memories. If you don't feel comfortable with video then send us an audio recording / voice note or write something down. Contact details are below.

Author Richard King

How the Heritage Project and the Club are celebrating the first 40 years of the Sheffield Eagles 

Celebrating the first 40 years



The Sheffield Eagles played a number of games before the first game on 2nd September 1984 when they beat Rochdale 29-10. Before that were a series of tournaments and friendlies to prepare for the game. 

Castleford Tigers - 10th August 1984 It seems that Sheffield played their first ever friendly against Castleford on Friday 10th August 1984. We're currently in the process of finding a programme from that game which we'll upload when we have it. 
The Eagles lost the game 44-20 but try scorers were Mark Campbell, Richard Davies, Mark Q Campbell and Paul McDermott with two goals from Dave Alred.

The Sterling Sevens - Sunday 12th August 1984 On the same weekend that the Eagles played Castleford Tigers the  Eagles took part in the Sterling Sevens tournament in Wakefield. 
[File: undefined]
Listed in the programme as playing that day for the Eagles were: Neil Cooper, John Magyar, Andy Tyers, Paul McDermott, Quinten Campbell, Gary Hetherington. Ian Jowitt, Steve Robinson and Mark Campbell. In an annotated version of the programme from the Wakefield Trinity Heritage site the team is actually shown as being Neil Cooper, John Magyar, Steve Robinson, Paul McDermott, Quinten Campbell, Gary Hetherington, Steve Cooper, Richard Davies and Ian Jowitt. 
The Eagles drew Warrington in the first round and lost 16-6 so didn't progress any further with Castleford beating St Helens 16-12 in the final.
The programme we have includes signatures of all the Sheffield players. Not much more is known about the Sterling Sevens so if you have any further information then please share it with us. 

Keighley - 22nd August 1984 The final friendly before the Eagles first competitive game was away to Keighley on a Wednesday night. 
[File: undefined]
There were a number of A N Others playing for the Eagles team that day but the team listed included: Ray Smith, Mark Campbell, E Powell (which is presumably Daryl Powell), Dave Alred, Steve Robinson, P Hayden (who doesn't seem to feature again), Billy Harris, Gary Hetherington, Steve Cooper, Ian Jowitt, Paul McDermott, Richard Davies and Steve Harvey. The Eagles went on to win the game 24-15, so this looks like the first ever win for a team playing under the banner of the Sheffield Eagles. 
[Image: Sheffield Eagles v Keighley Pre-Game Team Photo 22/08/1984. Copyright holder unknown.]

Further Information If you've got any further information about any of the pre-season friendlies and games before the 2nd September 1984 then please let us know. You can contact us ,HERE,.

Author Richard King

Sunday 2nd September 1984 is recognised as the first ever competitive  Sheffield Eagles game but there were some friendly games before that to prepare.

Before the first competitive game



So far we have scanned and uploaded nearly 600 Sheffield Eagles programmes (home and away) from the last 40 years, we're now trying to fill the gaps in the collection. Can you help? See the list below for the programmes we're missing. 

Can you help? Sheffield Eagles fan Ian Swain has scanned in 600 programmes from the last 40 years which we've uploaded to the Heritage Project website. You can find them in the Collections section of the site. 
He is in the process of digitising a further 400 which we'll upload over the next few months. It's ambitious but we're aiming to try and bring together a full collection of every programmes, home and away, before the Club's 40th anniversary in September 2024.
Below you can read the list that Ian has pulled together of all the missing programmes. Do you have any of the missing programmes? If so please get in touch ,HERE, and we'll arrange to borrow any programmes from you, scan them and then let you have them back.
[File: undefined]

Author Richard King

Can you help complete the online collection of Sheffield Eagles' programmes?

Completing the Programme Collection



A DVD transfer from an original VHS tape that has then been digitised.

A Short History - From the Beginning Long term fan, statistician and Club historian Nigel Borham provided the Heritage Project with a box full of DVDs, programmes and documents that he has collected over the years. It's going to be a long process of recording, digitising and scanning everything in there but one discovery was multiple copies of a DVD titled "The Eagles Fly". They were transfers from the original VHS tapes. Two of the copies were scratched and couldn't be properly digitised. The third after careful cleaning and the use of some additional software was able to converted.
Not much is known about it - it has a narration from Eddie Hemmings, an interview with Gary Hetherington and match footage from the first 10 years - including the Eagles' second ever game against Fulham - finishing at the dawn of the Super League era. 
 


Sheffield Eagles - A Short History 
[Video: A Short History  - From the Beginning]

Share Your Memories Do you know anything else about the video? Do you have a copy of the original tape? Do you have any memories of the games shown? If you do get in touch ,HERE,.

Author Richard King

A 20 minute documentary from 1996 covering the first 10 years of the Sheffield Eagles. It includes interviews and match footage highlighting the challenges and achievements of the first 10 years.

