January 20^th  2021

The Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust was sad to learn of the death of ex-Roughyed Dave Nicholson on the Isle of Man.

Fans will remember Dave as a hard-working second-row forward in two of Oldham’s most successful seasons for many years.

Dave, who played originally for Blackbrook ARLFC and toured Australia, New Zealand and PNG with the pioneering BARLA open-age international squad before turning pro for Swinton in 1979. He played a total of 31 games for the Lions making a lot of friends at Station Road along the way.

He impressed Swinton coach Frank Myler in his two seasons with the Lions, so much so that when Myler  took charge at Watersheddings ahead of the 1981-2 season and wanted to tighten the defence, he  went back to his former club and signed Nicholson and utility back Alan Taylor in a joint deal worth £20,000.

It was the start of a brilliant season in which Dave played 25 times as Oldham won 30 of their 32 league games to finish top of Division Two, to carry off the Slalom Lager Rose Bowl, to pick up £6,000 in prize money and to lift their first trophy since 1964.

They also reached their first cup semi-final in 17 years, beating Doncaster, Huddersfield and Leeds, all at home, to take on Hull at Headingley, losing 22-6 in the last four of the John Player Trophy with Dave playing at prop

Dave played in 35 matches for Oldham scoring 7 tries.

The Myler years will be long remembered . . . as will the part played by Dave Nicholson in Frank’s  first two seasons.

Rest in peace Dave, the condolences of the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust and all the Oldham RL fraternity go out to all of Dave’s family and friends.

It is perhaps appropriate that on August 29^th 2020, exactly 125 years since the formation of the Northern Union / Rugby League at the George Hotel in Huddersfield, Joseph Platt the first secretary of the then new sporting body was inducted into the Rugby League – Roll of Honour. He is the first person to be posthumously so honoured.

Joe served as secretary of the league for 25 years and was an official / vice president at Oldham for over forty years having first being elected to the committee in 1885

The Oldham Chairman Chris Hamilton was there to receive the award from the CEO of the Rugby Football League, Ralph Rimmer at the special 125th anniversary event at the George Hotel.

History tells us that Joseph Platt was a tireless worker on behalf of Oldham F.C. and all things Rugby League and the award is long overdue.

The Infirmary Cup (Law Cup) was first contested between Oldham and Rochdale Hornets in May 1921. The trophy was donated by the Rochdale MP, the Right Hon A. J. Law with the proceeds of the match being given over to the infirmaries in the two towns.

After a 0 – 0 draw at the Athletic Grounds on May 7th, Oldham became the first recipients by winning the replay 12 – 2 at Watersheddings on May 13th with Joe Ferguson the first winning captain to hold the cup aloft.

The competition would subsequently become a pre or early season event and when, as in 1954 and 1976, the match ended in a draw the cup was retained by the current holders.

Watch this space for further updates and Law Cup facts.

16^th August 2020

The Heritage Trust were saddened to learn of the death of former Roughyed Tommy Parker.

Tommy was signed from the Lock Lane amateur club in Castleford during the 1959-60 season and made his senior debut on April 18th 1960 in a 36 – 8 home victory over Whitehaven, playing at loose forward. Most of Tommy’s 21 first team games for Oldham saw him at the back of the pack with a few in the second row. His final first team match was in the 8 – 15 home defeat to Swinton on April 28th 1962. Tommy left to join Bramley later that year and made 75 appearances during four seasons with the Villagers.

Strangely enough we had three “Parkers” on the books in the early 1960s: Dave, Peter and Tommy none of them related.

The sincere condolences of the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust are offered to Tommy’s family and friends.

Due to a decision by the Rugby League Record Keepers club to include some fixtures from the 1918-19 season as senior matches, Joe Ferguson, Oldham’s record appearance maker has had his total increased to 631.

There were four matches played in March / April 1919 that originally had their status changed from senior fixtures to “friendlies”. However, for record keeping purposes these games have now been declared good to count towards official statistics.

The matches were as follows:

Joe played in all four matches and the other players affected are as follows:

4 matches: Alf Wood, Jim Parkinson, Danny Thompson, Rod Marlor and Herman Hilton.

3 matches: Tom Fitton, Ernest Forshaw, Harry Carter and Bill Biggs.

2 matches: Billy Hall, Evan Davies, Ned Thomas and Tom Taylor.

1 Match: George Cook, Joel Tetlow, George Evans, Robert Duff, Hallam Fenton, Dave Holland, Jack Wiltshire and J Foster.

These are the points that have been added to their totals:

Alf Wood:                                                       7 goals – 14 points.

Jim Parkinson & Herman Hilton:                   3 tries – 9 points.

Tom Fitton & Danny Thompson:                    2 tries – 6 points.

