22/10/2024
Boundary Park, as a venue, and the Lancashire girls were the winners when our local stadium hosted a massive Rugby League Women's Day on Saturday, first staging the first-ever women's game coaching conference, followed by a War of the Roses female clash between Lancashire and Yorkshire.
This took the form of a trial match for England and, as somebody suggested on Facebook, I go along with the view that Lancs v Yorks to us English is more of a Roses battle than an 'Origin' game (Aussie speak), albeit the girls who played on Saturday represented the county of their birth.
'Origin' Down Under, of course relates to Queensland and/or New South Wales which I suppose relates to Lancashire and/or Yorkshire but to those of us who are born and bred 'red or white', we can't get away from 'Roses' any more than we can discount promotion and/or relegation, which are part and parcel of our sporting psyche and our sporting heritage.
We already have the 'Grand Final' at Old Trafford. Congrats to all concerned for doing a deal which keeps the big event at Old Trafford for the next year or two, but that doesn't mean we have to ditch EVERYTHING that is English. Rugby League was born here after all and had it not been for clubs like Oldham, and many others, and officials like Joe Platt, and many others, we might never even have heard of Rugby League.
For the record, the red Rose of Lancashire prevailed on Saturday by five tries to three in a game played in intense heat and under modified laws. The score didn't matter all that much, so it wasn't kept in a match that was played to four quarters with no goal kicks, with unlimited interchanges and with more emphasis on how the teams played individually and collectively rather than who won and who lost.
England coach Stuart Barrow will now name a team to play Wales taking into account what he saw at Boundary Park, but purely from Oldham's point of view there was as much as, if not more, interest and significance in the pre-match coaching conference than there was in the match itself.
Joe Warburton, who will be looking after the forthcoming Oldham women's team with Beth Sutcliffe, currently on maternity leave, was at the women's coaching conference on Oldham's behalf and he took with him Andy Pearson and Helen Grafton from the Waterhead Warriors and from the Saddleworth Rangers girls teams respectively.
Joe said the conference and the War of the Roses game were not only a great advert for the women's game, describing them as "a real success" but said they were also a huge plus in plugging Boundary Park's facilities and Boundary Park's ability to host such events from the sport generally and not merely from Oldham.
Said Joe:
"I'm sure the RFL will soon be back at Boundary Park, given that the venue was definitely one of the stars of the whole show.
The conference was attended by about 60 people from the women and girls game and was held in the Broadway Suite. I took with me Andy Pearson from Waterhead & Helen Grafton from Saddleworth Rangers Girls section.
The conference was compered by Danika Priim, whom has appeared as a commentator and summariser on both Sky TV and BBC TV and radio) and opened by the RFL CEO Tony Sutton.
The first guest speaker was Stacey Copeland, who gave a great speech about her journey from being told it was illegal for her to box and also being banned from playing football with the boys and then going on to represent her country at football and boxing. In 2018 she became the first woman to win the Commonwealth title.
She was followed by current England RL women's coach Stuart Barrow, who spoke about the women and girls pathway and explained about the DiSe (Diploma in Sports Excellence) programme. Other speakers were Chris Chapman (Athlete-Coach relationships); Bryan Jones of UCLAN (Coaching Philosophy); Chelsea Oxendale (Injuries & Injury risk in women's RFL); Chris Spurr (Tackle Technique); Marcus Griffiths (Tackle height rules in practice).
All the speakers gave a great presentation and I took something from every session. One big thing buzzing around my head was when will we see a girl/woman from Oldham on the pitch in the war of the roses match for a place in the England team.
Looking at the girls talent we have now in Oldham schools, I will be speaking to the teachers immediately about possible nominations for the DiSe programme.
Speaking with Helen and Andy after the conference, they both enjoyed the day in which girls from Saddleworth Rangers, Waterhead Warriors and Oldham St Annes led the teams out and acted as ball girls."
Andy said:
"The conference was good and a good insight into what goes into coaching at a high level. The Waterhead girls had a great day and ended up meeting some of the girls for photos. Thanks again for sorting it out for us."
Helen said:
"The Saddleworth girls loved it, too. They had some great photo opportunities.I enjoyed the conference as well. The guest speakers were good and it was very informative, especially around hormones and injuries."
Joe added:
"There were plenty there from Oldham watching the match and I both saw and heard Kevin Morrow and lots of other regular supporters,like Dave Murgatroyd, John Davies, Mike Kivlin, Micheal and Mary Turner. There were also many others there from local amateur clubs in the crowd. I spoke with a few people in the crowd who all enjoyed the day. Also in the crowd watching his sister Savannah Andrade playing for and getting on the score sheet for Yorkshire was ex Oldham player Jordan Andrade.
"It was a great day, and like I said earlier, I'm sure it won't be long before its repeated here; both bigger and better.",
OLDHAM HOPE TO LAUNCH THEIR WOMEN'S AND GIRLS PROGRAMME ON NOVEMBER 2 AT MELROSE WHICH IS CURRENTLY BEING UPGRADED TO 'UNBELIEVABLE ' LEVELS'.