Results and photos for
all five seasons
Click a link on the right
|
Results and photos for all five seasons Click a link on the right |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Story of the Eagles (Click any photo to enlarge) |
|||||||||||
|
First Ever Eagle Matchday! September 2000. For th first season the lads wore white shirts and plain red shorts |
Last Ever Eagle Matchday! April 2005. They donned the now familar red and white shirts and shorts for all of the four remaining seasons |
||||||||||
|
Season 1: 2000/2001 Click Here for Results and Photos of 2000/2001 After several years attending the Marlboro Development Centre in Heath Park the first set of Eagles competed in the Under 10 division of the Cardiff and District League. The system runs employing mini-football pitches of around 70 yards using junior sized goals and 7 a side teams. After much appealing to parents of lads at the centre Dermot and Mike Green Snr stepped forward to manage the side. At the time Marlboro did not enter teams at under 9 level which was a shame as every single one of the Eagle actually qualified for under 9 level. That same year a second set of older lads also entered the under 10 division. So for the first season the Eagles were the Marlboro Sports Under 10 B team. The first venue that the Eagles played was at Sevenoaks park. The squad consisted of Jonathan, Declan, Owen, Niall Micheal, Sion, Ross, Aaron, Iwan, Hassan, Leo, James and Sam. That season in the first Marlboro Derby the young Eagles actually managed to defeat their older club colleagues in the A team by 2 goals to nil! Still in their first competitive year the Eagles go to the final of the Pentyrch Fives and the semi-final of the Wenvoe Tournament. |
|||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
Pentyrch Five a Side Final May 2001 |
Eagles at Start of second season Sept 2001 |
Marlboro Derby Day, Coed Glas December 2001 |
|||||||||
|
S Season 2: 2001/2002 Click Here for Results and Photos of 2001/2002 Next season, the Eagles remained at Under 10 level this time as the Marlboro U10 A side! The squad remained unchanged and that year the lads had a terrific season. Game after game was won and things looked bright for the future. Honours that season including winning the Fairwater 5 a sides tournamant qualifying the Eagles for the Cardiff Finals at the Leckwith where the lads were crowned Cardiff Champions! |
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
Last Game of Second Season April 2002 |
Thornhill Tournament Winners Sept 2002 |
Start of Third Season Sept 2002 at Hailey Park |
|||||||||
|
Season 3: 2002/2003 Click Here for Results and Photos of 2002/3 The following season at Under 11 level the lads again entered the fray as the Marlboro A side and the successful results of the previous year was again repeated. Once again the squad remained unchanged with the exception of losing Sam whose talent at music meant he was unable to continue playing on Saturday morning. Honours including winning the Thornhill Tournament and again reaching the semis at Wenvoe before an unlucky exit. The squad for these first three years remained largely unchanged with players neither leaving or joining and the three game format of Saturday morning fixtures meant that all lads were getting lots of match practice |
|||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||
| December 2002 at Coed Glas |
End of Season 2002-3 the last time the lads played on the Mini-football pitches. Pontprennau April 2003 |
||||||||||
|
Season 4: 2003/2004 Click Here for Results and Photos of 2003/4 The fourth Eagle season saw the lads complete for the first time at 11 a side football. A bigger squad was needed and extra lads joined the Eagles. . All previous Eagle sides were full of committed individuals who made their intent known by turning up week after week. Unfortunately, a number of the extra lads joining in this fourth season proved largely uncommitted and after the first few months of this first 11-a-side year it became difficult to find enough players to fulfil fixtures. The biggest exception to this was Matthew who showed complete commitment to the cause from the day he joined, not once in the coming two years would he give anything less that 100%. At first the resulting small number of reliable players meant only one or two substitutes were available then soon the managers were grateful to field 11 lads. This got even worse towards the end of the season and games were played with less than eleven lads to face strong opposition. Consequently after some initial success in the league in which the lads topped the table in the first few months results deteriorated and the Eagles started to slide down the league. |
|||||||||||
|
|
End of 2003/4 Season at Heath Park Marlboro Eagles v Urdd |