Evan Davies, Ned Thomas, Joe Ferguson, Ernest Forshaw, Bill Biggs & Jack Wiltshire: 1 try – 3 points.

June 25^th 2020

It is with sadness that the Heritage Trust learned the news of the death of former Oldham player Alan Taylor at the age of 68.

After originally signing for Wigan, when turning professional from the Widnes Rugby Union club, Alan came to Oldham from Swinton in 1981 when Frank Myler took over the coaching job at Watersheddings.

Between 1981 and 1985, he scored 15 tries in 75 appearances, most of them at full-back. He was a tough, talented player who also turned out at stand-off, loose-forward and on the wing.

In 1981-82, his best season, he scored ten tries in 35 games as the Roughyeds won the Second Division championship at the first attempt under the new coaching duo of Myler and Peter Smethurst.

After a spell working away as a teacher in the Bahamas, Alan returned to captain the Roughyeds for the 1984-85 season when Oldham finished fifth in the old first division, their best return since the heady days of the late 1950s.

The sincere condolences of everyone at the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust are sent out to the Taylor family.

11^th May 2020

The Heritage Trust are sad to report the death of former Oldham player Vince Kenny.

Vince, regularly known as Vinny, was signed from the Folly Lane amateur club in Swinton at the start of the 1961-62 season.

A winger, Vince played in the Law Cup charity match against Rochdale on August 12^th 1961 as a trial and was signed straight away. He made a try scoring start to his Oldham career in the match against Halifax the following week.

Vince played 14 matches in the first team scoring eight tries.

His uncle also called Vince Kenny, a stand-off half, played for Oldham from 1939 to 1948 and his brother Peter played for Swinton.

The sincere condolences of the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust are offered to all of Vince’s family and friends.

May 9th 2020

We are saddened to report the death of former Oldham winger Ian Holland, aged 74.

Ian signed for Oldham from Salford in January 1974 making his debut in the 6 – 5 defeat at home to Hull KR on January 6^th with Oldham’s points coming from a try by David Treasure and a goal from Phil Larder. Tony Wainwright was his centre that day and amongst his team-mates were “Hall-of-Famers” Martin Murphy, Kevin Taylor and Mike Elliott. In all he made 28 appearances for the Roughyeds spread over the second half of the 1973-4 season and the first half of the following campaign.

Known as an aggressive, hard tackling wingman, Ian scored seven tries and 22 goals in 28 appearances for Oldham. He went on to subsequently play for Swinton, Barrow and Rochdale where he ended his career having captained the Hornets for a spell.

The condolences of everyone at the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust go to the Ian’s family and friends.

May 2nd 2020

The Heritage Trust were saddened to learn of the recent death of former Oldham full-back Brian Curry, who had played for Oldham in the mid 1960s. Brian was aged 84.

The Roughyeds acquired Brian from Huddersfield, his home-town club, where he signed in 1957 at just seventeen years of age. Initially as understudy to Frank Dyson, he spent his best years at Fartown where he also ended his career having made 212 appearances scoring 1,003 points.

Oldham paid Huddersfield £5,000 for Brian who made his debut on September 2^nd 1966 in a Lancashire Cup victory over Swinton at Watersheddings. The Roughyeds won 16 – 13 with five goals from Brian the telling factor.

In all he would make 53 appearances for Oldham scoring three tries and 145 goals. He later joined Blackpool Borough before returning to Huddersfield where he went on to join the coaching staff.

The sincere condolences of everyone at the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust are sent out to all of Brian’s family and friends.

27^th March  2020

The Heritage Trust and the whole of the Rugby League fraternity will be sad to learn of the death of the Widnes and Great Britain legend, Frank Myler.

A World Cup winner with Great Britain in 1960, he remains the last person to captain the Lions to Ashes success over Australia back in 1970.

Truly one of the ‘greats’ of the game, Frank captained both Widnes and Great Britain and enjoyed a successful spell at St Helens and briefly with Rochdale Hornets. Originally a super quick stand off, he later became equally at home as a centre. He also coached at Rochdale as well as at Swinton and his home town of Widnes. However, for the fans of the Roughyeds it will be Frank’s tenure at Watersheddings that will be best remembered.

He arrived at Oldham for the start of the 1981-82 season when Roughyeds were in the Second Division, having been relegated the previous season.

Promotion was secured and the club reached the semi-final of the John Player trophy, only losing out to the crack Hull F.C. outfit. In the following years the club went on to have its most successful spell since the heady days of the late 1950s. Frank was appointed coach for the 1984 tour to Australia  and New Zealand and duly selected five Oldham players; Des Foy, Andy Goodway, Terry Flanagan, Mick Worrall and Ray Ashton, a record for the club.

The condolences of everyone at the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust go out to Frank’s friends and family.