Sheffield Steelers

Superleague in Vienna

The Superleague team, supported by Wayne Boardman, Joe Caudwell, Harry Brown, Mark Scholefield, Maddie Thompson and ex GB player Callum Gordon, set out to Vienna to play in the preliminary round for the Eurocup. Goal is to qualify for one of the next tournaments. 

SSB Steelers have prepared hard for this tournament and as they already have shown strength in the national league, being currently on the second place, they have right to hope for a good outcome. The team has grown this season with a mixture of experienced and young and very mobile players. Player coaches Hayes and Owen have put in much work plays, endurance and motivational training for the team to build it up and ready for the challenge.

Watch here to find out how they are getting on in the group stages. 

 Update Friday

The team arrived with much delay last night due to a security issue at Heathrow. The flight was smooth and the players got much rest. The first game will be tonight, at 8.45pm against the russian team from St. Petersburg. Winning all or 3 of the 4 games will qualify Steelers for either the Andre Vergauwen or Willi Brinkmann Cup which will take place in Turkey/ Spain in April this year. 

 The Sheffield Steelers have got a long history of winning on home and european grounds and are so far the only british club team, who have won the Eurocup title (1994) and twice the Andre Vergauwen Cup. The last few years have been more rocky for the highest club level at Steelers, marked by the coming and going of various players and Steelers have found it difficult to make their mark in Europe.

This season has brought more drastic changes to the Superleague as felt were needed. Kevin Hayes and Steve Owen took on the coaching job and this blew strong new wind into the training and build up of the team. This enabled previous player coach and forward Paul Hudson to concentrate more on his game and the addition of Darren Greenfield injected further height and strength to the team’s offensive.

 The new coaching duo also involved the clubs promising youngsters Harry Brown, Mark Scholefield, Maddie Thompson and Joe Caudwell, which injects vitality, agility and youth to the team. Steelers feel proud of the fact that they are building up players to be able to play to the highest level and their abilities possible.

 Steelers are in transition. They already showed in the national league this season that they are far more competitive than in previous years. Callum, one of the most experienced forwards in the country, started playing up to the Superleague again and it will be interesting to see, whether the mix of youth and experience can step up to the mark and secure the first win in the Euroleague tonight. Update will follow.