John Rae RIP
27th February 2021
The members of the Heritage Trust were saddened to learn of the death of former Roughyed, John Rae.
‘Johnny’, as he was often known, was signed from the Cumbrian amateur club Wath Brow. A native of Pica, which is more or less half way between Workington and Whitehaven, John was signed by Gus Risman for the Roughyeds making his debut at Salford on March 4th 1961.
A second row or loose forwad, John played 41 matches for Oldham scoring 12 tries.
He left Watersheddings to join the newly reformed Bradford Northern club in 1964 which turned out to be an astute signing for ‘Northern’ as John went on to play for Great Britain in the second test against the Kiwis in 1965 and helped Bradford win the Yorkshire cup in the same year. He made 132 appearances for the Yorkshire club scoring 40 tries and nine goals in four seasons before persistent knee injuries forced his early retirement at the young age of 27.
The sincere condolences of the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust are offered to all of John’s family and friends.