Six more people are to be inducted into the Oldham RLFC ‘Hall of Fame’ at the gala dinner on June 27th at “The Loom” in Oldham Town Centre.
Five players will be added to the Players ‘Hall of Fame’ and the great administrator Joseph Platt will be added to the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ category. Joe became a committee member in his early twenties in 1885 and by 1887 he was the club treasurer. He was one of the prime movers in the breakaway from the RFU and the setting up of the Northern Union in 1895 and was installed as honorary secretary a position he held until his retirement in 1920. Already in the Roll of Honour at the Rugby Football League, he is regarded as one of the greatest administrators ever to be associated with Rugby League.
Alf Wood (Heritage Number 119) was a fine defensive full back who played 248 games for Oldham in which he kicked 349 goals. He was selected for the 1914 tour to Australia and New Zealand when those qualities were seen in full in the famous ‘Rorke’s Drift Test, when an injury depleted Great Britain team held out against the Kangaroos with Alf providing a resolute last line of defence. He went on to tour again in 1920 aged 36, which makes him the oldest player ever to be selected for the trip.
Bob Sloman (Heritage Number 210) joined Oldham from the Plymouth Albion RU club in 1921 and went on to make 268 appearances scoring 40 tries and four goals. A forceful second-row forward, he was selected to tour ‘Down Under’ in 1924 and 1928 and twice captained the Roughyeds in the Challenge Cup final in the defeat to Swinton in 1926 and the victory over the same club in 1927. He therefore remains the last Oldham skipper to raise the Challenge Cup.
Mick Worrall (Heritage Number 843) came to Oldham from the Crossfields amateur club in Warrington in 1979. A towering second-row forward and useful goal kicker, Mick made his debut at the end of the 79-80 season and would go on to make 173 appearances for Oldham scoring 31 tries and 61 goals . Noted for crunching tackles, he could also cut through the tightest defences as witnessed when he broke the line of the mighty Australians in 1986 to lay on the first Oldham try. He was selected for the 1984 tour.
Des Foy (Heritage Number 869) , a local lad who started his professional career at Widnes, he was soon snapped up by Oldham and became an immediate fans favourite. A devastating runner in the centre position, his 197 appearances for the Roughyeds brought him 96 tries. He was selected for the 1984 tour and won man-of-the-match in the 1988 2nd Division Premiership final against Featherstone at Old Trafford after a fine two try performance.
Neil Roden (Heritage Number 1111) came to Oldham from Wigan in 2000 and was quickly installed into the first team being comfortable in either the scrum-half or stand-off position. He had a spell away from the club in 2005/6 before returning to play until 2013. Neil’s 295 appearances for the Roughyeds are the most of any player in the 21st Century and his 113 tries are the most by any half-back in the club’s history. He was also adept at knocking over drop goals and finished his career with 25 which is second on the all-time list for Oldham.
Tickets for the event cost £45 are available from the link below. Included will be a two course meal and a special 150th anniversary celebration brochure.
There is to be a gala dinner to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the club at the new Town Centre venue ‘The Loom’ on Saturday June 27th at 7pm.
The Heritage Trust in combination with ‘Rugby Oldham’, the Players Association and Oldham RLFC have got together to lay on what promises to be a spectacular occasion with new inductions to the club’s Hall of Fame along with contributions from many former players on an evening totally dedicated to Rugby League in Oldham.
Included will be a two course meal and a special 150th anniversary celebration brochure.
Tickets cost £45 are available from the link below.
The Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Chris Phelan (Heritage Number 892). He was a member of the Parramatta Eels 1982 and 1983 Premiership-winning teams. A tough prop or second-row forward he joined Oldham in 1984 along with team-mate Paul Taylor.
Born in Ireland on December 12, 1955, Chris emigrated to Australia in 1967 at age 12 and returned after his brief injury-hit spell with the Roughyeds where he played 11 games in the 1984-85 season. He went back to play in Queensland for Souths Magpies where he won the Brisbane RL Premiership in 1985 coached by Wayne Bennett, playing alongside Mal Meninga and Gary Belcher.
All the Oldham RL community send their sincere condolences to all of Chris’ family and friends.
A new club record was established in the victory over Hunslet in the 1895 cup on Sunday April 19th.
Eleven different try scorers in the same match occurred for the first time in the history of the club. There has been ten different try scorers on six occasions (all of them this century) but this was the first time for eleven. Matty Ashurst, Jaron Purcell, Cole Geyer, Jake Bibby, Jack Walker, Bayley Liu, Riley Dean, Ben Davies, Owen Farnworth, Luke Thomas and Ryan Lannon all crossing the whitewash with Bibby ending the sequence when scoring his second which was the final try in the 78th minute of the match.
