WITH the support and backing of Bill Quinn, Mike Ford and the Oldham RLFC board, the Oldham Players’ Association is to launch a major drive for new members, while simultaneously chasing up existing members for 2024 subs.
It costs only £10 a year and it entitles the member to several cash benefits, most notably discounted admission to Roughyeds home games at Boundary Park with pre-match pie and peas, a good seat and in the company of like-minded people.
There are other benefits, too. Last season, for instance, several members took advantage of FREE admission to the Test series between England and Tonga, courtesy of RL Cares.
Nearer to home, general admission to the upmarket Saddleworth Rangers Burns Night on January 25 is £50 a ticket, but only £25 (three-course dinner, guest speaker and comedian) for members of the Oldham Players’ Association, which meets at Springhead Sports and Social club on the first Monday of each month at 7.45pm.
“Monday’s meeting was one of the best we’ve ever had in terms of numbers there and the amount of stuff we got through. We don’t necessarily expect new members to come to meetings, especially those from out of town, but it would be nice to get more names on board and it stands to reason that the more money we have coming in, the better equipped we are to support local causes.”
Spearheaded by existing members Tony Finan and Ray Hill, the membership drive will start immediately and will initially involve Hill, once the club’s highly-successful commercial manager back in Watersheddings days, ringing round to contract hundreds of players and ex-players to whom the club was once a large part of their lives, writes ROGER HALSTEAD.
Association secretary Joe Warburton is in charge of the parent club’s Pathway programme for the development of local youngsters and it’s fair to say that the Association has rarely ever been as close and supportive of the parent club as it is now.
Oldham expect to figure prominently this season in Betfred League One, the 1895 Cup and the Rugby League Challenge Cup. but it all kicks off with the Law Cup match at Rochdale on Sunday, January 21, kick-off 3pm. The Oldham Players’ Association will have a large presence there, just as they will at the Saddleworth Rangers Burns Night on Thursday, January 25 and at the Oldham v Halifax game at Boundary Park in group 4 of the 1895 Cup — the first home game of the new season — on Sunday, January 28, kick-off 3pm.
More on the Halifax game later. Suffice to state here, it is NOT sudden death. The 21 clubs involved in the 1895 Cup are spread across seven groups of three – Oldham are with Halifax and Rochdale – and the winners of the seven groups go through to a straight-draw quarter-final. along with the best of the ‘seconds’ when taking points-difference into account.
Back to Monday’s meeting and it ended with everyone standing for a minute’s silence in a mark of respect for former Oldham schoolboys and Saddleworth Rangers player Paul Willis, the twin brother of Chris, the former Oldham player. Paul died at the age of 61 and his funeral was held earlider that day. The Association sends its heartfelt condolences to the family.