The Eagles Fly



The move from winter to summer rugby in 1996 saw the end of rugby league games over the Christmas period. 

The first Christmas Game The first Sheffield Eagles season in 1984 / 85  saw them finishing 17th in the second division with 8 wins out of 28 games. It was a tough first winter for the Club and they were on a run of 7 losses as they came into their first ever game over the Christmas period. This was as an away game against Mansfield Marksman on Boxing Day, following an away loss to Salford a few days before. The game against Mansfield was a battle of the two newest teams in rugby league with Mansfield having played their first ever game on the same day as the Eagles. Mansfield had a more successful start to their season, with more funding available than the Eagles they finished the season in 9th. Mansfield were looking the more successful team at that point with more chance of a successful future. With ten minutes to go the game was tied at 20-20 but it wasn't to be a first Christmas win for the Eagles as Mansfield scored a late try, winning the game 26-20. The Eagles tries came from Mark Campbell, Mark Gamson and Paul Welsh with four goals from Arnold Hema.
[File: Mansfield Marksman v Sheffield Eagles 26/12/1984]

The First Christmas Win The Eagles were more successful with their second festive game when they played Workington Town away on 22nd December 1985 with a 26-8 victory. It's always a difficult trip to Cumbria but tries by Roy Rafferty, Derek Bridgeman, Paddy Burgoyne, Kevin Farrell and Mark Roiall with five goals from Roy Rafferty meant it was a relatively comfortable victory. This was also the first game where the Eagles were sponsored by Whitbread, a partnership that lasted for over 10 years. 

Christmas Games Over the Years The following season saw revenge for the Eagles against Mansfield Marksman with a 26-10 away win on the 28th December 1986. 1987 saw another away win for the Eagles with a 32-2 away win at Doncaster on 27th December 1987. 
[File: Christmas 1987 from the book Images of Sport: Sheffield Eagles]
There was another away win on Boxing Day 1988 against Doncaster with a 34-20 win. Boxing Day 1989 was a less successful away trip to Hull with a 15-6 loss for the Eagles. 1990 saw a home game against St Helens on 23rd December, with an 18-8 win for the Eagles. 1991 was another Boxing Day game, and another away game, this time against Ryedale-York which saw the Eagles lose 8-6. 
[File: Christmas 1991 from the book Images of Sport: Sheffield Eagles]
[File: undefined]
It was an away game on Boxing Day again in 1992, playing against Hull with the Eagles losing 24-10. There was yet another away game in 1993 with an away win 24-14 on 28th December against Leigh.
[File: Christmas 1987 from the book Images of Sport: Sheffield Eagles]
It was a first on Boxing Day in 1994, with a home game against Doncaster at Don Valley Stadium with the Eagles winning 30-22 in front  of a crowd of 3,039. 1995 saw the last Eagles game over the Christmas period in the pre-Super League era with 1995 / 96 being the last season of Winter rugby. The game on 20th December was the closest to Christmas and that was home to Halifax, with a 38-14 win for the Eagles at Don Valley Stadium in front of a crowd of 1,594.

The rebirth of the Sheffield Eagles Christmas 1999 saw a "Christmas Miracle". Following the merger of Sheffield Eagles and Huddersfield Giants at the end of the 1999 it seemed like the Eagles were no more. Thanks to the efforts of a dedicated group the Eagles were reformed and on 28th December 1999 - the start of the 2000 season - the "new" Eagles played their first game. This away trip to Lancashire Lynx saw the Eagles win 33-20 and was the start of the rebuilding process, leading the Club to where it is today. You can read more about how the Club was reborn and that 1999 season ,HERE,.
For a short period in the early 2000s despite the move to "Summer" rugby, games were still being played over Christmas as seasons began in the December. So for the 2001 season the Eagles played on Boxing Day 2000 away to Doncaster Dragons, losing 22-2. 
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The following year on 23rd December (part of the 2002 season) the Eagles once again played Doncaster, this time at home, winning 36-14.
[File: undefined]
After this point the season moved towards January and February starts with no more Christmas games. 

Memories of Christmas Games Do you have any memories of Eagles games over the Christmas period? Did they become part of your Christmas routine? Let us know. You can contact us ,HERE,.

Author Richard King

We look back to Sheffield Eagles games over the Christmas period from years gone by

Sheffield Eagles at Christmas



Progress with the Heritage Project As we're just over 18 months into the Heritage Project it's worth looking back at progress to date with the infographic below. The project is only possible because of the support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and we've been able to extend the project by a further 6 months, using the existing funding, to the end of September 2024. A lot has been achieved to date, with more to come over the next year which is particularly special as this will be the Club's 40th anniversary.
[File: undefined]

An overview of progress after the first 18 months of the Sheffield Eagles Heritage Project.

Stories

Celebrating the first 40 years

Before the first competitive game

Completing the Programme Collection

The Eagles Fly

Sheffield Eagles at Christmas

Heritage Project Progress to Date