'Ambition was to stick two fingers up to everyone critical of us'

Dean Ryan, Rob Andrew and Tony Underwood have delivered a compelling insight into how Newcastle Falcons made history 24 years ago by becoming English Premiership champions in 1997/98. With the sport having turned professional, the second-tier Gosforth were snapped up by John Hall, the local businessman and owner of Newcastle United Football Club, and renamed the Falcons.

Soon they were laying waste to the elite in the English top tier, reaching the pinnacle when they beat Saracens in the race to become champions at a time when the league was decided by the first-past-the-post system rather than a playoff final at Twickenham.

That breakthrough by the transformed Newcastle has now been recalled in the latest episode of Rugby Stories, the BT Sport documentary series featuring all 13 of the current top-flight clubs.

The documentary opens colourfully with Ryan, the current boss of the URC Dragons in Wales, outlining the Newcastle ambition. “Our ambition was to be successful, our ambition was to prove everyone wrong. Our ambition was to stick two fingers up to everyone that had been critical of us.”

Fellow England international Andrew, a teammate of Ryan’s at Wasps prior to their move to Newcastle, opened: “It was 100 years of amateurism going to professionalism overnight, so nobody knew what it meant. I did describe it as the Wild West, simply because there were no rules.

“People then started buying clubs which was where John Hall came in at Newcastle. The football club bought the rugby club. They then started signing players… Nobody had a contract so I could go and talk to anybody (and say) ‘I’ve got a contract here that is going to pay you to play rugby, probably something you have done for the last decade for nothing. Do you want to get paid for it?’ and everyone was like, ‘Where do I sign?’

“It was absolutely fantasy rugby. I’d signed up all these guys; Doddie Weir, Gary Armstrong, Tim Stimpson, Pat Lam. Newcastle (United) had just bought Alan Shearer, a world record fee and I always remember Sir John saying to me, ‘We’ve got the most expensive footballer in the world playing for Newcastle I want the most expensive rugby player to play for my club’. I said I know exactly who that is. It’s Inga (Tuigamala). That’s how fantasy it was.”

What unfolded from there was a magical mystery ride that culminated in Newcastle winning the Premiership, leaving Ryan to sign off: “We proved everyone wrong because no one believed we could do it.”

• BT Sport’s Rugby Stories documentary series continues on Friday night with A New Dawn, the story of the 1997/98 Newcastle Falcons season. Tune in from 10pm on BT Sport 1. For more information and details on how to watch Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership semi-finals, visit bt.com/sport