Sale Sharks
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Sale Sharks are a professional Rugby Union team who play in England in the Zurich Premiership.
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History
The club was formed in 1861 and is one of the oldest clubs in English rugby history.
In the professional era, The Sharks play in front of ten times that number at their new home of Edgeley Park.
During the nineties, despite thrilling displays under Turner, and his successor John Mitchell, both club and ground struggled to keep a grip on the demanding commercial and financial realities of running a professional rugby club.
Sale took twenty thousand fans to Twickenham for the 1997 Pilkington Cup Final but this interest quickly faded and the anticipated increased crowds never materialised and relegation from the Premier Division loomed likely until rugby-playing businessman Brian Kennedy came to the rescue, late in the 1999-2000 season.
Off the field, Peter Deakin was recruited from Warrington Wolves rugby league as Chief Executive, and he made an immediate impact in raising the club’s profile until hit by the serious illness, which claimed his life in February 2003.
Success was not immediate. The Sale Sharks finished eleventh and tenth in the 12-strong Premiership table in the first two years of the new Millennium. It took the coaching merger of two former Sale players, Jim Mallinder and Steve Diamond, to produce a team that were 2002 runners-up and qualified for the Heineken Cup.
That year the team also went on to capture the Parker Pen Shield at Oxford’s Kassam Stadium, defeating Pontypridd 25-22.
During the close season of 2003, the company ‘Cheshire Sports’ had been created, with The Sharks moving to share the Stockport County F.C. pitch at Edgeley Park. The all-seater capacity of over ten thousand, the enhanced entertaining facilities and the broadcast-quality floodlights emphasised the potential which Heywood Road could never have provided, however, the club still uses Heywood Road for reserve and under-21 matches.
Player signings matched the elevated profile of the club.
Scots’ skipper Bryan Redpath and former Rugby League ace, Jason Robinson, were joined by Stuart Pinkerton, Barry Stewart, Graeme Bond, Jason White and Andrew Sheridan.
Through their junior team The Jets, the Club has developed many talented home-grown players, including; Steve Hanley, Mark Cueto, Dean Schofield, Chris Jones, Andy Titterrell and Charlie Hodgson.
The early months of 2004 saw the departure of Steve Diamond and later Jim Mallinder, and the arrival of ex-French International and former Gloucester and Bourgoin coach, Philippe St.Andre, as Director of Rugby from the start of the 2004-5 season.
On the field, the international profile has been extended; Mike Hercus and Hugh Perrett have been joined by World Cup winner Trevor Woodman, Robert Todd, Sebastien Chabal and Sebastien Bruno.
In the season which followed the Sale Sharks won their second European Challenge Cup at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford, when they beat Pau 3-27. Their other cup was won in 2002 when they beat Pontypridd 22-25
The 2005 British Lions tour to New Zealand included 5 Sharks players, and with crowds now topping 10000 on a regular basis, Sale Sharks are the North Wests rugby union club and one of the top sides in Europe
Current England elite squad
Other internationals
- Sebastian Chabal (France)
- Jason White (Scotland)
- Sebastian Bruno (France)
- Steve Hanley (England)
- Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe (Argentina)
Former players
- Hal Sever 1930's winger
- Joe Mycock former England captain
- Eric Evans former England captain 1956-58
- Bill Beaumont former England captain 1980
- Fran Cotton British Lions and England player 1980's
- Steve Smith 1980's
- Tony Bond 1980's
- Claude Davey Wales 1930's
- Wilf Wooller Wales 1930's
- Ken Fyfe Scotland 1930's
Club honours
- Parker Pen Shield 2002 2005
External links
- Official site (http://www.salesharks.com)
- BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/rugby/union_index.shtml)
- Manchester Evening News (http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/)
- Fansite (http://www.salerugby.co.uk)
- Data, Results and others (in English and in French) (http://www.itsrugby.com/modules/site/team.php?lang=gb&id_team=43)
- History of the Sale Sharks (http://www.mymanchesteronline.co.uk/siteadmin.asp?UserSiteId=200&UserPageId=1370&PageStyleId=3&PageTypeId=1)
| English Guinness Premiership rugby union clubs: |
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Bath | Bristol Shoguns | Gloucester | Leeds Tykes | Leicester Tigers | London Irish | Newcastle Falcons | Northampton Saints | Sale Sharks | Saracens | London Wasps | Worcester Warriors |
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Guinness Premiership | Heineken Cup | European Challenge Cup | European Shield | Powergen Cup edit (https://academickids.com:443/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Template:Eng_rugby_prem&action=edit)
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