About Sale Sharks
Back when professionalism entered the world of Rugby Union, attendances at Sale home matches were under a thousand. Yet nowadays The Sharks play in front of ten times that number at their new home Edgeley Park.
Sale's breathtaking rise to prominence under Welsh player-coach, Paul Turner, had been an exhilarating ride, but certainly not without its ups and downs. Since promotion to the top-flight in 1994, not only the Club, but the game of Rugby Union as a whole, have seen dramatic changes.
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.
For example, Sale took twenty thousand fans to Twickenham for the 1997 Pilkington Cup Final. This interest quickly faded; the anticipated increased crowds never materialised and relegation from the Premier Division loomed ominously on the horizon 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 RL as Chief Executive, and he made an immediate impact in raising the club’s profile until hit by the serious illness, which, sadly, claimed his life in February 2003. Today, the post is held by Niels de Vos, the mastermind behind the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Success under the new regime 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.
In fact, 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 in what the press trumpeted as the greatest day in the Club’s history.
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 - amongst others!
Plus, 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 last three took part in the England touring party ‘Down Under’ in Summer 2004.
The early months of 2004 saw the departure of Steve Diamond, 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 was extended when Robert Todd, Sebastien Chabal, Sebastien Bruno and Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe joined the club.
Sharks had two further trips to Twickenham in 2004, but sadly, came away from the Powergen Cup Final and Zurich Wildcard Playoff final empty handed.
During the close season of 2003, the company ‘Cheshire Sports’ had been created, with The Sharks moving to share Edgeley Park in Stockport.
The all-seated capacity of over ten thousand, the enhanced entertaining facilities and the broadcast-quality floodlights emphasised the potential which the dearly-loved, cramped Heywood Road could never have provided.
The club was rewarded with three five-figure crowds during the first season, plus the appearance of the William Webb Ellis Trophy - aka The Rugby World Cup - borne onto the pitch on 6th December 2003 by Sir Clive Woodward himself.
The physical break from Heywood Road may have been made, but the link with Sale Football Club - one of the most prominent rugby clubs in the history of the North West - is maintained, as the Sharks train at the splendid facilities on Carrington Lane, just outside Sale.
Sale FC, through the years, has featured many prominent Internationals and County players among its membership, including; Sever, Davey, Wooller, Fyfe, Mycock, Evans, Roberts and, more latterly, Peter Stagg, Steve Smith, Fran Cotton and Tony Bond.
The 2004-5 season saw Sale Sharks at the threshold of a new phase in 'professionalism'. The international flavour was matched off the field by Director Of Rugby Philippe St.Andre and Head Coach Kingsley Jones, former captains of France and Wales respectively. Five consecutive wins at the start of the League season saw the club at the top of the table,
but they paid for their success when international calls decimated the line-up. The side finished in third spot, qualifying for the Heineken Cup for the third time, and progressed past Catania, Narbonne, Agen and Connacht to capture the European Challenge Cup, 27-3 against Pau at the Kassam Stadium. There was further pride within the club when Sir Clive Woodward invited five players - Jason Robinson, Mark Cueto, Charlie Hodgson, Andrew Sheridan and Andy Titterrell - to be members of the Lions party in New Zealand during Summer 2005. Flanker Jason White made it six with a late, but deserved, call up. The Sharks also made seven signings - Nathan Bonner-Evans, Valentin Courrent, Lionel Faure, Daniel Larrechea, Elvis Sevalai'i, Epi Taione and Mark Taylor - in an obvious attempt to ensure a strong line-up when the 'International Windows' return during the Guinness Premiership Season 2005-6.
The 2005-6 season has to be recorded as a season of unquestionable success; a season which will go down in Sale Sharks history, as one of the best ever. With a platform set by the previous season’s performance, the Sharks were confident that they could build on their success and achieve even greater things in the year 2005-6. An impressive run of form during the Autumn internationals and Six Nations fixtures, with several international players away, (including the influential Jason White, and the instrumental Charlie Hodgson), helped the Sharks secure the top spot in the Guinness Premiership table for the last six months of the season. Not only this, but the Sharks went on to become the only team in the history of the play offs to finish at the top of the league and go on to win the play off final at Twickenham.
The Sharks' Heineken Cup adventure showed them to be one of the strongest teams in the tournament and a force to be reckoned with in Europe. Sale lost only one match in the group stages and went on to play Biarritz in the quarter finals, which proved to be a hard battle. It ended in defeat, yet they could still hold their heads high as they had achieved their highest ever finish in the competition.
Compiled by John Everton, Kelly Rickard and Dave Swanton
