Chairman's statement : Wed Sep 11, 2013 10:08 am  

http://www.sheffieldeagles.com/index.ph ... Itemid=490 Following recent unexpected events the board of directors of Sheffield Eagles held an emergency board meeting last night to discuss the options for a playing venue in the city of Sheffield for 2014. For several months since the announcement of the closure of Don Valley Stadium the club has been in detailed discussions regarding the newly developed Sheffield Hallam University sports complex on Bawtry Road. Following a meeting last Wednesday it now appears that option is no longer available for first team fixtures. This has led to an emergency situation where the very future of the Eagles has been thrown into doubt. Press and media announcements by Mark Aston, the Head Coach and Chief Executive, over the weekend have led to reassuring statements from Sheffield City Council that it will “do everything to ensure that the club continues to play games in the city next season”. The only possible remaining venue within Sheffield that could potentially accommodate the Eagles is Owlerton Stadium where the Eagles started out life almost 30 years ago. However there is likely to be a substantial amount of work required to bring the stadium up to RFL requirements. The stadium lost its safety licence for playing rugby league games in 1989 and a feasibility study will need to be carried out to see how practicable it will be to return rugby league to the stadium. Sheffield City Council is providing capital sums to relocate athletics to Woodbourn Road and it is to be hoped that they can also assist rugby league to relocate to Owlerton if the feasibility study is positive. Without a professional rugby league club in Sheffield then all the community work that the club has been carrying out over those 30 years will cease, to the great detriment of thousands of youngsters in the city. Sheffield Eagles are the current rugby league champions but the sport of rugby league may be lost to the city of Sheffield unless assistance is forthcoming. Sheffield Eagles is a not for profit community club and has been self-sufficient throughout its existence and has brought great prestige to Sheffield without a penny of assistance from the Council. In its hour of need the club is appealing for one off assistance to allow it to survive the closure of Don Valley Stadium and ensure that it remains a thriving club for years to come, providing ongoing opportunities for the youth of Sheffield to participate in the sport. Ian Swire – Chairman for and on behalf of Sheffield Eagles RLFC

http://www.sheffieldeagles.com/index.ph ... Itemid=490 Following recent unexpected events the board of directors of Sheffield Eagles held an emergency board meeting last night to discuss the options for a playing venue in the city of Sheffield for 2014. For several months since the announcement of the closure of Don Valley Stadium the club has been in detailed discussions regarding the newly developed Sheffield Hallam University sports complex on Bawtry Road. Following a meeting last Wednesday it now appears that option is no longer available for first team fixtures. This has led to an emergency situation where the very future of the Eagles has been thrown into doubt. Press and media announcements by Mark Aston, the Head Coach and Chief Executive, over the weekend have led to reassuring statements from Sheffield City Council that it will “do everything to ensure that the club continues to play games in the city next season”. The only possible remaining venue within Sheffield that could potentially accommodate the Eagles is Owlerton Stadium where the Eagles started out life almost 30 years ago. However there is likely to be a substantial amount of work required to bring the stadium up to RFL requirements. The stadium lost its safety licence for playing rugby league games in 1989 and a feasibility study will need to be carried out to see how practicable it will be to return rugby league to the stadium. Sheffield City Council is providing capital sums to relocate athletics to Woodbourn Road and it is to be hoped that they can also assist rugby league to relocate to Owlerton if the feasibility study is positive. Without a professional rugby league club in Sheffield then all the community work that the club has been carrying out over those 30 years will cease, to the great detriment of thousands of youngsters in the city. Sheffield Eagles are the current rugby league champions but the sport of rugby league may be lost to the city of Sheffield unless assistance is forthcoming. Sheffield Eagles is a not for profit community club and has been self-sufficient throughout its existence and has brought great prestige to Sheffield without a penny of assistance from the Council. In its hour of need the club is appealing for one off assistance to allow it to survive the closure of Don Valley Stadium and ensure that it remains a thriving club for years to come, providing ongoing opportunities for the youth of Sheffield to participate in the sport. Ian Swire – Chairman for and on behalf of Sheffield Eagles RLFC

Re: Chairman's statement : Wed Sep 11, 2013 12:57 pm  

Interesting as I had discounted Owlerton I occasionaly work there so visit regularly I know the management are always keen to maximise revenue from the stadium so will been keen to have us but the major problem is when can we play because Thu - Sat Nights are already booked with Speedway and Greyhounds so that just leaves Sat and Sun Afternoon and they occassionaly have stock cars on a Sunday

During a Greyhound meeting Customers can only use the Paddock and the Bars
which would not be much good for Rugby League Supporters who would prefer
to stand on the terraces which are crumbling and not safe and a total refurbish would cost a lot. I cant see Sheffield Council giving money to a private company to improve their facilities and I cant see Owlerton management put in any money because refurbished terraces would not increase their business.

