THE funeral of former Oldham forward Jimmy Reynolds, who died before Christmas, will be held in his home town of Leigh this Friday, January 10.
For more information ring Mick Aspey of The Spinners Arms, Firs Lane, Leigh, WN7 4UB (tel: 07731316331), who suggests anyone wishing to attend from Oldham should meet up at Leigh Miners ARLFC at 1pm or later after 5.30pm at The Spinners Arms.
Jimmy, a hard-working, tough tackling loose-forward who always played well above his weight, scored 22 tries for Oldham in 137 senior games between 1970 and 1978.
He made his debut in a 17-16 defeat by Dewsbury on September 26, 1970 in the following team: Martin Murphy; Ray Clark, Terry Garrett, Trevor Buckley, Phil Larder; Tommy Davies, Ged Smith; Ken Wilson, Kevin Taylor, Keith Ashcroft, Bob Irving, Frank Walker, Jimmy Reynolds. Subs: Mike Elliott, Ray Fletcher.
Oldham fans and Barrow fans stood side by side at Craven Park last Sunday in a minute’s silence for the great Frank Foster, a prop who transformed Oldham’s fortunes in the second half of season 1971-2 and then in 1972-3 before becoming Barrow’s coach.
The Foster era was when Jimmy Reynolds was at his best, playing at No 13 behind fellow forwards Ken Wilson, Kevin Taylor, Frank Foster, Keith Ashcroft, Bob Irving, Arthur Daley, Frank Walker and Bill Churm.
Prominent names in the backs at that time were Martin Murphy, Mike Elliott, Phil Larder, Joe Collins, Mick Siddalll, Norman Hodgkinson, Cliff Hill, Tommy Davies and Mick McCone, all under the tutelage of player-coach Graham Starkey, a man who was way ahead of his time and who later became coach and then manager.
A grafter who played a similar role to that of the Roughyeds current loose-forward Liam Bent, Reynolds played in each of the 13 league games at the end of the 71-72 season which produced 12 wins with Foster settling in at No 10.
In the same period they almost pulled off a mighty shock against St Helens in the Challenge Cup, losing 8-6 at Watersheddings.
The run of league wins included 13-9 at Whitehaven, 17-14 at Featherstone, 9-2 at Rochdale and 22-9 at home to Warrington.
The team that day: Murphy; Elliott, Larder, Siddall, Hodgkinson; Hill, McCone; Wilson, Taylor, Foster, Irving, Churm, Reynolds. Subs: Davies, Daley.
The condolences of all at Oldham RLFC, headed by chairman Chris Hamilton, are extended to the Reynolds family with fond and everlasting memories of golden years gone by.
