There are so many tales to be told about the Essex Eels perhaps one of the most fascinating clubs in the history of Rugby League, who would of thought a team with 5 internationals would be that bad! (although the countries were Holland, USA and the Bahamas)

I think if Quinny was willing to write a story I could give him a lot to talk about..

I only had a few games for the junior team under my belt when I received that call one fateful Saturday morning..there were calling me up to the big show..my chance to get my name posted on the internet for playing sport, be a semi-professional rugby player...the only problem was I was 15, not very big and not very good! At this point I must remind you that the minimum age requirement to play int he national leagues is 16, so naturally the coach altered my date of birth on the registration form and I was ready to stand up and be counted.. Of course we got smashed of the park almost humiliated but that was it, I was invovled in this pioneering club that had dreams of Super League glory in its eyes..

It turns out that no one really likes rugby league in Essex so obviously none of the dreams were shared by the community and never came to fruition...

I still recall taking 16 hour trips to Gateshead with a friend who had only ever played rugby at school, who had been roped into playing because he had been out with me the night before. He was sent off for kicking someone in the face and had to sprint to the other end of the pitch before the opposition gave him the beating of his life.

This was suppose to be National League Three.. only a few tiers below the Super League...if you went on Teletext that night the score would be there, people took an interest in the results! And the motely crew of Essex geezers, aussies and international players went out there every week and got ed on. This is a story that should be shared with the rugby league community to show the struggle that has occurred in the south for the game to take hold!

Theres so much more I would like to talk about but in this forum its not coherent, its just rambling off memories. Memories that need to be put out there because there is now no trace of the Essex Eels online or anywhere apart from the shirt that I stole sitting in my draw..

There's the story of JC Rocha the American international rugby league player flown over from his family home in Washington D.C. to play rugby for 'the up and coming' team in the UK. He was promised so much gave up his life and moved to Essex only to met by me and my mates, a group of boys pretending they could play rugby and a delusional coach who genuinely thought we were good!

As you can see I have a lot to talk about when it comes to the Essex Eels and if anyone has any specific question about then just ask..

AceVentura

what a disgraceful little mag RL world is. top 10 worst expansion teams. much better read would be top 22 pioneering teams that broke away From the old ways to set up an exciting attacking game but then sat on their backsides for 100 years telling each other how great they were while the rest of the sporting world overtook them.

I played for Brentwood Elvers, the youth team from Essex Eels which is still running but has low support. Which is causing me to go to a different club because of lack of players for matches. The club could have potential but yawnion dominates the area

Quite right, would not touch it with a bargepole. A patheitic lazy piece of journalism.

You would have thought Rugby League World would talk the game up as opposed to slagging it off.

I meant to say why does Carlisle not feature in the 10 failures ?
Oh of course they are from the North.

Prince of Denmark...the man you are referring to is Leeroy Brown...yes he was the baddest man in the whole dam town, that town being Romford, so you had to be pretty bad to earn such a title! A trained professional mixed martial artist with a flair for violence..he was the rose amongst are bed of weeds.. the guy no one on the opposition wanted to with which was very nessersary the whippings we took. Sadly, Leeroy didnt travel well and only played in a handful of home games, rumour has it he was on tag!

You really couldnt write this could you