DAVE Murgatroyd, our official club photographer and a fantastic voluntary worker for the club, is an avid collector of Oldham RLFC memorabilia, but imagine even his surprise when he saw this pair of Roughyeds club cufflinks up for auction in Australia on Ebay.
Said Dave:
“They looked amazing. They were up for auction on the other side of the world, but I had to have them and to make sure they came home to Watersheddings, where I live.
“They were in their original box above the inscription, ‘Oldham Football Club’ so it’s no surprise the seller, an Aussie, thought they represented a soccer club. Little did he know what they would mean to rugby league people in Oldham.
“I knew I had to get them, but I didn’t know what it would cost me and I feared my wife Julie wouldn’t be too keen if I offered a lot of money.”
In the event Dave got them for £39.49 including postage and to say he was over the moon would be a massive under-statement.
He added:
“It’s a mystery how they came to be in Australia. Did they go with a player ? Or with a fan ? We’ll probably never know, but if anyone can shed any light on them or knows anything about their history, we’ll be delighted to know.”
Roughyeds asked Mike Turner of the Oldham RL Heritage Trust if he knew anything about the cufflinks and he didn’t. Said Mike:
“I’ve never come across them which would indicate they were earlier than the Championship-winning fifties side and possibly made to recognise the club’s magnificent achievement of reaching four consecutive Challenge Cup finals in the 1920s.”
The Murgatroyds, relatives of Barrie McDermott and his family, have decided as a family to loan them to the Heritage Trust so they can go on display at the Oldham RLFC exhibition currently up for viewing in Gallery Oldham.
Said Dave:
“The last thing we wanted was to see the cufflinks hidden away in a drawer, albeit at Watersheddings instead of Australia. At least, this way they are back home and available to be seen.”
