WE are grateful to the Oldham Players’ Association and its officials, Joe Warburton and Ray Hicks for submitting the sad news about Johnnie Hammond and the pictures to accompany the story.
IT is with sadness that the ORLFC Players Association passes on the news of the death of former Oldham and Rochdale Hornets scrum-half Johnnie Hammond, who died on September 12 at the age of 77.
He made his Oldham debut in the Law Cup game on August 10, 1975 against Hornets, his former club, going on to make four more senior appearances for Oldham, his home-town club, as well as captaining the ‘A’ team to a Lancashire Shield triumph in 1975-76 in which they beat Salford in the final.
They reached the final again the following year, but lost to Wigan so they had to settle for runners-up medals.
Ray Hicks remembers those days well.
“It was a different game back then,” he said. “We had a very accomplished ‘A team and John’s experience as a scrum-half was a key component of our success.”
John recently attended the Oldham V Rochdale game where he received his Oldham Heritage Certificate (number 784) from the Players Association chairman Mike Elliott.
At this sad time our thoughts are with John’s family and friends. When further details are known we will keep you informed. RIP John Hammond.