Riley Dean – 12 conversions from 12 attempts against Hunslet at Bower Fold. Photo by Dave Murgatroyd.
Riley Dean also joined an elite list of players who have kicked twelve goals or more in a single match for the club with his impressive 100%, ’12-from-12′ effort yesterday. The others who have achieved this are: Bernard Ganley (4 times), Abe Johnson, Martyn Ridyard, Andy Ballard, Steve Roper, Adam Brook and Kieran Dixon.
To mark the 150th anniversary of Oldham Rugby League Club, world renowned sports illustrator Matthew J Wood has created three stunning illustrations of Watersheddings, capturing the spirit and history of the iconic ground.
One of these special pieces was presented to Bill Quinn during the Good Friday match against Rochdale, a moment that celebrated both heritage and community. Fans can now purchase prints of all three artworks. Every sale supports the club.
Fans can explore and order from the collection by visiting Matthew’s website at
On a history making day at Bower Fold Australian forward, Jaron Purcell was awarded the Heritage Trust Trophy after a fine all-round performance in the Law Cup match against Rochdale.
Jaron Purcell receives the Heritage Trust Trophy from Alfie Riley and Maddie Kov, the grand-children of trustee Steve Brown. ( Photo by Dave Murgatroyd).
It was the first time that the match, which is traditionally a pre-season fixture, has been linked to a league game. This coming after the match was postponed on the eve of the current season.
It is also the first time the award has gone to a player from ‘down under’. Regardless of the score (36 – 10) this was a tough match against a determined Rochdale outfit. Two-try Jack Walker and stand in marksman Riley Dean, who kicked six goals from six attempts, were also in the running but Purcell who played most of the match in the thick of the action just edged it with a tremendous stint on attack and defence and chipped in with the opening try of the match.
The Oldham RLFC 150th Anniversary Exhibition organised by the Heritage Trust closed at Gallery Oldham on Saturday March 7th.
The previous day there was a closing ‘celebration’ event held at the Performance area at the Gallery which was well attended by member of the Oldham RL Players Association among them Hall-of-Famers, Mike Elliott, Phil Larder and Terry Flanagan and other Rugby League notables including the highly regarded historian Tony Collins and local reporting legend Roger Halstead.
Some of the Rugby League personalities who gathered for the Exhibition closing ‘celebration’. Photograph: Dave Murgatroyd.
There was also a great turn-out from Oldham RLFC including chairman Bill Quinn, CEO David Bottomley, coach Alan Kilshaw and other members of staff. The event featured a Presentation surrounding the games Oldham have played against Australia and New Zealand and it was good to see Oldham’s four current Australian players, Josh Drinkwater, Cole Geyer, Jaron Purcell and Ewan Moore in attendance.
The exhibition has received very favourable reviews and was well attended during its eight week run at the Gallery.
The heritage Trust were saddened to hear of the death of ex-Roughyed, Green Vigo (Heritage Number 868), aged 75.
He was born on 21 April 1950 in Saldanha Bay, Cape Province, South Africa and began his career in Rugby Union with Saldanha Tigers before coming to wider attention at representative level. In 1971–72, Green represented the Proteas, a South African representative side for black and coloured players, on their tour of the United Kingdom. A strong and powerful running winger, he was later snapped up by Wigan and made his first team debut in August 1973 and went on to have seven successful years at Central Park before moving on to Swinton in 1980.
A fans favourite at all his clubs, he moved to Watersheddings at the start of the 1982-83 season and went on to play 63 matches for Oldham scoring 20 tries with his last match coming against Castleford in February 1985.
The sincere condolences of the Oldham RL community go out to all of Green’s family and friends.
The re-formed Oldham Ladies team got off to a great start with a resounding win in their first game.
The Oldham Ladies squad and coaching staff after the match against Keighley.(Photo Dave Murgatroyd)
The friendly match against Keighley took place at the Netpar complex on Sunday February 8th with full-back Megan Hobin scoring a hat-trick of tries in the 58 – 0 victory.
It is with regret that the Heritage Trust learned that the death has been announced of the former Oldham player Vince Fawcett (Heritage Number 1048) at the age of 55. He signed for his home town, Leeds on his 17th birthday making his senior debut soon after. Before joining the Roughyeds Vince, a powerfully built centre who played three times for the Great Britain under 21 team, had a successful couple of seasons at Workington and a spell at Parramatta Eels in Australia.
He made nine appearances for the Oldham in the second Super League season of 1997 scoring three tries, all of which came in a hat-trick against St Helens but previously he had made his debut and scored a try in the friendly against Swinton in what was the last first team match at Watersheddings. After Oldham he had brief spells at Warrington and Wakefield before retiring in 1999.
The condolences of the Oldham RL community go out to all of Vince’s family and friends.
