Big rugby league day at BP this Saturday

The prestigious Standard Cup Final takes place this Saturday, April 19 at Boundary Park — a first-class venue that is rapidly becoming synonymous with rugby league and other sports.

The ambitious, multi-million pound 'Sportstown' project, the launch of which was attended by top Oldham RL officials Bill Quinn (chairman) and Mike Ford (managing director), says a lot about sport in this town, the future of this stadium, it's superb location on the edge of the motorway system and with Lancashire to the west and Yorkshire to the east and, of course, Oldham Council's blossoming relationship with Oldham Athletic, Oldham Rugby and other sporting organisations in this great town.

The new Joe Royle stand has excellent facilities, too, and it's the sort of stadium, like Watersheddings was in former times, that attracts good players and is very much an attraction, particularly for amateur players who generally play in inferior conditions than Waterhead and St Anne's will experience on Saturday.

This final, kicking off at 12.30pm, is between Waterhead of NCL premier division, who were beaten by Mayfield in this final last year, and Oldham St Anne's of NCL division one.

I'm going for the Saints to pull off an upset, – that won't go down well with my old mates Jon Perks and Keith Brennan — but NCL results indicate there isn't a great difference between the sides, despite playing in different divisions and my hunch is that it might mean a little bit more to the underdog.

Back in the day, a final like that – the Oldham Amateur League's blue riband event of the year – would have been watched by several thousand at Watersheddings.

Those were the days, my friend, and there are many reasons why the crowd today won't match those big gates of yesteryear.

Rugby League crowds generally are not what they once were.

Nevertheless, the local Amateur League, will enjoy a massive occasion at the hub of local sport on Saturday when supporters of both Oldham Rugby and Oldham Athletic may wish to see the town's best amateurs in action in the town's top stadium.

Wayne Hubbard, new secretary of the Oldham Amateur League, had this to say about his organisation's big day:

"Hi everyone. Many of you may already be aware that this Saturday, April 19, sees the prestigious Oldham Standard Cup Final being held, once again, at Boundary Park after a very successful 2024 final.

Although it was a tough decision to take the final away from Manor Park, where it had been held successfully for many years, it was a decision that was voted for by all the local amateur clubs.

I feel that it was a good decision, and even though the Oldham League didn't have much time to organise things, the attendance figures last year were excellent.

This year's final is Oldham St Annes v Waterhead Warriors with kick off at 12.30pm. This will be preceded by the John Blair Memorial game between the under 11s teams from Oldham St Annes and Waterhead, which will kick off at 11am.

Admission costs £5 for each adult, but under 16s go free so this can be a great family day out.

I hope many fans of Rugby League, no matter which team they support, will come along and enjoy what will hopefully be a great day of Rugby."

WITH TEAMS LIKE WATERHEAD AND OLDHAM ST ANNE'S GOING HEAD TO HEAD IN SUCH A BIG MATCH AND WITH SO MUCH LOCAL KUDOS ATTACHED, THE OLDHAM AMATEUR COMMUNITY IS SURE TO TURN UP IN FORCE, BUT THE LOCAL LEAGUE HOPES TO ATTRACT MANY OTHERS TOO.