Hello everyone,

As you can probably tell I live in Essex and am a Rugby League fan. I was reading through the December issue of Rugby League World and was interested to see that the Essex Eels had come in the Top Ten of the worst expansion clubs in history. I'm interested in writing a piece about the club.

I knew of the Essex Eels club but I'm very interested into the ins & outs of the club like: how they were formed, who formed them, were the players come from (e.g locals or travelled from London) and playing records of the club.

The club competed in NL3 as it was so I was wondering if anyone had any information about the club, its players, officials, pictures or even contacts to the club officials etc

Much appreciated.

I played for the Essex Eels for a number of years, from the junior level up to the first team, I'm not surprised it received such an accolade as one of the worst expansion teams in history. It was a story of one scouse man with a dream to bring the beautiful sport of Rugby League to the masses, to the hotbed of sporting talent that is..Essex. We use to play out of Basildon Stadium and recorded one win in NL3 against Carlisle which was subsequently taken away from us because the opposition team disbanded later on that season. Just to sum up some of the best memories of the Essex Eels I'll rattle off some of the teams finest moments...

-Getting beat 134-0 against Hertfordshire (I played in this game and am told it was two points off the world record score)

- Spiraling debts from the clubs credit card, even though there was not a penny coming in.

- The signing of three international players, one dutch, one American and one Kiwi..promised the world and given a three bedroom semi in Collier Row. We had a very multicultural team including a Kazakhstani Cambridge graduate, a semi racist South African and a whole host of local people dragged in to play including me and a number of my friends who played against semi professional northerners at the age of 15 and 16. Needless to say we took some almighty beatings, but had a very good time doing it!

I have a lot more things I can say about the team and i definately have contacts if you were seriously going to write about it, a lot of funny memories to be shared.

Get in touch

AceVentura

Invictus mt @rse...there's an Oscar winner in there somewhere

post some stories anyway, we need a damn good laugh on here.

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

Hey,

I will be in touch asap (tomorrow most likely). Do you have any of the contacts of these people still by any chance? But so far some interesting stories there...

Thanks Ace.

ok i own up ,we were among the small band of fans that turned up at basildon ru ground.we were made very welcome by said scouser,boss hogg if i remember correctly.
i remember traipsing across fields and the dual carriageway to a field marked out for rl when their pitch was unavailable .the only facility available was an enormous tree which the crowd(?) and players shared at half time for a jimmy.
it was basic but we loved it.being so close to the action i could feel the hits let alone hear them......i still have the shirt,a unique orange design.alas i cant find the programmes or cap anywhere. if someone out there starts another eels team count us in............great fun

I tell you what...I know some tales about the Essex Eels that would bend your bones. I played for them as a second rower when I lived down in Brentwood.

My best memory was when we played the Kabul Afghans away on a cold wet windy Saturday night. The team bus broke down 6 times between Brentwood and Dover, 4 times across Pakistan and then when we finally made it to Afghanistan the driver (our full back Rampaging Rick Richards) drove over a landmine and killed 6 of the team.

Needless to say we lost the game 216 - 1 (I slotted over a field goal in the second stanza) and had to walk home.

The following week we had another away fixture, this time against the Vancouver Vikings. On the way there Nobby Jenkins got humped by a moose and the rest of the team were eaten by a bear.

I carried on and single handedly won the game for the team 456- 0.

I retired soon afterwards.

There is a place at Broadmoor for You!!!!

I have a few contacts still..I'll try and dig them up... but I'm sure I can fill you in about most the goings on the season Essex Eels played in NL3

Pete Zatoppin..your a douche

Do you suffer from erectile problems?

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Quote: apostate "Do you suffer from erectile problems? '" I didn't earlier when this happened viewtopic.php?f=2&t=443437

stop teasing us.....just do it!

I saw Essex Eels a couple of times against my local club South London Storm. The first time was at Storm’s Brigstock Road ground in NL3. Eels had been hyped as a new club with a big future and turned up in a very smart orange & navy kit, but were bottom of the table and Souths easily beat their rather young and inexperienced looking side. I think this was probably the 2004 season, or maybe a year earlier.

Next time I saw them was an away match in May 2006 at a ground on the outskirts of Romford. Both teams were now competing in the RLC Premier, of which Souths would go on to win the National Final against East Lancashire Lions that year. This was certainly the last season of Essex, in fact I’m not sure they even completed the season. Their team looked a sorry state, a combination of 40 year old forwards and skinny youths who looked like they’d rather be somewhere else, in a grubby old white kit that was clearly several years old. I suspect there was at least one father & son pair in the side. However, the player I most remember was a shaven headed, fit-looking bloke of about 30. He was their sole interchange at the start of the match and was drinking a pint of lager during the first half and chatting to mates on the touchline. I heard him say “I don’t even like this game, I’m a footballer”. When he came on his first attempt to tackle an opponent consisted of swinging a right hook at his head as he ran past! Fortunately he only landed a glancing blow. The ref should have sent him off there and then, he was a total headcase. I could easily visualise him playing football on Hackney Marshes on a Sunday morning, fetching a baseball bat from the boot of his XR3i after a bad tempered defeat. At one point one of his young team mates was knocked to the floor and winded and our man ran to the touchline, picked up his half finished pint of lager and “hilariously” poured it into the poor lad’s mouth to “revive” him, almost choking him in the process.

Fortunately the Souths players had enough nous to avoid getting hurt by this individual’s ridiculously dangerous and inept challenges. Then he got the ball on the wing, put his head down and ran with it. He was tackled a cuple of yards inside the touchline and half the Souths team piled into the tackle and literally threw him into touch! An obvious foul, but it was funny to see him get a taste of his own medicine.