A Forgotten Rugby Club

A Forgotten Rugby Club is a follow up to Leeds Who? and contains fixtures, results, photographs and match reports.
It is available as a free download from www.YPDBooks.com

Sheffield Eagles - the first game

This is an extract from a longer article that appeared in Issue 30 of Rugby League Journal - Spring 2010 and on this website in July 2011

'Game day was very hectic. Very few people involved with the Eagles knew what to expect, and the Owlerton Stadium staff were more used to dealing with greyhound, speedway and stock car meetings, events that are very different to an 80 minute game of rugby league. Unfortunately, despite our hard work, the reality was that less than a thousand people paid to watch that first game. Giving an attendance figure to the media present caused me a dilemma. If I gave the actual attendance, the credibility of Sheffield Eagles would be damaged. Alternatively, if I gave a grossly inflated attendance figure, nobody present would believe it. In the end I decided to announce the attendance as 1,214, a figure that most people present seemed to find acceptable. Despite being told to do so, the security staff had not kept complimentary tickets and just waved people through the gate. I therefore had no real idea how many of the thousands of free tickets we distributed were actually used. The paying attendance certainly did not cover costs, but fortunately nobody questioned the attendance. In fact the Rugby Leaguer correspondent, who obviously did not hear the crowd figure announced, gave the attendance in their edition on 6th September 1984 as an impressive 2,000.

I remember very little about what happened on the field in that first game as, apart from ten minutes after half time, I was too busy in the office to watch any of the action. One of my main jobs was fielding complaints about the DJ who had been hired to comment on the game. Unfortunately, he had little idea about rugby league, talked while the game was taking place, and also made comments more in keeping with American football than rugby league. The people who complained about the DJ left the ground muttering that if that man was at future games they wouldn't be. The DJ did not appear again but I am not sure that the people who complained returned either.'

Sheffield Eagles v Rochdale Hornets 2nd September 1984

GIANT KILLERS

Home Team	Result	Away Team	Year
Normanton	7 - 2	Holbeck	1899
Normanton	5 - 0	Leeds	1900
Birkenhead Wanderers	2 - 0	Millom	1901
Windhill	5 - 0	Millom	1902
Millom	7 - 8	Parton	1904
Featherstone Rovers	23 - 2	Widnes	1906
Saville Green	10 - 0	Bramley	1907
Whitehaven Recreation	13 - 8	St Helens	1908
Beverley	7 - 2	Ebbw Vale	1909
Sharlston Rovers	12 - 7	Workington Town (1st leg) Lost 23-14 on aggregate	1946
Risehow & Gillhead	10 - 2	Keighley (2nd leg) Lost 13 – 2 on aggregate	1948
Highfield	4 - 27	Beverley	1995
Highfield	20 - 35	West Hull	1996
Chorley	12 - 27	Thatto Heath	1996
West Hull	10 - 6	York	1996
York	14 - 21	Dudley Hill	1997
Bramley	10 - 16	Ellenborough Rangers	1998
Doncaster	18 - 23	Featherstone Lions	1998
Ellenborough Rangers	14 - 12	Hunslet	1998
Egremont	18 - 0	Workington Town	1998
Bramley	12 - 18	Leigh Miners Rangers	1999
Batley	0 - 10	Oldham St Anne’s	2000
Sheffield Eagles	14 - 16	Thornhill	2000
Chorley	8 - 22	Woolston	2001
Wath Brow Hornets	13 - 12	Workington Town	2003
Halton Simms Cross	15 - 8	London Skolars	2003
Sharlston Rovers	30 - 28	Dewsbury	2004
Dudley Hill	16 - 14	Keighley	2004
Swinton	14 - 26	East Hull	2004
Wath Brow Hornets	32 - 30	Dewsbury	2005
Thornhill	16 - 12	Workington Town	2006
Wath Brow Hornets	14 - 12	London Skolars	2009
Doncaster	0 - 26	Siddal	2010

Prior to WW1 the giant killers were junior clubs that beat senior Northern Union opposition. From 1995 on the giant killers were amateur clubs that beat professional outfits.

Leeds Chirons v Northallerton 14th October 1972

Making Up The Numbers - a synopsis

MAKING UP THE NUMBERS

MAKING UP THE NUMBERS looks at the Rugby League Challenge Cup from a new perspective. It traces the involvement in the Cup of the clubs that in 1896 were called junior clubs and are now usually referred to as amateur or community clubs. The junior clubs were honorary members of the Northern Union and, along with the senior clubs who were full members, were all able to enter the competition. Once the Cup became established as an annual event, the involvement of the clubs outside the senior professional league was restricted to the few required to ensure that there was always an acceptable number of clubs in the draw for the first round.

The book records changes to the structure of the Challenge Cup and why some of those changes took place but, perhaps more importantly, it recognises some of the clubs and people that have contributed to the history of the competition and whose contribution has never really been acknowledged.

Most of the amateur players that tested themselves against the professionals will have regarded taking part in the Challenge Cup as one of the highlights of their playing career. I wonder how many of the Wigan players who wore the cherry and white hoops at Central Park against Healey Street Adults in 1920 realised that they were playing against a war hero. Thomas Steele, who was on the wing for the Oldham junior club, was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1917. Our sport often produces heroes on the field but there have very few men who were awarded the highest honour for bravery in wartime who have played rugby league. Thomas Steele took the field against Wigan only three years after receiving twelve wounds in the battle in Mesopotamia when he won his VC. He lived at a time when people who came back from War often did not want to talk about their experiences and simply wished to return to a normal life. It is unlikely, therefore, that his involvement in rugby league was considered significant or important. This is one possible reason why very little is known about Thomas Steele and why I felt it was important to recognise his involvement in rugby league.

The significant giant killing acts achieved by clubs like Beverley, West Hull and Wath Brow Hornets, and the contributions those clubs and many others have made to the folklore and history of this great competition, are also recorded in Making Up The Numbers, perhaps in some cases for the first time in a book about the history of the Cup.

Also included, to complement this story, is a complete record of all the junior/amateur clubs that have played against professional opposition in the Challenge Cup, a list of giant killers, and over forty illustrations.

MAKING UP THE NUMBERS is available from:

ypdbooks.com, Philip Howard Books in Leeds and Rotherham, Amazon and by order from all good bookshops.

ISBN   978-0-9567444-2-5