Sale Sharks will mark 25 years since the club adopted its ‘Sharks’ name with a season-long programme of celebrations and events.
The commemorative year will kick off with a double-header of friendlies involving both the men’s and women’s teams at Heywood Road on Saturday 7th September.
The club will also induct a series of Sharks legends into a brand-new online Hall of Fame.
And the Sharks Family will have the chance to get involved in the special year by attending a legend’s match during the season and an end of season celebration event.
The club now known as Sale Sharks was originally founded as Sale FC in 1861 by a group of sportsmen, mainly based at Sale Cricket Club, who still play at Dane Road.
The date of formation, proudly displayed on Sharks’ playing kit, makes Sale one of the oldest-established clubs in England.
After 133 years, the club won promotion to English rugby’s top division in 1994 and after rugby union turned professional in 1997, the club took the Sharks name in 1999.
Sale Sharks kicked off the 1999/2000 Premiership season on 11th September with its brand-new name and marked the occasion with a 16-8 win against Wasps at Heywood Road.
The Sale team on that day featured current Sharks CEO Paul Smith and Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson, as well as first-team coach Pete Anglesea and former DoR Steve Diamond.
Paul said: “I feel extremely proud to be able to announce the 25 year anniversary celebrations. Sale is blessed with an incredibly rich and long history and one I have been fortunate to have enjoyed. In 1999 the club became Sale Sharks and who would have thought were the club would have grown to at this point.
“This is down to the fantastic support the club has enjoyed through our loyal supporters and staff/ players. To this date we all continue to drive the club in the right direction and its right that together we enjoy this milestone. We will launch some exciting dates etc in due course.
The year will kick off with a double header with Rachel Taylor’s Sharks Women first to take to the hallowed Heywood Road turf at 2pm on 7th September as they take on Loughborough Lightning in the first of their PWR Up Series, pre-season fixtures.
Then it’s the turn of Alex’s men, who will face Steve Diamond’s Newcastle Falcons in their final pre-season friendly at 7pm.
Alongside the on-field action, the club will also induct its first Hall of Fame members at the friendly fixture. The remaining members of the legends XV will be welcomed at home games during the 24/25 season.
Further details of the programme of events and celebrations, including how you can get involved, will be revealed in the coming weeks.
