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Sheffield Forgers

Sheffield Forgers
Sheffield Forgers (logo).jpg
Club information
Full name Sheffield Forgers RLFC
Website http://www.sheffieldforgers.co.uk
Colours Purple with yellow flashes
Founded 2004 as Sheffield IMBRL
Current details
Ground(s)
  • All Saints Sports College
Competition Rugby League Conference

Sheffield Forgers RLFC was a rugby league club in Sheffield, England. It has an Open Age team that plays in the summer in the Rugby League Conference and the Yorkshire & Humber Merit League and in the winter in the Pennine League It is also developing a junior section.

The genesis of the club dates back to summer 2004, when a group of Sheffield Eagles supporters decided to try their hand at playing rather than just watching. As the team, called Sheffield IMBRL, was open to anyone the standard of players was unknown so the initial concept was to provide games against other supporters teams. These games were arranged via an Internet Message Board, hence Internet Message Board Rugby League.

The club is built on accessibility to rugby league regardless of race, age or gender. It runs open age contact and tag teams as well as junior teams and Saturday morning touch rugby.

The first ever game for the club was played at Hillsborough Arena, home of the Hillsborough Hawks, against the Swinton Lions supporters. It ended in a narrow victory for the Lions 22–20. The game was short sided, full contact, and some Beagles guested for the Lions. The team then went on to play the Castleford Aybertigers at Castleford in a tag rather than contact game and they recorded their first ever victory on a baking hot August day. A heavy loss against the Hull FC Irregulars at The Boulevard was followed by a lesson in tag rugby at the annual IMBRL tournament. Despite these setbacks on the field, the concept had worked and was allowing new players to play rugby league as well as watching it, at a standard suitable for beginners.

The photograph shows the team for the first game against Swinton.

Having had to borrow kit in 2004, the team were boosted in 2005 by the donation of a Sheffield Eagles kit used in Mark Aston's testimonial. The club hosted a Tag 7s tournament at Hillsborough in May in which Aston and a number of other ex and current Eagles players guested. The tournament ended in a drawn final between the Aston 7 and Sheffield RUFC. The team played Halifax, Hunslet, York, Chesterfield Spires and the Heavy Woollen Donkeys for the first time and also recorded their first win against the Hull FC Irregulars. Towards the end of the season the team won its first full contact game against the Chesterfield Spires and were semi-finalists at the IMBRL tournament in Hull. The club held its first awards evening and the general consensus was that the club was growing. During this season the nickname "Beagles", derived from 'B'-Eagles as a tribute to the professional club in the city, stuck and carried on as a nickname when the team moved under the Forgers banner in 2006.


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