Blimey this thread has turned into a left wing rant. Can we set up a political forum? I came here looking for rugby league and the plight of the Don Valley.

Back on topic, have the Eagles passed any comment on this yet.
I presume that the closure of the DV stadium will make them homeless, which is a shame for a club which has endured so much pain over the years and which had appeard to bounce back really well after its "merge" with our friends from Huddersfield.

Wrencat - why would Eagles comment on DV stadium closing - they've been playing at Bramall Lane for the last 2 seasons.

Incorrect. They split their games between the two stadiums, with the majority being played at the Don Valley.

Only this year though. Didn't they play all their home games at Bramall Lane in 2012 ?

Yep and you'll find its all intertwined, sadly you can't seperate the issue.

Nope same situation last year also.

Issues like this remind me of the 80's politics when they were saying that kids didnt need to participate in competetive sports etc.
20 years down the line and the coountry is suffering an obesity epidemic and closing any spors facility will contribute further !

I stand corrected. Apologies. www.sheffieldeagles.com/index.ph ... Itemid=493

I stand corrected. Apologies. www.sheffieldeagles.com/index.ph ... Itemid=493

I think you're part right and part wrong here. Participation is the key when it comes to obesity I would suspect. In order to have lower obesity we need as high a number of participants in sport/exercise as possible and frankly competition can turn people off in their teenage years for life. I agree with your general point though we need as much sport and leisure facilities as possible and as many different exercise opportunities open as possible so that people can find something that works for them; be it badminton, boxing or roller blading.

It's a deeper and darker issue than you have painted too, the proliferation of fast food outlets, sports sponsorship by tobacco/alcohol and junk food (soft drinks in particular) have normalised the consumption of high calorie rubbish etc etc etc don't get me started.

I wonder if Sheffield Eagles have known that this was coming for a while given that they play a fair few games at Brammall Lane these days.

Add to that lazy parenting (by some), over protective parenting, fear of litigation, less community focus, people having less time and money and effort to run grass roots clubs, lazy kids and x-boxes/playstations and a whole shift in lifestyle from twenty years ago and i think you are getting somewhere near the depth of the problem.
Queue the Socialist Workers Revolutionary Front of Judea!!!

Totally agree with your comments and of course there are many other issues other that participation in competetive sports.
However, quality facilities and top level sport in any area also serve as a catlyst to spark interest.
Inviting people along to these places may encourage an "i'd like to have a go at that" response and whilst it's not everybodys cup of tea, we need to engage as many people as possible.
With the current health of the nation, money would be better invested in places like this than other projects, having said that, on some of the news reports surrounding the Don Valley, it was staggering that in Sheffield, thy weren't reporting any major increase in interest, post the olympics.

Bringing this back to Rugby League, participation is the reason we need BARLA to be independent of the RFL. The RFL are interested, and only interested in the elite level of our sport. BARLA is interested in elite level youth football, but it is also the only voice and supporter of the our game on a numbers basis.

For our sport to be strong we need numbers playing in Pennine division 4 or, NWC 3 just as much as we need sides winning the Superleague grand final. Strangely the RFL don't ever seem to have realised that lower level amateur players have kids; kids that watch their dads (and Mums these days) and they then pick up a ball and want to give it a go. Participation at youth level breeds a production line for elite professionals a decade later. One thing that BARLA always seems to have done is to help support the leagues and clubs with the structures they need to provide a somewhere for the 99/100 lads that don't get signed at 17, or drop out of the under 20s a couple of years later.

Out of interest wouldn't this be classed as an "iconic" stadium?

OOOH thats a cheap shot!!!

On a serious note it could easily be made into the "Wembley of the North"