The population percentage can occassionally be a bit of a red herring I acknowledge Rico, as it's obviously relative to how many people actually live in the town/city, and in those terms it's probably less than 10% of the Sheffield population that regularly watch football in the city, leaving over 90% who don't. SUFC and SWFC are part of the social and cultural fabric of Sheffield though, and of those 90% who don't regularly attend games there will be a huge number who still identify themselves as a supporter of either club and care about them. This would force the council to support them more if one of the club's required it.
To a lesser extent the same could be said of the RL club in Salford, because of the long history of the club and the sport in the city. The Eagles simply won't have that. As sally said above, they are kind of a London Broncos in the north.
I'm not knocking them or anything and I do hope they manage to work something out that secures long term sustainability in the city for them, but their situation isn't comparable to a club like Salford's in my opinion.
***EDIT*** I typed this post as Brummie Eagle was posting above so didn't read that initially. Thanks for the info and good luck with the move into Owlerton. Have you been offered any other options should it not happen, or would a move out of Sheffield be the only alternative prospect?
I was over in Yorkshire earlier in the week (resplendent in my wires top I hasten to add) and there was an item in the local news about the eagles, and them leaving Don Valley.
At the moment Owlerton sounds like their best option, but they'd have to do a lot of renovation to the stadium to relay the pitch and improve the dressing rooms. They obviously don't have much money so are hoping the council and local investors step in.
Even in a sport where this kind of thing is sadly becoming commonplace, the passion and sadness of the speccies was really touching - given the average crowds I wrongly thought they'd go with a whimper but the fans were genuinely distraught.
Yep Owlerton is the only option, especially now as SUFC have new owners who have no interest in the rugby league. If that doesnt come off I believe the club will move into a venue outside of the city. I think we all agree Don Valley was a pretty awful place to watch rugby league, I just hope we have somewhere to call home next season!
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