Many thanks for the support it's very much appreciated

Good luck in the playoffs

Sheffield Eagles is a good friendly club and enjoyable place to watch a game. The big problem is they just aren't big enough in Sheffield in terms of crowd.

They are like a northern London Broncos in that they have a small group of very committed supporters and in fairness to the club it has had a fair bit of success and Mark Aston and the guys around him seem to run the club well with the resources they have, I think its quite a professional outfit on the pitch.

But in all that like you say they are in a large city and not far from rugby league heartland but the Eagles are not really part of the fabric of the city. It's a football city and the Eagles haven't ever been able to really capture Sheffield.

I do not hold out much hope for petitioning the local council because the council has had funding cuts and is having to cut back on services and the relatively low crowds makes it difficult to really lobby them for financial help. We saw what happened with the Don Valley and even the PR image of Jess Ennis and the local press weren't able to save them. The problem will be that for people at the council charged with making tough decisions on priorities in the face of cuts, the Eagles are just a lobby group that represent a small number of people, but councils get them all the time and have to say no.

I think the only real hope for Sheffield would be to get support from a private investor.

It's a funny city Sheffield because despite being associated with being a grim industrial northern city its a bit more upmarket than the other northern cities, pretty clean, safe, a nice open and green environment and in the areas around the city (especially between the city and the Peaks) there is quite a lot of wealth. So I think there's some potential in there....but for rugby league I'm not sure, its difficult. I know a fair few Sheffielders including rugby league supporting Sheffielders but they support other teams.

That said I am not knocking Eagles fans attempts to save their club as I say its a great place and its a very welcoming place to watch RL.

I'm not sure if you been to Sheffield City Centre recently, but Meadowhell continues to cause havoc. I don't think Sheffield is nearly as prosperous as Leeds, home p the current champions, or even Manchester, home of next season's

I think history, and the fact Sheffield is one of the original bastions of soccer have more to do with it. That said, cuts or no cuts, IMHO councils should be supporting strong community clubs, and RL generally, and from what I can gather the Eagles specifically, fit this bill.

he only asked for your help sally c.

Out of interest, for those of us who aren't really in the loop on this, what are the Eagles options now the Don Valley is closing? Obviously Sheffield has two football stadiums, but I'm assuming the cost of renting either of those would be way out of budget considering their capacities and Eagles' average attendances. Where are they hoping to move into, and where are they hoping to avoid? Or has it gone past that point and outright closure of the club altogether is the most likely outcome here? I agree they were treated disgracefully when that happened the first time obviously, so full credit to those responsible for reclaiming them.

Obviously I wish them as well as anyone else on here does, but you're always going to find support on an RL forum. If I was a Sheffield resident with no interest in the Eagles - which let's face facts, is the vast majority of them - then I perhaps wouldn't want a council that was being forced to make huge budget cuts to be finding the money to accommodate a sports team that attracts only a small minority of the city's population to it's games.

I'm not trying to stir it or anything, I have no wish to see the Eagles forced out, but if Britain's Golden Girl can't save the Don Valley I highly doubt they can, so taking sally's post above into account, I was just curious as to what the various options on the table for them are?

it does nobody an harm to show support. And its much more quicker to sign up than give chapter and verse telling why you won't!

Hi there, thanks for the support, the only option available is Owlerton Greyhound Stadium, the club had spent the past year preparing to move in at Sheffield Hallam Uni, but the Uni pulled the plug at the last minute. They wish for support from the Council to get them into Owlerton in time for next season, as a lot of upgrading needs doing. The club have stands that can be put on the side of the dogtrack, but need help in getting the rest of the ground up to scratch such as the changing rooms. The football clubs dont wish to have the Eagles, Sheffield United are happy to have the odd game, but to be based at full time would involve the Eagles funding a state of the art pitch that can stand up to both sports.

The population percentage can occassionally be a bit of a red herring I acknowledge Rico, as it's obviously relative to how many people actually live in the town/city, and in those terms it's probably less than 10% of the Sheffield population that regularly watch football in the city, leaving over 90% who don't. SUFC and SWFC are part of the social and cultural fabric of Sheffield though, and of those 90% who don't regularly attend games there will be a huge number who still identify themselves as a supporter of either club and care about them. This would force the council to support them more if one of the club's required it.

To a lesser extent the same could be said of the RL club in Salford, because of the long history of the club and the sport in the city. The Eagles simply won't have that. As sally said above, they are kind of a London Broncos in the north.

I'm not knocking them or anything and I do hope they manage to work something out that secures long term sustainability in the city for them, but their situation isn't comparable to a club like Salford's in my opinion.

***EDIT*** I typed this post as Brummie Eagle was posting above so didn't read that initially. Thanks for the info and good luck with the move into Owlerton. Have you been offered any other options should it not happen, or would a move out of Sheffield be the only alternative prospect?

I was over in Yorkshire earlier in the week (resplendent in my wires top I hasten to add) and there was an item in the local news about the eagles, and them leaving Don Valley.

At the moment Owlerton sounds like their best option, but they'd have to do a lot of renovation to the stadium to relay the pitch and improve the dressing rooms. They obviously don't have much money so are hoping the council and local investors step in.

Even in a sport where this kind of thing is sadly becoming commonplace, the passion and sadness of the speccies was really touching - given the average crowds I wrongly thought they'd go with a whimper but the fans were genuinely distraught.

Yep Owlerton is the only option, especially now as SUFC have new owners who have no interest in the rugby league. If that doesnt come off I believe the club will move into a venue outside of the city. I think we all agree Don Valley was a pretty awful place to watch rugby league, I just hope we have somewhere to call home next season!

If they cant sort something out in Sheffield (which hopefully...and rightfully they should so) a move to Doncaster MIGHT happen.

What about Rotherham?

[i"Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today"[/i

or Chesterfield?