Profile

product of Wigan junior Rugby, Len McIntyre joined St Helens and after just a few senior appearances with the Saints, he picked up a Challenge Cup winners medal in the 1956 final victory over Halifax. He then joined Barrow for whom he scored 21 tries in season, 1958-59, which is still a record for a hooker.

Len joined Oldham at the end of the Jack Keith era and for a time he adapted to the role of loose forward, but when Keith went to Halifax, “Mac” became the regular Oldham hooker. As well as being a reliable possession winner, he was also a handful in the loose and very dangerous close to the opposition’s try line. In the 1963-64 season his consistent displays earned him a Great Britain call up for the second test against the Australians at Swinton. The Kangaroos handed out a fifty point thrashing that day, but on the domestic scene, Len was to play a vital part in the Challenge Cup run early the following year. In the second round tie against Featherstone, he plunged through the smallest of gaps from acting half back, to score the only Oldham try and clinch a 9 – 7 win. Then in a never to be forgotten moment of drama in the final minute of the semi final against Hull K.R. at Headingley, he popped over a mighty drop goal to level the scores at 5 – 5. This was in the time of unlimited possession when drop goals had almost become extinct.

The only goal McIntyre ever kicked for Oldham, it sent the Oldham fans wild with delight and ensured another bite at the Wembley cherry.