2017 Match 6: Sheffield Eagles Away(Championship)
fevnut's musings
Whenever
a match against the Eagles is approaching the talk amongst supporters (well,
those who were around in the 1990s) turns to the subject of Mr Mark Aston. He
was signed by Fev for a lot of money and joined the club for the 1994/95
season. He looked likely to be the leader around the field that we so needed
following the departure of Deryck Fox. For two seasons Australian Brett Daunt
filled the scrumhalf role. He was a competent player but he wasn’t the leader
and organiser we had been used to with Fox in that position.
Aston
had joined Sheffield Eagles in their second season and made his debut for them
when he was only 18. He went on to establish himself as one of the leading
scrum-halves in the country and gained Great Britain honours. He was, without
doubt, an organiser in the Deryck Fox mould. But it all went sour, rather
quickly, when he came to Post Office Road and he looked only a shadow of the
player he had been at Eagles.
So
what went wrong? Many people have suggested that he was never committed to
achieving with Rovers. At the time, some thought that he had lost much of his
ability. That would be strange when he was only in his mid-twenties and was
eventually disproved when he returned to Sheffield and almost immediately was
back playing at his best and leading them to that stunning Challenge Cup win in
1998 when he picked up the Lance Todd Trophy. The fact that he quickly got back
to playing so well compounded the idea that he had never bothered when he was playing
for Fev.
And
that’s why so many Fev fans feel bitter about the money we spent on a player
who had the ability but rarely produced it for us. But it has also become clear
over the years that Mark Aston’s pronouncements about Rovers display a certain
level of bitterness from him as well.
Thinking
about it, perhaps there is another side to this rather dismal story. The
Featherstone coach in 1994/95 was Steve Martin, an Australian, who seemed
obsessed with one man carries and while he was coach there was very little
creativity displayed by the team. A way of playing that was so alien to the style
of Featherstone Rovers who had had so many really creative scrum-halves. Mark
Aston had the credentials to become one of those.
So,
I do wonder if the real problem was that Aston quickly became frustrated by
playing in a game plan that simply didn’t allow him to do what he was good at.
Think about it. It would explain his loss of form at Rovers and his recapture
of it on returning to Sheffield.
I
was as annoyed as everyone else about his inability to play at his best for us,
but something that happened later did cause me to have some admiration for the
man. When some headless chickens at RL headquarters came up with the ludicrous
plan to merge Huddersfield and Sheffield for the 2000 season, Aston had the
strength of mind and commitment to rugby in South Yorkshire to begin again at
the bottom professional level with a new re-born Sheffield Eagles. There have
been some successes and some notable failures since then, and a huge problem
with stadiums fit for purpose. I do hope that the plans for a new rugby league
stadium in Sheffield comes about and that the Eagles can one day soon return to
their South Yorkshire home.
T'Other Side: Sheffield Eagles
 |
| Mark Aston |
Head Coach:
Mark Aston
Would you believe it - this is Mark Aston’s
17th season as head coach of Sheffield Eagles! He started the
re-born club in 2000 and is still the coach, although he stood down and was
only Chief Executive in 2006 but took over the coaching again in 2007. When you
add in his playing career he has been at Sheffield ever since 1985 with just
one break for a little over a year when he was at Featherstone (see fevnut’s
musings above!). He has been the Irish national coach since 2011.
A dynamic scrumhalf as a player he won the
Lance Todd Trophy in 1998 when he lead Eagles to that amazing win over Wigan at
Wembley. He also played for Great Britain.
 |
| Matt James |
Captain: Matt
James
The captaincy of the
Eagles has been handed to Matt James this year. He can play at second row or
prop. Matt is a Welsh international although back in 2005 he played in the
England U18 side. His club career started with Bradford Bulls and has included
spells with Barrow Raiders, Halifax and Harlequins RL before joining
Featherstone in 2013. After 3 years at Rovers he moved to Sheffield.
New Signings for 2017
t Dane Chisholm (Bradford Bulls)
t Jordan Cox (Warrington Wolves)
t Lewis Foster (Leigh Centurions)
t Eze Harper (Leigh Centurions)
t James Kelly (Dublin City Exiles)
t Sam Scott (Batley Bulldogs)
t David Thompson (Hull Kingston Rovers)
t Kyle Trout (Dewsbury Rams)
t Perry Whiteley (Workington Town)
The last
couple of years has seen major changes to the Sheffield Eagles squad following
what turned out to be an unwise decision to go full time in 2016. They are not
full time this year.
Probably the most high profile signing for this season
has been Dane Chisholm, an
Australian who can play at fullback or halfback. In Australia he was with
Melbourne Storm and Canterbury Bulldogs. He came over to play with Hull KR and
went to Bradford last year. In 2011 he made 4 international appearances for
France.
Simon
Brown, a goal-kicking stand off, was originally signed by
the Eagles from Doncaster in 2010. He has returned after spells with York,
Batley, Halifax and Hunslet. Lewis
Foster and Eze Harper have been
signed from Leigh. Lewis is a halfback and Eze is a winger. Another halfback to
arrive this year is James Kelly. He
has signed from amateurs Dublin City Exiles after impressing Aston playing for
Ireland.
Will
Hope
and Sam Scott are both second
rowers. Will Hope had a loan spell with Eagles in 2014 and is another Irish
international. Sam is yet another coming back for a second tilt with the
Eagles. He was with them at the start of his career before joining York and
then Batley.
Kyle
Trout is a strong running forward who started with Wakefield
and Perry Whiteley is a centre who
started at Huddersfield and spent time in Australia before signing for
Workington.
David Thompson, who has not yet made his Eagles debut,
is a young winger.
Papua
New Guinea
As well as Menzie Yere who has been at Sheffield since
2009, there are two further PNG internationals in their ranks - winger Gary Lo
and prop Mark Mexico.
The
Fev Connection
The connection between Fev and the current Eagles squad
starts with both the coach, Mark Aston
and the captain, Matt James. There
are three more members of the squad who have appeared for Rovers. Ben Blackmore played for Fev in 2014
and 2015. Duane Straugheir played
twice in 2010 whilst on loan from Bradford and Kyle Trout played 15 times in 2014 under dual reg whilst at
Wakefield.
Let's hope that all he players on the field remember who they currently play for because there are no fewer than seven members of the current Fev squad who have previously played for Sheffield Eagles - Cory Aston, Kyle Briggs, Keal Carlile, John Davies, Michel Knowles, Misi Taulapapa and Scott Turner.
Let's hope that all he players on the field remember who they currently play for because there are no fewer than seven members of the current Fev squad who have previously played for Sheffield Eagles - Cory Aston, Kyle Briggs, Keal Carlile, John Davies, Michel Knowles, Misi Taulapapa and Scott Turner.
Today: Previously - March 12th
Rugby League
On March 12th last year there was a shock in the League One Cup
when London Skolars came to Doncaster in the second round and won 24-12.
 |
| Galileo |
World Events
In 1609,
Bermuda becomes an
English colonyIn 1737, Galileo's body moved to Church of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy
In 1867, Last French troops leave Mexico
In 1881, Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player.
In 1913, Foundation stone of the Australian capital in Canberra laid
In 1938, Nazi Germany invades Austria (Anschluss)
Birthdays
 |
| Liza Minelli |
1710 Thomas
Arne, English composer (Rule Britannia)
1890 Vaslav Nijinsky,
Russian ballet dancer 1921 Giovanni Agnelli, Italian CEO (Fiat Automakers)
1922 Jack Kerouac, beat poet and writer
1928 Edward Albee, American playwright
1946 Liza Minelli, singer and actress
1969 Lee Jackson, England rugby league hooker
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