||||||||||
|
Start of 2003/4 season. The first 11 a side Season. at Pontcanna away to Urdd |
|||||||||||
|
Season 5: 2004/2005 Click Here for Results and Photos of 2004/2005 In the summer following this disappointing season Dermot became the sole manager and Nick Yates joined as coach to the lads. Things looked bright with new lads turning up to the excellent training sessions at Heath Park. Unfortunately, three of the best players from the first four seasons decided to leave, to play for other rival clubs in the league. Only a handful of the lads training in the summer decided to join the team and we welcomed Owen, Josh, Dave and Ieuan to the squad but some other lads proved unreliable and right from the start Dermot was finding it hard to field a full team. Results went against the Eagles right from the start but with several excellent victories before Christmas it looked like good times might be just around the corner. |
|||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||
| Start of Final Season: September 2004 | |||||||||||
| A few extra players joined at this time and prospects looked to be improving. However once again the new players showed very poor commitment and this coupled with some unforeseen leaving decisions meant that even more difficult times where ahead. Ieuan was another exception to this unreliability of new players syndrome, often playing on despite fitness problems. Frustratingly, an offer of re-organising the two Marlboro teams (A and B) in the top division before the transfer deadline was turned down by the coaches of Marlboro B. At this time two of the Marlboro B lads decided to transfer to the Eagles and both Tyrone and Matthew (making a second Matthew in the side) showed an unerring commitment and turned up week after week in all conditions. The fact that there was not to be some reorganising was very disappointing, especially as the B side were by this time already cast way adrift of all other teams in the division without a single victory. A very heavy 15-2 defeat of the same Marlboro B club colleagues was the last victory recorded and towards the end of the season it became hard to field a side strong enough in numbers and ability to compete with other sides in the division. The Eagles plummeted down the league table and the only team below the Eagles were Marlboro B by the time the last game came to be played. This last game was against a good Pentwyn Dynamoes side who had defeated the lads 13-0 in a fixture only a month earlier, on a day when the lads were way understrength again and included at least one heroic player who was really should not have played due to sickness (Matthew 1 continuing to display his excellent commitment. In the return fixture however. the Eagles showed a lot of grit and were unlucky to lose the game 2-1 at Pentwyn’s home ground. On the field that day were only three lads who started out on the Eagles long journey five years earlier: Niall, who scored the last ever Eagle goal with a wonderful free kick; Mike, who performed in midfield with great effect that day; Declan, who despite being a defender filled in at goalkeeper due to the non-availability of the regular keeper to astonishing effect. His long kicks out of hand helped take the pressure off the defence that day was something the lads could have done with all season. The Eagles had only conceded fewer goals on one occasion all season: against Marlboro B. A fourth five season Veteran in the squad was watching the game on the side: Hassan has been dogged by injury over the last three years and was unable to play in the latter half of the final season. | |||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
Last Home Game at Heath Park March 2005 |
The Five Year Veterans | ||||||||||
|
Although it was sad to see the Eagles finally break up it is good to note that almost all the lads will continue to play football having departed to other clubs in the league. Teams such as Whitchurch YC, Grangetown BC, Heol Hir, Lisvane Panthers, Llanishen Dons, Fairwater, Danescourt, Capital Truck, Marlboro B, Marlboro C, Heath Park Rangers have already or will have had their squads enhanced by the presence of former Eagles if the lads plans work out at the time of writing. Dermot did an extraordinary job in those last two seasons under the most immense pressure. The fact that all fixtures were fulfilled is a testament to his dogged persistence. It must be remembered that a large number of lads have gained a taste for sporting activity and will doubtless reap the benefits in the future. The Eagles are not dead...they've just flown the nest!
|
|||||||||||
|
Coming Soon! The definitive list of Eagle Players 2000 to 2005 |
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
