The Heritage Trust are sad to report the death of former Oldham player Brian Hatherell on Saturday 4th December in Wigan Infirmary .
A talented scrum-half, Brian signed for the Roughyeds from Leigh Colts in the summer of 1958.
He made his first team debut in a 28 – 11 victory over Wakefield Trinity on September 13th 1958 and would go onto make sixteen appearances in the senior Oldham side.
The sincere condolences of the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust are offered to all of Brian’s family and friends.
Oldham RLFC Anniversary Dinner / Players Association Social.
The organisers have left no stone unturned in bringing to the Roughyeds a glittering array of new and up-and-coming after-dinner talent to entertain everyone at a one-off Oldham RLFC Anniversary dinner.
The guest speaker will be former St Helens and Ireland star Kyle Amor, rapidly making a name for himself as TV pundit, commentator, interviewer and after-dinner speaker.
Alongside him as MC at this prestigious event, held to mark the first 25 years of pro rugby league in Oldham under the ‘Oldham RLFC (1997) Ltd’ banner, will be another up-and-coming talent on the circuit — Pete Emmett from Halifax, who has already worked with the likes of Johnny Vegas, Mike Tyson, Dame Kelly Holmes and Sugar Ray Leonard.
VENUE: The Oldham Event Centre at Boundary Park, smart, welcoming with easy access off Broadway and loads of FREE car parking.
DATE AND TIME: Friday, November 25, 7pm for 7.30pm.
DRESS CODE: Preferably lounge suit – either that or smart casual.
TICKETING: £35 a head including three-course dinner with coffee and mints; Kyle Amor; Pete Emmett; players and coaches in attendance. Tickets can be purchased online via the Oldham RLFC website or by a phone call to the Roughyeds office on 07904 898177.
It’s many a year since Roughyeds had an event to compare with this and the club hopes it will attract a lot of interest, especially as it will mark a majestic milestone (the first 25 years of Oldham RLFC (1997) Ltd.)
Oldham RLFC Players Association present a Social Evening with comedian Austin Knight and Music with Bing Findlater.
The event takes place on Friday 2nd December 2022 at The Springhead Sports & Social Club.
A new weekly get-together for all former players or supporters of amateur and professional rugby league will kick-off on Tuesday 18th October at Heyside Cricket Club, running from 12.30pm until 2.30pm.
It will be a chance for friends to meet and enjoy each other’s company for a couple of hours. We will establish numbers over the first few Tuesdays and make this a regular gathering if there is sufficient interest. There is no charge to attend but please register your interest with either Joe Warburton on 07882 848340 or Chris Churm on 07919 691655, or drop us a message via Facebook/ Messenger.
Please pass this on to anyone you think would enjoy attending ‘The Tuesday Club’. Thank you!
A section of the Oldham RL Heritage Trust display cabinet at Gallery Oldham.
To coincide with the start of the Rugby League World Cup, Michael Turner of the Heritage Trust, will be giving a talk including a brief history of the competition and the Oldham links to the event.
This will be held at Gallery Oldham on Wednesday October 12th – 2pm at the location of the Oldham RL Heritage Trust cabinet that is situated in Gallery 1 within the “Oldham Stories” exhibition.
The talk will be approximately 45 minutes and admission is free.
The Heritage Trust was sad to learn of the death of ex Roughyed, Norman Francis. (Heritage Number 962).
Norman, whom Oldham signed from Leeds, made 16 appearances in season 1990-91, scoring four tries along the way.
He began his professional career at Hunslet in the 1982-83 season before moving to Headingley where he made 44 first-team appearances in a five-year stay, scoring 11 tries. He was a wow in ‘A’ team rugby at Leeds where he is fondly remembered by a generation of Headingley regulars for his barn-stoming performances for the Leeds reserves.
After one year at Oldham, he returned to the City of Leeds to join Bramley, thus becoming a member of that elite band who have played for all three professional clubs in the city.
He scored 38 tries in 72 appearances for Bramley over a five-year period before hanging up his boots.
The ORL Heritage Trust send their deepest condolences to Norman’s family and friends at this sad time
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.
It is with sadness that the Heritage Trust learned the news of the death of former Oldham player Ricky Bibey at the age of 40.
Leigh born Ricky was a no nonsense prop forward who played for Oldham in the 2005 season making 21 appearances. He also played for Wigan, St Helens and Wakefield as well as having three spells with his home town club.
The sincere condolences of everyone at the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust are sent out to all of Ricky’s family and friends.
The Heritage Trust has been invited to host a zoom talk about the history of Oldham RLFC by the Oldham Historical Research Group.
Entitled “Then and Now”, the event will take place on Wednesday July 13th at 7pm and to gain access to this free on-line meeting please register in advance by clicking the link below to reserve your place.
