sheffield hillsborough hawks arlfc

Welcome to the story of

SHEFFIELD HILLSBOROUGH HAWKS ARLFC

(Founded 1989)

“The Club was founded in 1989 by a group of enthusiastic parents who followed Sheffield Eagles and wanted to give their children a chance to play Rugby League. The fledgling Club was actively supported by the Sheffield City Council’s RL Development Officer, Tim Butcher, and Gary Hetherington, the coach of Sheffield Eagles. Not surprisingly the new Club called itself Junior Eagles and ran two teams at Under-i 1 and Under-14 in its first season. At first it had a nomadic existence, holding coaching sessions in Hillsborough Park and Colley Sports Centre and from 1991, Don Valley Stadium. In 1992 the Club found a permanent home in the then derelict and disused athletics stadium in Hillsborough Park. Immediately plans were made, to upgrade the facilities to cope with the increasing demand for Rugby League and to establish a quality coaching venue. The Club set up the Hillsborough Arena Sports Association who began work on grant applications that was to reach fruition with a successful Sports Lottery grant in 1996. Successful junior development work gained its reward in 1993 when a team made up almost entirely of Junior Eagles players represented Sheffield Schools Under 11's at Wembley before the Challenge Cup Final. In the 1993/4 season an Open age team was formed from players that had come through the junior ranks and competed in the Pennine League, winning only one game in their first season. Progress then became much more rapid. In 1997 they were promoted to Division 3 and in the following year to Division 2. In 1998/9 they lost only one game in winning the League title under coaches and Eagles favourites Mark Aston and Paul Broadbent. Another new development in 1994 saw Sheffield’s Women’s RL team join the Club, which by now had changed its name to Sheffield Hillsborough Eagles to reflect the Open Age as well junior nature of the Club. The women’s team had also started in 1989 and continued to make excellent progress by reaching the Premier Division of WRLA by 1997 and having members of its squad selected for Great Britain. In 1997 the Club changed its name to Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks to avoid confusion with the professional club in the media and with the public and in the following year its new facilities were opened at Hillsborough Sports Arena following a £750,000 Lottery grant and a total investment of a million pounds. The top quality facilities along with the Club’s good development record and the success of its first team saw it elected to membership of the prestigious National Conference League for the 1999/2000 season. Today the Club is the lead organisation in a community sports association that provides a range of sporting opportunities for the young people of north Sheffield at the Hillsborough Sports Arena. The Rugby League Club itself runs teams at Open Age (men and women), Under-17, 15, 13, 12 and 10 for boys and has a girls section (11-14) and a mixed gender junior section for 4-8-year-olds. The Club’s latest major venture was as a founder member of the high profile National League Division 3.” On 12th November 2005 the Junior Hawks U 8s played a representative match against Huddersfield Sharks U 8s as part of the pre-match entertainment for the GB v NZ Tri-Nations Match ( which GB won 38 -12) and the U8s won 24 - 4, after some of the NZ team went and had a chat with them in the changing room.

Date of last update: 01 December, 2005  

20:55:26am   

©NRB 2005