The names of many black players are indelibly written in the great history of Oldham Rugby League Club, but none has matched the impact of the great ALEX GIVVONS and, years later, the unflappable, cool-as-a-cucumber MIKE ELLIOTT.
The two Welshmen came to Oldham as young men and made the old Lancashire mill town their long-term home after their playing days were over. Indeed, Alex worked for the club in various capacities until shortly before his death in 2002, aged 89, and Mike is still here in his seventies, a keen home-game supporter and proud to be chairman of the proactive Oldham Players’ Association, writes ROGER HALSTEAD.
Suffice to say that both of them gave their all in a lifetime’s service to the club which brought them north in the first place.
Alex Givvons, a scrum-half or loose-forward of natural ability, was only 19 when he arrived in Oldham in January, 1933 as a half-back from Cross Keys. Born in Newport of West Indian parents, he was one of the first black Welshmen to convert to Rugby League. Speed, agility, strength and genuine enthusiasm for the game quickly made him a Watersheddings favourite. He was capped by Wales at Rugby League and twice toured France with a British RL XIII.
After a spell with Huddersfield towards the end of the second war, he came back to Oldham to finish his playing days here and then stay at the club for many more years as coach of the ‘A’ team.as part of the backroom staff, as kit man and eventually as dressing room supervisor. In January, 1993, 60 years after first arriving, Alex was still employed by the club. What he didn’t know about the club wasn’t worth knowing and in November, 1995, he performed the opening ceremony for the Oldham RLFC Hall of Fame, unaware that some years later he would himself get the Hall of Fame call !
For the record. he made 241 Oldham appearances and scored 54 tries, but it was his unique longevity of devoted service to the Roughyeds that made his boys, the late Alex jnr. (a top referee) and his younger brother Trevor so proud and privileged to be called Givvons.
As for MIKE ELLIOTT, well, what can you say to put the meat on the bones of stats like 446 games and 153 tries between 1962 and 1979 ? Brought up in the pit village of Blaina, and going to the same school as the late and legendary David Watkins, Mike came to Oldham as a 17-year-old – and hated it at first. He was home sick and took a while to settle in Lancashire. More than 50 years later he is still here and all the signs indicate that he won’t be heading home to Wales in a hurry.
A winger of genuine pace, with an easy and natural style that looked as though running flat out came easy and comfortably to him. Mike had the distinction of playing with more centre partners than any other winger in the club’s long history. Six times (twice shared) , he was Oldham’s top try scorer in a season and his total of 153 tries is third behind Alan Davies (173) and Syd Rix (15t5). He has made more appearances than any other outside back at Oldham and when he played his final match against Hull in 1979 he turned out at left centre and was made captain for the day.
Not bad for the lad who initially missed his Welsh roots so much that he seriously contemplated getting a train home!
