Sheffield Eagles move to Keepmoat Stadium for 2021

Sheffield Eagles will be playing home matches in 2021 at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium.
Keepmoat Stadium. Photo: George Wood/Getty ImagesKeepmoat Stadium. Photo: George Wood/Getty Images
Keepmoat Stadium. Photo: George Wood/Getty Images

Eagles are set to start their season in the Challenge Cup on March 21 before the Championship starts on April 2-4.

They hope to be playing in their new purpose-built Community Stadium in Sheffield in 2022.

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"The Club, in collaboration with Sheffield City Council, explored all opportunities within the City ahead of making this decision but was unable to source a suitable venue,” Eagles said in a statement.

"The Olympic Legacy Park is currently unsuitable due to the lack of facilities as well as not meeting Covid-19 related requirements.

"Work on the Community Stadium is due to commence imminently and the Eagles remain in continual dialogue with the RFL, the Local Authority, Scarborough Development Group and GMI Construction around this.

"After a few false starts, based on the information provided, the club is confident that the stadium build will be complete ahead of the 2022 season providing a much needed home for Sheffield’s professional rugby league club.”

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Eagles general manager Liam 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 it decision.

“Whilst we hope to welcome back supporters as soon as possible its 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.”

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Doncaster RLFC chief executive Carl Hall said: “At Club Doncaster we pride ourselves on being one big family and when the Eagles reach 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.

“We have worked closely with Sheffield to make sure the transition is a simple one, and the procedures we have in place due to COVID-19 are right up there with every precaution taken along the way.”