Pittsburgh Steelers second place in their division, or with a record better than .500 (). Pittsburgh did make history in by signing Byron White, a future Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, to what was at the time the biggest contract in NFL history, but he played only one year with the Pirates before signing with the Detroit Lions. Prior to the 1940 season, the Pirates renamed themselves the Steelers. During World War II, the Steelers experienced player shortages. They twice merged with other NFL franchises to field a team. During the 1943 season, they merged with the Philadelphia Eagles forming the
Kings Cross Steelers June 1999 the Steelers become full members of the English Rugby Football Union (RFU) and at the same time joined Surrey County League Four. In August 1999 the Steelers played a match against the newly formed Manchester gay team, the Village Spartans. This was the world's first match between two gay/bi rugby teams. The Steelers won 22-15. In July 2000 the Steelers took part in the Rugby Sevens competition at the UK Gay Sports Festival held at Waltham Forest. Visiting US team, the Washington Renegades, and the Manchester Village Spartans also fielded teams. In 2001 the Steelers grew to be