IT is with deep sadness that we report the death of Bob Marsden snr, the man from Shaw who played for Warrington in the 1960s before starting a Rugby League dynasty which heavily featured Oldham. He was 77.
His son of the same name played for Oldham, among several other clubs, as a prop or second-row forward. He also played for Rochdale Hornets and Salford before going into coaching, first at Manchester Rangers as an assistant to Steve Molloy and then at a new junior club, Tameside Knights, that was formed in 2019 just as the first Covid epidemic began to sweep the country.
Bob jnr., whose Oldham Heritage number is 898, played at Watersheddings between 1985 and 1989.
His sister Kath married Mick Worrall, one of Oldham’s most famous adopted rugby league sons (he came from the Warrington area), who will forever be remembered as one of the five from Oldham who toured Down Under with Frank Myler’s Great Britain side, the other four being Andy Goodway, Des Foy, Ray Ashton and Terry Flanagan.
Mick and Kath live locally and we can happily report that Mick is now well over his severe heart attack of two or three years ago and is looking big enough and strong enough to be still playing, as he did for Oldham, Leeds, Salford and Great Britain.
The sincere condolences of all at Oldham RLFC are extended to the family and friends of Bob snr. and his wife, also named Kath. Bob had not been well for a while, but he died suddenly from a massive stroke some years after proudly seeing two of his grandsons – one a Marsden, the other a Worrall – each having a brief courtship with Oldham RLFC.
The local rugby league community has lost another of its ‘seniors’ – a perfect gentleman and a good friend to all who had the privilege of knowing him – ROGER HALSTEAD.
