Was this Chirons most successful season?

In season 1970/71 Chirons played 32 fixtures, won 23, drew 1 and lost 8. It was the club's best ever season, although the following year did produce many excellent victories including one run of seven consecutive wins.

1970/71  Season

                         

Date	Opposition	Venue	Result
5th Sept
12th  Sept	Barnsley	H	32-3 Won
19th  Sept	Old Modernians	A	6-6 Draw
26th Sept	Morley Cavaliers	H	17-6 Won
3rd  Oct	Burley (Yorkshire Cup)	H	5-3 Won
10th   Oct	Northallerton	H	36-0 Won
17th  Oct	Ripon (Yorkshire Cup)	A	40-3 Lost
24th Oct	Sheffield Tigers	A	6-3 Lost
31st Oct	Rowntrees	H	12-0 Won
7th Nov	Skipton	A	49-0 Won
14th  Nov	Priestmans	A	27-11 Won
21st   Nov	Leeds C.S.S.A.	A	14-6 Won
28th Nov	Doncaster ‘A’	A	29-0 Won
5th Dec	Harrogate ‘A’	H	11-3 Won
12th   Dec	Old Otliensians	H	12-5 Won
19th   Dec	Ripon	H	3-0 Lost
26th  Dec	Yarnbury	A	16-0 Won
2nd  Jan	Leeds Corinthians	H	Cancelled
9th  Jan	Harrogate ‘A’	H	17-8 Lost
16th   Jan	Old Otliensians	A	9-8 Won
23rd   Jan	Old Wathonians	H	23-11 Won
30th Jan	Rowntrees	A	22-6 Won
6th Feb	Leeds Corinthians	A	20-8 Lost
13th  Feb	Barton	H	22-3 Won
20th   Feb	Phoenix Park	H	8-0 Won
27th Feb	Moortown	H	11-3 Won
6th March	Ripon	A	5-3 Lost
13th  March	Bramley Barbarians	H	9-6 Lost
20th  March	Phoenix Park	A	16-10 Won
27th March	Morley Cavaliers	A	15-0 Lost
3rd April	Leeds C.S.S.A.	H	15-3 Won
10th April	Northallerton	A	6-3 Won
17th April	Skipton	A	23-6 Won
24th April	Hull and East Riding Nomads	H	18-6 Won

The 1971/72 winning run

18th   March	Halifax Vandals	H	27-6 Won
25th March	Malton and Norton	A	24-6 Won
1st  April	Barnsley	A	18-10 Won
8th April	Northallerton	A	31-11 Won
15th April	Priestmans	H	58-0 Won
22nd April	Airebronians	A	23-3 Won
29th April	Wath on Dearne	A	44-6 Won

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.