Re: Chairman's statement : Wed Sep 11, 2013 2:19 pm  

duggs413 wrote:

the major problem is when can we play because Thu - Sat Nights are already booked with Speedway and Greyhounds so that just leaves Sat and Sun Afternoon and they occassionaly have stock cars on a Sunday

If there is only occasionally stock cars on a sunday i'm sure they could plan some fixtures around that, I just can't see that being a problem

duggs413 wrote:

During a Greyhound meeting Customers can only use the Paddock and the Bars
which would not be much good for Rugby League Supporters who would prefer
to stand on the terraces

But the terraces are used for stock car racing and speedway in which only the back straight doesn't get used so holds around 3500, some do go out to the terracing during greyhound racing that i've been too although not many

i'm guessing by what you know with working there they are not permitted too during dog racing hence not many going out on the terraces?

duggs413 wrote:

I cant see Sheffield Council giving money to a private company to improve their facilities and I cant see Owlerton management put in any money because refurbished terraces would not increase their business.

I think the council are taking more of an interest the sheffield star and radio sheffield are running features this week to highlight the clubs plight and the council have responded, they've just spent 750k on woodburn road for athletics i'm sure they could help us get the stadium up to scratch for the RFL to rubber stamp it it simply doesn't need big refurbishments to get that rubber stamp it already has a certificate for 3000+ standing and corporate The main things would be sorting the pitch out and removing the concrete from the side of the pitch etc

What we do know now after reading the statement is this is the last chance saloon if this falls through then Rugby league in Sheffield is gone wheather it be a rebranding in another town, finished altogether or god knows what

Re: Chairman's statement : Wed Sep 11, 2013 3:18 pm  

But the terraces are used for stock car racing and speedway in which only the back straight doesn't get used so holds around 3500, some do go out to the terracing during greyhound racing that i've been too although not many

i'm guessing by what you know with working there they are not permitted too during dog racing hence not many going out on the terraces?

I normally work inside i know they normally cordon it off I think they would prefer everybody inside spending there money !!! I did not realise they used the terracing for speedway thats good because i presumed they were condemmed

I think the council are taking more of an interest the sheffield star and radio sheffield are running features this week to highlight the clubs plight and the council have responded, they've just spent 750k on woodburn road for athletics i'm sure they could help us get the stadium up to scratch for the RFL to rubber stamp it it simply doesn't need big refurbishments to get that rubber stamp it already has a certificate for 3000+ standing and corporate The main things would be sorting the pitch out and removing the concrete from the side of the pitch etc

Thats good might need to relay/resurface the pitch perhaps the Council could give us an interest free loan and we could repay them with a % of Gate receipts remember in 2015 hopefully we will be in Superleague 2 with hopefully there will be more prize money & tv money

Re: Chairman's statement : Wed Sep 11, 2013 3:57 pm  

If the pitch is relayed to make it suitable for Rugby it would need a great deal of protection during stock car meetings ,due to the pitch area being used by cars and tractors.

Re: Chairman's statement : Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:39 pm  

Looking on the Brisca (UK Stockcars) website Sheffield only had 2 fixtures this year I have never been seen a stockcar event but i presume they race on the speedway track but i guess that if they breakdown on the track they would need rescuing by tractors which would be on our pitch !!! We might be able to put some sort of hard matting or surface down to prevent damage do we employ groundsmen and staff at dvs ? If not that is going to be another expense.

Re: Chairman's statement : Wed Sep 11, 2013 9:07 pm  

I flicked on sky sports 2 tonight and funny enough greyhound racing from owlerton was on after watching it one concern i have is the floodlights the race track was well lit but the pitch looked a little dark at times but only at times some camera angles made the pitch look well lit.
Are the lights positioned so they illuminate the track more than anything else? if so can they be moved to illuminate the pitch better or are they just not strong enough, if they are we're good to go on that front if not that maybe very costly just ask barrow they need around 100k to sort there floodlights out

Re: Chairman's statement : Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:11 am  

Could move a couple of bulbs over from Don Valley, I suppose.

Have to admit, I'd discounted Owlerton myself as I expected the safety certificate would be too costly.

Any road - we'll see.

Re: Chairman's statement : Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:16 am  

May have to do without floodlights and play 2pm on sunday like Batley

Re: Chairman's statement : Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:02 am  

westridingeagle wrote:

May have to do without floodlights and play 2pm on sunday like Batley

Batley's reason for kicking off at 2 pm is nothing to do with the light. In the days when a lot of clubs didn't have lights, you only had to kick off at 2.30 between early November and mid January. Wouldn't affect our season at all.

What did they do with the nice lights we had put up in the mid eighties ?