Sporting Bygones: How Sky raised the limit by turning rugby league into a summer sport

It had to. The solitary French presence in the 12-club competition, which backed by Rupert Murdoch’s £87m golden handshake saw an end to 100 years of traditional winter fare, was the only reason it could incorporate the European title.

With Murdoch’s News Corporation training its Sky Sports cameras on the inaugural fixture of a bright yet daunting age, Sheffield Eagles had the honour of kicking off Super League at an atmospheric Charlety Stadium on March 29, 1996.

It was one of their former players, Frederic Banquet, who physically laid into the first ball to start the match for the proud hosts.

The French international also scored the first try of Super League while, also, in an eventful evening for the rangy centre, marking himself down in history as the first player to see an effort ruled out by the newly-introduced video referee.

However, few expected Paris St-Germain to go on and actually win, even if their South Yorkshire opponents were one of the domestic game’s lesser lights.

Andy Hay, the former Great Britain international, was a young second-row making his name in the game with the Eagles at the time.

“I’d just come from Castleford the year before,” he told the Yorkshire Post.

“When Super League then came in and we were drawn away at Paris it was always going to be the TV game and a big draw.

“It all flashed by so quickly and I can’t remember much about the actual match.

“But it was a fairytale for Paris winning like that. And it was pretty good for Sky Sports and Super League too.”

Sheffield, with the nucleus of a side which would mature enough to heroically stun Wigan in the Challenge Cup final two years later, led 18-14 midway through the second period seemingly set to close out the contest and earn their place in folklore as the first side to win in the fledgling competition.

However, their spirited opponents, backed on by a vociferous crowd and mixing Gallic flair with steely Australian presence, ran in three tries in the final 12 minutes to win 30-24 and give Super League an explosive story on opening night.

Arnauld Cervello scored two including one spectacular 95m effort after picking up a loose pass which would have seen intended recipient Hay almost certainly score if it had reached its original target.

“We went there confident of winning and controlled it well early on,” said the current Castleford Tigers assistant coach.

“Dean Lawford put me through a gap to score and I had another chance in the second half but then they came back at us late on.

“The whole experience was pretty good but I remember everyone going over on the plane and it was, if I’m honest, pretty hard to focus on the game.

“We always knew we were there to do a job but the TV cameras followed us all over.

“We’d be doing tour guide things around Paris, going up the Eiffel Tower and they’d be everywhere.

“We got swept along with the whole thing and didn’t really have

the best preparation.

“The Paris players probably did as they were already there and it was nothing new to them.

“We were stuck in a hotel with a subway underneath which rattled past at all hours.”

Visionary Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington was then CEO at Sheffield Eagles – just six months before he moved to Headingley where he would also re-sign Hay – but also coaching the first team squad of the club he had founded in 1984.

“He was still the same then – a thinker on the game and decision-maker,” recalled Hay.

“But, as your coach and boss, you pretty much did what Gary said!

“Coaching wise, he wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but not the worst either.

“He had such a passion for the game – that was the big thing – and we did improve under him that year.

“We were a side building at that stage with some young players like Ryan Sheridan, Dean Lawford and Keith Senior, who also scored that night.

“Gary wasn’t happy at the end though. We were all disappointed.

“We knew we should have beaten Paris but when I speak now to people who played then – Keith (Senior), Dean Lawford and Anthony Farrell – we all agree it still sticks out in the mind, the actual fixture itself rather than the game.

“I still tell some of the boys here at Cas – I played in the first Super League game you know?”

Hay, is adamant the decision to take Murdoch’s millions was the right one.

“I’d played through winter as a kid, amateur and in most of my games with Castleford but skill wise it wasn’t the best playing on those heavy pitches between November and January,” he said.

“It was so different when summer came especially as a wide-running back-row on the faster surface.

“I knew I’d be getting the ball earlier and in better positions as those inside me were able to pass better.

“The skill levels improved; Sky Sports certainly pushed the game forward.”