THE family of the great, late Ike Southward will be at the Vestacare Stadium tomorrow (Sunday) to receive Ike’s Oldham RLFC Heritage Certificate to commemorate the part Oldham played in his glittering career.
The Great Britain winger, a rugby league icon and remembered by older fans as a fabulous finisher, scored a remarkable 54 tries in 52 Oldham appearances between the 1958-59 and 1960-61 seasons.
He came from Workington for a world record fee — and went back to his Cumbrian roots at Workington, also for a record fee,
“He was a wonderful player – a real international star,”
recalls former club chairman John Chadwick, now in his seventies and close to the current club management as club vice-president and a personal friend of the chairman, Bill Quinn.
Ike’s two sons, Ike jnr and David, and their wives, will travel down from Workington to receive the certificate from club officials on the pitch at half time in the full-house Oldham v Dewsbury game, if weather allows it, as is expected.
Also receiving certificates at the same presentation ceremony will be the family of the late Trevor Buckley and another local, Keith Atkinson, who has travelled 12,000 miles from Queensland in Australia to recall his roots, meet the new directors, and revive memories of his days at Watersheddings.
Trevor, a centre, played 90 games for Oldham between the 1966-67 and 71-72 seasons and the versatile Keith, a goal-kicking winger, centre or full-back, played 81 times between 85-86 and 91-92, scoring 15 tries and 102 goals.
His claim to fame was his late try at Wakefield, followed by his conversion off the touchline with a broken back, which gave Oldham a 23-22 win and the Second Division championship in 1988.
Memories will come flooding back for the recipients of all three Certificates at the Vestacare Stadium tomorrow – to say nothing of those of older fans, who well remember the playing days of Ike, Trevor or Keith.
A special thanks to Michael Turner, of the Oldham RL Heritage Trust, for the many hours spent on organising and producing the Heritage certificates, which mean so much to those who have worn our famous colours or, in some cases, to their close families.
To the 1, 400 or so players involved in this mammoth exercise, which stretches back nearly 150 years, THANKS FOR THE MEMORY.
