Sheffield Eagles ‘disappointed’ to leave Steel City to play in 2021

Sheffield Eagles general manager Liam Claffey admits the club is “disappointed” to have to move out of the Steel City yet again but maintains a temporary switch to Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium for the 2021 season is the right decision.
Sheffield Eagles v Barrow Raiders. Picture: Marie CaleySheffield Eagles v Barrow Raiders. Picture: Marie Caley
Sheffield Eagles v Barrow Raiders. Picture: Marie Caley

With the Olympic Legacy Park currently unsuitable due to the lack of facilities, as well as not meeting Covid-19 related requirements, the Championship club will play home matches at their South Yorkshire neighbours.

The nomadic Eagles – they have had seven different homes since leaving Don Valley in 2009 – say they ‘explored all opportunities within the City’ when in collaborations with Sheffield City Council before reaching their decision to return to a ground where they last operated out of in 2015.

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Mark Aston’s side plan to eventually move into the purpose-built Community Stadium at the former Don Valley site and hope work there will ‘commence imminently’ ahead of officially opening ahead of the 2022 season.

But, for now, they are on the move again. The Championship season is due to start on April 2 and Claffey said: “We’d like to express our thanks to Carl Hall and the team at Club Doncaster for assisting with the move. There is a great deal of work to be done surrounding matches in relation to playing behind closed doors and adhering to Covid-19 guidelines and Club Doncaster have implemented excellent procedures to ensure matches can take place in a safe, controlled environment.

“It’s disappointing to be leaving the city again but assurances have been given to the club regarding our return and competing at a finished Olympic Legacy Park which helped the club reach its decision. Whilst we hope to welcome back supporters as soon as possible it’s likely a number of games will be played behind closed doors which will hopefully lessen the move somewhat as we work on plans to stream matches live via OurLeague.”

Dons chief executive Carl Hall said: “At Club Doncaster we pride ourselves on being one big family and when the Eagles reached out to us we tried to do everything we could to help them. The club will benefit financially from the deal and it also brings more rugby league to Doncaster in a World Cup year.

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“We’ve worked closely with Eagles to make sure the transition is a simple one, and the procedures we have in place due to Covid are right up there with every precaution taken along the way.”

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