The fourth place finish in this year’s Championship table represents the best placing for Oldham RLFC since 2004.
In what was then known as National League One, the Roughyeds came in fourth behind Leigh, Whitehaven and Hull KR. Sadly Oldham were defeated in the play-offs by Featherstone Rovers.
Three star players of the 2025 campaign: Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e, Josh Drinkwater and George Hirst.
The only other time this century that Oldham have finished so high in the table was in 2001 when, after play-off victories away at Leigh and Rochdale, the Roughyeds lost to Widnes in the final at Spotland.
The ORL Heritage Trust have recently received a 1970s club blazer from the family of Brian Churm which has been kindly donated for inclusion in the 150th anniversary exhibition in 2026.
Michael Turner of the Heritage Trust receives the blazer from Dave Whittaker.
Brian was a leading amateur player with the Royton club and part of the team that won the Standard Cup three years running in 1957-58-59. In 1959 Brian won the ‘Ben Powell Trophy’ as man-of-the-match in the final. He then went on to coach the Oldham A and B teams in the 1970s.
The blazer has come to the Trust from Brian’s family via Dave (Crazy Horse) Whittaker.
The exhibition will be at “Gallery Oldham” running from January 10th to March 7th 2026.
Loose forward, Adam Milner became the latest recipient of the “Brian Walker Award” when he picked up the accolade for the month of July. A consistent performer all season, Adam has played in 24 out of the 26 senior matches in this campaign.
Adam Milner receives the cheque from club chairman Bill Quinn and Mike Kivlin of ‘Rugby Oldham’.
Adam’s £250 award is being donated to the Castleford based ‘Katie Synott Brain Tumour Fight’. A well-deserved award recognising a deserving cause.
Following on from his success in March, Josh Drinkwater was once more the recipient of the Brian Walker award for May 2025, his £250 donation was again given to the “Rainbow Trust Childrens Charity”. The cheque presentation at the Netpar (Melrose) training facility was made by Mike Kivlin of Rugby Oldham and club MD, Mike Ford.
The June award was presented at Boundary Park at half-time in the recent Sheffield match to George Hirst with club chairman, Bill Quinn doing the honours in company with Brian’s son, Adrian Walker and Tim Hughes of Rugby Oldham. The “Buddies Breast Charity” being the beneficiary of the £250 donation.
Congratulations to Josh and George for their well-deserved recognition.
The latest event organised by the Oldham RL Heritage Trust was held last night (July 10th 2025) at Boundary Park and proved to be another great success.
The guests on the evening were John Donovan, Mick Worrall and Neil Flanagan who reflected on their careers with the Roughyeds in the 1960s, 80s and 90s respectively.
There was a good vibe in the room as John, Mick and Neil entertained the ensemble with with some enlightening stories and anecdotes about their time at the club.
The Players Association were well represented with club MD Mike Ford and Chris Chamberlain the ORLFC Foundation CEO also in attendance.
Special thanks to Joe Warburton of the the Players Association for helping with the screen and sound set-up on the night and the hospitality team at the Boundary Park Events Centre for their help and cooperation.
A great night of Rugby League memories and nostalgia is guaranteed at the next major Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust event at the Broadway Suite on Thursday July 10th.
Oldham stars of the 1960s, 80s and 90s will be there in the shape of John Donovan, Mick Worrall and Neil Flanagan.
Listen to the stories of how John signed in the bleak mid-winter of the 1962-63 season, making his debut in the only match Oldham would play between December 62 and March 63 on a frozen pitch at Widnes. Later that season he played in the last 20,000 plus crowd at Watersheddings against Wigan before going on to play in those epic Challenge Cup semi-finals against Hull KR a year later.
How Mick graduated for the “all-conquering” academy team in the company of the likes of Terry Flanagan, Andy Goodway, Ray Ashton and Paddy Kirwan to become a full Great Britain International and go on the 1984 tour to Australia and New Zealand. He also played a starring roll in the 1986 match against the mighty Kangaroos when the Roughyeds gave the Aussies the fright of their lives under the ’Sheddings lights before going down 16 – 22, the smallest winning margin on the tour.
Teenage Neil had a stern introduction to first team football on his Oldham debut against the star-studded Widnes team including Martin Offiah, Jonathan Davies, Phil McKenzie, Darren Wright and many more top-class names of the era. The match was played on a freezing Watersheddings night in a snow blizzard! After that ‘baptism of fire’, he would go on to be the Oldham captain just two years later and resume as club skipper to lift the Law Cup at the emotional first match for the reformed club on New Year’s Day 1998.
Tickets are £20 and can be booked on 07801 741070 for the event at the Broadway Suite, Boundary Park, including a pie and peas supper, starting at 7.30pm.
The Oldham RL Heritage Trust is sad to learn of the death of the former Oldham player Mick Martindale who has died at the age of 50. He was part of the Roughyeds team at the beginning of the reformed club in 1998 where his powerful frame and skilful hands saw him pose an attacking threat every time he had the ball.
