It is with sadness that the ORLFC Players Association passes on the news of the death of former Oldham and Rochdale Hornets scrum-half Johnnie Hammond, who died on September 12th at the age of 77.
He made his Oldham debut in the Law Cup game on August 10, 1975 against Hornets, no doubt enjoying the 29 – 2 victory for the Roughyeds against his former club. He went on to make four senior appearances for Oldham, his home-town club, as well as captaining the ‘A’ team to a Lancashire Shield triumph in 1975-76 in which they beat Salford 32 – 17 in a two-leg final with the second leg watched by an enthusiastic crowd at Watersheddings.
They reached the final again the following year, ending up as runners up to Wigan.
John lifting the Lancashire Shield in April 1976 and receiving his Heritage Certificate on July 10th 2022.
John recently attended the Oldham v Rochdale game where he received his Oldham Heritage Certificate (number 784) from the Players Association chairman Mike Elliott.
The sincere condolences of the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust are sent to John’s family and friends.
The Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust would like to be associated with the statement issued by the RFL as follows:
On behalf of the RFL and the whole Rugby League family, we express our deepest and most sincere condolences on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The whole sport is in deep mourning at this extremely sad news.
Her Majesty presents the RL Challenge Cup to Derek Turner in 1960.
The Rugby League was honoured to have her as our Patron until 2016, and throughout her long reign, Her Majesty’s sense of duty and commitment, her spirit and wisdom has been an example to all of us.
We give grateful thanks for Her Majesty’s constant and positive influence on our communities over many generations.
We send our deepest sympathy and most sincere condolences to the Royal Family including the RFL Patron, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge.
Our clubs and players at all levels will display their respect to Her Majesty wherever Rugby League is played in the coming days.
OLDHAM RL stars of yesteryear, headed by Great Britain internationals and Australian tourists Terry Flanagan and Mick Worrall, will be out in force tomorrow (Sunday 4th September) at our ‘must win’ last game of the regular season against close rivals Hunslet.
A large party from the Players’ Association, including players’ relatives, will figure in Heritage certificate presentations, hopefully on the pitch at half-time.
These are due to include Geoff Munro, Damian Munro, Terry Flanagan, Danny Bridge, Gareth Owen, Phil Joy and Mick Worrall, plus relatives receiving certificates on behalf of late loved ones, such as Dave Rix (on behalf of Syd Rix), Liz Fitzsimons (on behalf of Eric), Tommy Leyland jnr (on behalf of his father), Lynda and Andy Blair (on behalf of John), Diane Flanagan (on behalf of Kevin).
There’s a link between Terry Flanagan, Mick Worrall and Syd Rix in that all three went on GB tours of Australia, Terry and Mick when Oldham had a record five players on tour in 1984 and winger or centre Syd in 1924.
Second only to the legendary Alan Davies in Oldham’s try charts, Syd scored 155 tries in 330 Oldham appearances between 1919 and 1932. Acknowledged as one of the greatest three-quarters ever to play for Oldham, he was one of only four players to play in each of Oldham’s four consecutive Challenge Cup Finals between 1924 and 1927.
Eight new members have joined the Players’ Association recently — Les Chadwick, Martin Hall, Tommy Martyn, Paul Norman, Paul Topping, Wes Rogers, Steve Robinson and Terry Garrett — and paid-up membership now stands at 45 and is increasing all the time.
The Associations’s annual dinner is at St Herbert’s on Broadway on Friday, October 14. Paul Sculthorpe is guest speaker. Anyone wishing to attend is asked to contact Joe Warburton, John Watkins or Ray Hicks as soon as possible and ideally before the Association’s next meeting this Monday, September 5, at 7.45pm at Springhead Sports and Social Club.
There will also be a large Civic presence at the Vestacare Stadium tomorrow, led by The Worshipful the Mayor of Oldham, Councillor Elaine Garry and her Consort, Peter Davis.
Also present will be Council leader, Councillor Amanda Chadderton (Royton South); Councillor Elaine Taylor (Chadderton Central), who holds the portfolio for sport; and four more Councillors, Ros Birch (Waterhead), Colin McLaren (Chadderton Central), Clint Phythian (Royton North) and Diane Williamson (Crompton). They will be hosted by our very own former Oldham councillors Ginny, an ex-Mayor of the borough, and Adrian Alexander, a former Roughyeds player, once an Oldham councillor of many years standing and now proud to be the Roughyeds’ ambassador.
Adrian, or ‘Alex’ as he is known in rugby league circles, will present the match ball to the referee on the pitch before kick-off.
