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.
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 12th 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.
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 6th 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.
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 2nd 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.
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.
The decision to suspend all competition was a difficult one for
everybody, but the correct decision was made.
For
many, there will be far greater concerns than the club at this time, but we
know how strong our bond is with supporters.
The
local community and family are at the core of our values as a club, but they
feel more important than ever at this moment.
A
plan is being implemented to protect both playing and non-playing staff from
the virus, to attempt to ensure the club survives the uncertainty, but
uncertainty is the only answer that we currently have and it will test our
resolve to the limit. Our loyal fan base will be vital during this period.
Season ticket holders and lottery members, I cannot thank you enough.
Your
continued support will be critical throughout this period devoid of game-day
income and we urge you to continue showing your support whilst we are not
playing.
Fans
willing to support the club during this period can do so by joining our
lottery. There are numerous ways to join the lottery. We have introduced new
payment pathways for those willing to support the club in any way they can.
Everybody
associated with the club are going to carry on doing the best we can. Whether
you’re social distancing, in self-isolation or just trying to act more
conscientiously, continue to be your best self. Act with kindness, stay
connected to those vulnerable or lonely and stay responsible.
Although our photo archive is quite impressive there are some images of the players of Oldham RLFC that are missing or very poor in quality.
If you could fill in any of the gaps or provide a better quality photograph we would be glad to hear from you. Please contact the Trust via our email address: oldhamrl1895@gmail.com
Any addition to our collection is always greatly appreciated. Thanks.
The Heritage
Trust was sad to learn of the death of ex player Kevin Taylor. A member of the
club’s ‘Hall of Fame’ with over 400 appearances for the Roughyeds.
Kevin Taylor
Indeed, Kevin was one of only seven Oldham players in over 125 years of Rugby League in Oldham to top the 400 games mark with 429 senior games for the Roughyeds.
Born and brought up in the
St Mary’s district of the town — an area that has produced numerous rugby
league players of repute over the years — Kevin signed for Oldham
shortly after his 16th birthday from the then Werneth club.
Originally understudy to Len McIntyre, he made his
senior debut at Castleford in the harsh winter season of 1962-63. The next
couple of years were spent mostly in the “A” team, but once Kevin got
an extended run in the senior side, he would hold down the Oldham
hooking position for the next decade. He was also a good player in the loose
especially his support play, which twice led to him being top try scorer in
1966-67 & 67-68. In all he scored 60 tries for Oldham
and kicked five goals.
Kevin was selected for the England Under 24 team against France in the match that was the first played under the new Watersheddings floodlights in October 1965 and went on to play for Lancashire and England. The full Great Britain international call up eluded him, yet week in and week out Kevin would rake out the ball on the Oldham side of the scrum against all his so-called peers. A model of consistency, Kevin played his last game at Salford on January 2nd, 1977 before moving on to Leigh. A great servant of the club and definitely one of the best hookers never to play for Great Britain!
The condolences of everyone
at the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust go to all of Kevin’s family and
friends.
It is with
great sadness that we learned of the death of our former player Frank Foster.
Born in West
Cumbria, he played his early rugby with the junior side Grasslot, where he soon
made his mark and represented Great
Britain at under-19 level.
Workington
soon snapped him and he had successful spells with Hull K.R., Bradford and
Barrow before ending up at Watersheddings.
He
came to Oldham when the club were struggling,
having won only six and drawn one of the 21 league matches played in the
1971-72 season. After Frank arrived, the club lost just one more league game
out of thirteen and that was in the very last minute at Warrington.
A
ball playing prop forward, who had won Cumberland
county and full international honours, he had the knack of committing several
defenders to the tackle and then releasing the ball from almost impossible
situations. Also possessing a tremendous field kicking game, he was an awesome
all- round talent who led from the front with never a backward step. Frank was
that strange enigma of being as tricky and skilful as any half back, while
remaining the toughest and most uncompromising of prop forwards and a good goal
kicker to boot. More the pity that the club only had a year and a half of
service out of Frank before he retired at the end of the 1972-73 season having
made 47 appearances with two tries and
25 goals.
A
true Rugby League legend, in my experience, never has a player made such an
immediate and positive impression on the club as did Frank Foster.
The Heritage
Trust was sad to learn of the death of ex player Jim Reynolds.
Jimmy,
as he was known, was a hard-working, tough tackling, loose-forward who always
played well above his weight, He joined Oldham
from the amateur game in Leigh and made his debut against Dewsbury on September
29th 1970 with Martin Murphy, Phil Larder, Mike Elliott and Kevin
Taylor amongst his team-mates.
Jimmy
scored 22 tries for Oldham in 137 senior games
between 1970 and 1978. The condolences of
everyone at the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust go to the Reynolds family.
