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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. 



As the 1999 Super League Season came to an end Sheffield Eagles fans were left without a club to follow. The merger with the Huddersfield Giants had gone ahead but thanks to the efforts of a dedicated group, a new Sheffield Eagles was created ready for the start of the 2000 season.

Background In his summary of the 2000 season Ian Swain wrote in more detail about the merger of the Sheffield Eagles with the Huddersfield Giants, including some of the background, the reaction, the challenges of creating a new team in less than 70 day and the struggles of that first season. You can read that ,HERE,. 

The first game The first phase of the Sheffield Eagles saw them play for 16 seasons, 2025 will see them start their 26th season in the second incarnation.  As could be expected it took a long time for the Club to rebuild, with many setbacks and challenges along the way. That first game set the scene though and gave the 500 fans who travelled to  Chorley some hope for the future. That first game on 28th December 1999 against Lancashire Lynx saw a 33-20 victory for the Eagles. This despite there only being 22 days between having the Club's application to the Rugby League Council approved and that first game. 
You can read the programme from that first game here: 
[File: undefined]
You can watch full footage of that first game here: 
[Video: 281299 Eagles v Lancashire Lynx]
For that first game the Eagles only had a temporary red and gold strip at that point which clashed with their opponents home kit. Therefore the Eagles played in the Lancashire Lynx blue away kit.
This was the short term home kit - you can see why it clashed with Lancashire's strip.
[Image: 2000 Third Shirt]
This was before the home and away kits for the rest of the season arrived.
[Image: 2000 Home Shirt]
[Image: 2000 Away Shirt]




Further information As part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Club in 2024 the Heritage Project brought together key people from the various eras of the Club to share their memories. Below you can watch some of those involved in the rebuilding the Sheffield Eagles talk about what was involved and the challenges along the way. 
[Video: Panel 2 : The rebirth and rebuilding of the Club]
During 2024 the Heritage Project, worked with fans, selecting one player from each season to represent the 40th years of the Club. The first captain (try scorer) of the new team Jon Bruce was selected for that first season. You can read more ,HERE, along with an interview carried out with Jon by Dan Fowler ,HERE,.

Author Richard King

28th December 2024 is a significant date in the history of the Sheffield Eagles, it marks the 25th anniversary of the first game of the second phase of the Club

Celebrating 25 years of the reborn Sheffield Eagles



Sitting on the coach home, my youngest asleep on my shoulder and I have headphones on playing music, I am looking out the window as the last of the day’s sun lingers. The enormity of the day starts to hit.

Reflecting on the Day All kinds of emotions come and go and come back again. I am gutted we didn’t win but the overall feeling is off pride. Pride in the club that worked so hard to get where they are today. They have faced so much in their brief history, and they can stand tall and say we did it. They caused one of the biggest sporting upsets in 1998 by beating Wigan and they are the first winners of the 1895 cup in 2019 and a return visit to Wembly in 2024. It is a case of third time unlucky having won their first two visits and losing the last visit. That is a great achievement especially as the club is only 40 years old.
I can't help but smile when my thoughts turn to the LD team. What an experience it was to go onto the pitch as a flag bearer. I am gutted a couple of players didn’t make it on to the pitch with us. It would have been great to have them on the pitch with us.
[Image: 1895 Cup Final 2024]

On the pitch Standing on the Wembley pitch is surreal. The stadium is so big that you feel so small but you're on the pitch with your teammates and wearing your team shirt you can’t help but feel 10ft tall. I had the added bonus of having both my kids on the pitch with me. I am so proud of all the LD team and proud to be a part of it. I am so grateful to have had the chance to go on to the pitch with my kids and the LD team. It's a memory that will stay with all for a long time.
Tina Turner starts to sing ‘we don’t need another hero, we don’t need to know the way home’ and it resonates. If it wasn’t for Mark Aston and a few others we wouldn’t have a team let alone gone to Wembley. The club has had a nomadic lifestyle for a while, so I guess we don’t need to know the way home. Hopefully that will change for the better with the prospect of a shared ground with Sheffield FC.

Returning Home We pull up at the OLP about 11.30pm. It has been a long time since I felt this worn out but so proud. Proud of the LD team, proud of the fans for giving it their all and proud of the men's team for getting to Wembley. It is no easy task getting to the finals of any competition but getting to the finals at Wembley is something to be very proud of.

Author Sarra Bingley

Photographs Hannah Pemberton

A personal view from Sarra Bingley of the Sheffield Eagles 2024 trip to Wembley for the 1895 Cup Final. 

Wembley 2024



The Sheffield Eagles Heritage Project was contacted by long time Sheffield Eagles Fan Dean Palmer to let us know he has a digital version of a VHS tape of the first ever Sheffield Eagles game. We're delighted to be able to share it, but also make sure it as archived for the future. 

Sheffield Eagles v Rochdale Hornets The Heritage Project has produced previous stories about the first Sheffield Eagles game and was able to share digitised versions of the match programme, photos from the game and people's memories. We're delighted now to be able to share a full video, including commentary of that first ever game. Dean's parents were both at that first game and had a VHS copy of the game that was digitised. Dean's parents helped run the Eagles Colts team in the late 1980s with Dean playing for them and the original Hillsborough Hawks team.
Commentary on the game was by Martyn Sadler now the editor of the League Express - at the time he was a lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University. 
As you can imagine the picture quality isn't what we're used to today - it's transferred from an almost 40 year old VHS tape. It does capture the occasion though and the historic first appearance of the Sheffield Eagles.

[Video: Sheffield Eagles v Rochdale Hornets, 2nd September 1984]
 

Share Your Memories Were you at the first game? What are your memories of it?
We're also keen to track down the players from that first game as we'd like to organise an event with them later in the year. If you were a player in that first game or you are a relative of them then please get in touch.
You can contact the Heritage Project ,HERE,. 

Author Richard King

Below you can find full footage (including commentary) of the first ever Sheffield Eagles game on 2nd September 1984 against Rochdale Hornets.

Footage of the first ever Sheffield Eagles game discovered



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



2nd September sees the 40th anniversary of the Sheffield Eagles and the countdown to that day has begun, with an actual countdown. Details of each player will be released on a daily basis.

How the list was developed 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.

1980s For details of all the players from the 1980s that form part of "40 from 40 Years" click ,HERE,.

1990s For details of all the players from the 1990s that form part of "40 from 40 Years" click ,HERE,.

2000s For details of all the players from the 2000s that form part of "40 from 40 Years" click ,HERE,.

2010s For details of all the players from the 2010s that form part of "40 from 40 Years" click ,HERE,.

2020s Click ,HERE, to find details of all the players from the 2010s who form part of the "40 from 40 Years".

Author Richard King

"40 from 40 Years" the 40 Sheffield Eagles players, each representing one season in the Club's history. 

40 from 40 Years



As well as printed copies we've also made the booklet available as a download below. 

Background Thanks to the funding from ,The National Lottery Heritage Fund, we’ve been able to work with Meghan Tipping of, Rooted in Talk,  and the designers ,Eleven, to create the booklet. The 24 page booklet, aimed at 6-14 years olds will be available free at Sheffield Eagles games and through the work of the Eagles Foundation. The booklets are a chance for younger fans to learn more about the Eagles and include a mix of articles, crosswords, wordsearches and guides to the game as well as a chance for them to write their own match reports, create their own badges, design a new stadium, write their own history of the Club and collect autographs.

Download Here You can read the booklet below and to download it click ,HERE, then save the pdf to your computer from there.
[File: undefined]

Author Richard King