FOUR days to go . . . and as the countdown continues to Sunday’s first-ever game between Roughyeds and new-club Cornwall at the Vestacare Stadium (3pm), we give you more good news about what others think of the Oldham club and all it stands for.
After the last home game against West Wales Raiders, a new fan from Staffordshire dropped us a line to say how much he and his step-daughter Elise (pictured with Roary) had enjoyed the Roughyeds experience and the warmth of the welcome they had received.
On a similar theme, League Express did a feature on John Cogger and headlined it: “The Aussie who loves Oldham.”
It took the form of a Q and A with Richard de la Riviere, in a series called ‘Rugby League heroes’, and Cogger had this to say in answer to the question: ‘Why did you leave Oldham ?’:
“I changed managers and was badly advised into believing I could get a better club than Oldham, which I didn’t really want. I’d made some amazing mates, whom I still talk to.
“My manager convinced me I could treble my wage. There was a nibble from Leeds and one from Widnes, whom I would have loved to play for, but nothing happened.
“It dragged on for months. Oldham put me on the list. In the end there were no serious bidders for me apart from Doncaster, which didn’t interest me, so I went home.
“I left on good terms, though. I love Oldham and I’m proud to be a member of their supporters club.”
In an in-depth, full-page article, Cogger also said that Tony Barrow was a master coach. He went on:
That team would have died for each other. We had an amazing camaraderie. No team worried us — first division or second. It was a special team, something I’d never felt before. We were best mates and always confident.”
He said Mike Ford was the player he admired the most, describing him as “the complete pro” and adding:
“It didn’t sit well with him when I was named captain, but we didn’t fall out. I took him aside and said we had to move on, and that’s what happened. He was fantastic.”
Ford was a local boy (Saddleworth School) who later had the distinction of both captaining and coaching his home-town club.
We are OLDHAM and, like all other Oldham folk, we need to be pooling our thoughts, ideas and resources to give our town the rugby league presence it deserves.
That’s why we’ve invited Waterhead Warriors to come to the Vestacare Stadium on Sunday and to do a lap of honour at half-time with the BARLA National Cup and the Standard Cup.
They brought the ‘National’ silverware back to OLDHAM for the first time in 19 years — back to our town, your town, the town we call home.
Let’s milk this theme - together — and show Cornwall what it’s like to take on an OLDHAM team in OLDHAM !
