YOUNG rugby league players from several community clubs across the town will again meet up at Melrose today (Saturday) as part of the RFL’s Lions Development Programme and OLDHAM RLFC’s managing director Mike Ford will also be there, not only to show the Roughyeds’ total and unqualified support for the pathway project, but to hand out special admission tickets which will allow the youngsters’ parents to get into tomorrow’s (Sunday’s) crucial Betfred League One clash with Workington Town for only a fiver.
Normal admission price for adults (kick-off 3pm at the Vestacare Stadium) is £16, so to get in for £5 is a huge saving for Melrose parents, whose offspring will get in FREE anyway, as do all under-16s, writes ROGER HALSTEAD.
Said Ford, who is hell bent on promoting his home town as the rugby league force it once was at all levels:
“We are doing all we can to reconnect with the town because Oldham RLFC is their team and their club.”
He added:
“Every young player at Melrose will get a ticket allowing parents to get into the Workington game for £5. It was absolutely fabulous to see 230 youngsters at Melrose on day one and, while confirming that the pathway programme comes under the Roughyeds’ umbrella and that we are in contact with the RFL about it, I would like to publicly thank Joe Warburton and John Byram for doing such a great job with the youngsters.
“John tells us he was so excited by it that he woke at 4am one morning, couldn’t sleep and actually went down to Melrose at that time in the morning to mark out a pitch. That’s what the development programme means to people like Joe, John and lots of others – and I’m with them all the way. It’s starting to remind me of what rugby league was like in Oldham back in the days when I was growing up here as a young lad with sporting ambitions and with stars in my eyes.”
Town come down here from the Cumbrian hills and dales seeking their third win in a row against Roughyeds down here. Our last home win against them was a 30-16 Championship Shield victory at Bower Fold seven years ago.
There once was a time when it was a frightening prospect to travel to Derwent Park, but in the last few years we’ve generally done well in Cumbria and not so well down here. We will have to turn that trend on its head tomorrow (Sunday), given that Town are only three league points behind us with a game in hand.
Last Sunday, while we had a day off after playing at Dewsbury on the Friday night, Town smashed Midlands Hurricanes 60-10 to retain hopes of doing well in the play-offs, although they are scheduled to play Doncaster, Dewsbury and Hunslet in their last three games of the season.
Zac Baker and Jordan Paga are suspended and Samy Kibula has gone back to Batley on completion of his one-month loan, but new signing Josh Johnson is in the 21-man initial squad together with the other two new signings since the new board took over, Pat Moran and Nick Rawsthorne and three dual-reg lads from Wigan, namely hooker Tom Forber, stand-off Ciaran Tyrer and prop Harvey Wilson.
Roughyeds have also announced that on Friday, July 28 they will hold a Sponsors’ Breakfast at Boundary Park, where they will play in 2024 irrespective of which division they will be in.
More details nearer the time, but the board will be looking to extend the club’s sponsorship portfolio in 2024.
Said managing director Mike Ford:
“We will be networking with current and potential new sponsors and showing them the facilities available at Boundary Park and the sponsorship packages that are available to them.”