The loose forward had made his debut as a teenager at Halifax Panthers and then had a spell at Wakefield before arriving at Oldham in time for the second competitive match of the 1998 season against Widnes Vikings.
Mick played 26 games, including the Trans Pennine Cup final against Batley, and scored seven tries in his season at the club before moving on to Rochdale.
He later helped Oldham St Anne’s to win the National Cup and remained a popular and well-known figure in the amateur game.
The Heritage Trust send sincere condolences to all of Mick’s family and friends.
The Brian Walker Awards are now up and running again for the 2025 season with the January / February award going to Matty Ashurst who donated the £250 to ‘Cancer Research UK’. The cheque was presented by Mike Kivlin of ‘Rugby Oldham’ along with the club M.D. Mike Ford.
Tim Hughes and club chairman Bill Quinn presented the March award to Josh Drinkwater with his donation going to the ‘Children’s Rainbow Charity’.
Finally, the April award was given to Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e with the donation going to the ‘Talk Your Walk Foundation’. The two Mikes, Kivlin and Ford made the presentation.
Tomorrow, April 25th 2025, it will be 100 years since Oldham defeated Hull KR in the Challenge Cup Final at Headingley.
Oldham won the match 16 – 3 with an inspired performance from winger Reg Farrar at the heart of the Roughyeds victory. The Oldham left wing scored a try, made two more and kicked two goals before a crowd of 28,335 to pave the way for the Roughyeds captain Herman Hilton to raise aloft the famous trophy to the delight of the travelling Oldham supporters. The other points came from tries by Albert Brough, Joe Corsi and Evan Davies.
This was the second in the run of four consecutive Challenge Cup finals with defeats to Wigan in 1924 and Swinton in 1926 only for Oldham to gain revenge against the ‘Lions’ in 1927, when Tom Holliday scored a hat-trick of tries in a 26 – 7 victory at Central Park, Wigan.
It is well documented that two years later the final was moved to Wembley and Oldham have never quite made it to play in the showpiece in the capital suffering semi-final heartbreak on several occasions.
The 1925 Rugby League Challenge Cup winning squad.
Now in this 100th anniversary year the Roughyeds are again just one game away from fullfilling the dream of their supporters when Featherstone come to Boundary Park on May 18th in the semi-final of the 1895 cup. That date itself looms large in the history of the club with it being on May 18th 1957 that Oldham last finished as Rugby League champions with the famous victory over Hull FC at Odsal Stadium, Bradford.
What better way to celebrate the 100th anniversary than to go down to Boundary Park on Friday and cheer on the Roughyeds against the Bradford Bulls. Kick off is at 7.45pm with tickets available with a saving of £4 if booked today! See link below.
(Many thanks to Roger Halstead for the following article)
The prestigious Standard Cup Final takes place this Saturday, April 19 at Boundary Park — a first-class venue that is rapidly becoming synonymous with rugby league and other sports.
The ambitious, multi-million pound ‘Sportstown’ project, the launch of which was attended by top Oldham RL officials Bill Quinn (chairman) and Mike Ford (managing director), says a lot about sport in this town, the future of this stadium, it’s superb location on the edge of the motorway system and with Lancashire to the west and Yorkshire to the east and, of course, Oldham Council’s blossoming relationship with Oldham Athletic, Oldham Rugby and other sporting organisations in this great town.
This final, kicking off at 12.30pm, is between Waterhead of NCL premier division, who were beaten by Mayfield in this final last year, and Oldham St Anne’s of NCL division one.
Back in the day, a final like that –the Oldham Amateur League’s blue riband event of the year — would have been watched by several thousand at Watersheddings.
Wayne Hubbard, new secretary of the Oldham Amateur League, had this to say about his organisation’s big day: “Hi everyone. Many of you may already be aware that this Saturday, April 19, sees the prestigious Oldham Standard Cup Final being held, once again, at Boundary Park after a very successful 2024 final. Although it was a tough decision to take the final away from Manor Park, where it had been held successfully for many years, it was a decision that was voted for by all the local amateur clubs.
“I feel that it was a good decision, and even though the Oldham League didn’t have much time to organise things, the attendance figures last year were excellent. This year’s final is Oldham St Annes v Waterhead Warriors with kick off at 12.30pm. This will be preceded by the John Blair Memorial game between the under 11s teams from Oldham St Annes and Waterhead, which will kick off at 11am. “Admission costs £5 for each adult, but under 16s go free so this can be a great family day out. “I hope many fans of Rugby League, no matter which team they support, will come along and enjoy what will hopefully be a great day of Rugby.”
WITH TEAMS LIKE WATERHEAD AND OLDHAM ST ANNE’S GOING HEAD TO HEAD IN SUCH A BIG MATCH AND WITH SO MUCH LOCAL KUDOS ATTACHED, THE OLDHAM AMATEUR COMMUNITY IS SURE TO TURN UP IN FORCE, BUT THE LOCAL LEAGUE HOPES TO ATTRACT MANY OTHERS TOO.
