Sheffield Eagles boss Mark Aston eyes Wembley and planning permission double in 'massive' month

Aston's side face Championship heavyweights Wakefield Trinity in the final of the 1895 Cup, a competition they won in 2019.

Later this month, the Eagles will learn whether their proposal for a new 5,000-seater stadium has been approved.

Plans for the new £25million privately financed community stadium at Meadowhead – which would be shared with Sheffield FC – were submitted to the local council in March.

The stadium would encompass professional football and rugby league facilities as well as a cricket pavilion, multi-use artificial sports pitches, a football museum and an indoor community sports hall.

"It's massive," said Aston when asked about the month ahead.

"You don't see a reason why they wouldn't approve it because it's not costing the council any money. It's quite derelict up there at the moment so to put a rugby, football and cricket centre up there would be significant.

"It would be massive for this club. We're back in Sheffield at the OLP (Olympic Legacy Park) but it doesn't meet the standard for Super League and the vision of this club. It's inevitable that we need to get a home that is not only a home but a place that we can develop and generate our own revenue.

"It's exciting. We've just got to keep praying, asking the questions and hopefully we get the right answers.

"It's a process we need to go through and Wembley is a nice lead-up to it because we're trying to fetch a bit of publicity back into the city.

"It's a massive city and why wouldn't you want it to be successful?"

The planning application has faced opposition from some local residents who have expressed concerns over extra traffic, noise pollution and potential parking problems.

However, Aston has stressed that the plans have cleared those hurdles as they edge closer to approval.

"There have been some (concerns) from the Highways (Committee) but they've given it the thumbs up," he said.

"There were a couple from other places and again, the questions have been answered.

"All the questions that have been asked have been answered. On the inside looking out: what reason would there be to knock it back?

"The big one was the Highways and now they're saying they're comfortable with it and crack on with it."

Aston, who helped the Eagles end their nine-year exile from the city when they moved into the Olympic Legacy Park in May 2022, will not rest until the project is given the green light.

"We've just got to keep our fingers crossed," he added.

"I'm always nervous because there are people who can put a spanner in the works but we've had adversity over the years and we've just kept going and going until we got to where we wanted to be – back in the city.

"We'll keep going and going until we get what we want which is a home for Sheffield Eagles."