Girls’ day at Melrose; contact Joe if you fancy it

IF all goes according to plan, the Oldham women's team will be launched at a developed and upgraded Melrose Playing Fields in Chadderton on Saturday, November 23.

An advert tells fans that under-16 girls will train from 10am to noon and that women will train from 1pm to 3pm, after which the Oldham women's team will hopefully be launched.

Please register with Joe Warburton on 07882 848340 if you are interested in either of these training sessions. That apart, please note details of the launch of the women's team, the FREE open day and the chance for us all to take a peep at a new community hub of which the club is so proud.

That's SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23 — PUT IT IN YOUR DIARY OR INTO YOUR PHONE NOW.

Secondly, we have the Players' Association's annual pre-Christmas social evening and potato-pie supper at Springhead Sports and Social Club on Friday, December 6, starting at 7.30pm.

For £10, a bargain these days, you get comedian Josh Daniels, a well-known name on the national circuit, plus music by Andy Munro, son of former winger Geoff Munro.

There will be an alternative supper for those who don't eat meat — and those who have attended this function previously have really enjoyed it while helping to raise a bit of cash for the Players Assn, previously known as the Ex-Players, who sponsor local community clubs and often donate to good causes generally.

Tickets at £10 are on sale now from Joe Warburton (07882 848340) or John Watkins (07974 612038) or from behind the bar at Springhead Sports and Social Club, which is the headquarters of the Players' Association where they meet monthly on the first Monday of each calendar month at 7.45pm.

THAT'S FRIDAY. DECEMBER 6 — PUT IT IN YOUT DIARY OR IN YOUR PHONE NOW AND REMEMBER TO RING THOSE NUMBERS FOR TICKETS
OR TO DROP INTO THE SPRINGHEAD VENUE TO GET THEM OVER THE BAR.

Springhead Sports and Social Club is a roomy, comfortable venue, situated on the main road between Lees and Grotton. It used to be known as Springhead Liberal Club, but it changed its name a year or two back at roughly the same time as the Ex-Players Assn became the Players Assn.

That was to facilitate the membership of current players as well as generally older men who played for the club in the past. Joe Warburton (sec), John Watkins (treasurer) and Ray Hicks do most of the work, but the president is Martin Murphy and the chairman is Mike Eliott, both of whom are "getting on a bit" and are well known as iconic players from many years ago with massive numbers of games.

Not all members are current or former players, but to be a member if you have not played for the club at first team, 'A' team, Reserves, 'B' team or Colts' levels you really need to have had some sort of connection with the club.

For instance, prominent members include John Watkins (treasurer), who was assistant physio and 'sponge man' for many years and was also a well-known figure around the club and on the local rugby league scene generally; Ray Hill, larger-than-life former club commercial manager, who was a great friend and mentor of the players, especially those from overseas; Roger Halstead, who covered the club for the now long-gone Oldham Evening Chronicle for more than 40 years and is a personal friend of hundreds of former players; and Tony Finan, a hooker of some repute, who starred for Huddersfield, but who is an Oldham man, kept a local pub, and was heavily involved in rugby league locally, both as a referee and as an individual with a connection to the Oldham League as a great backer, mentor, sponsor and supporter of local youth.

It's only £10 a year to be a member and there are many benefits, including pie and peas/hospitality visits to watch upbeat Oldham RL Club for discounted prices in the terrific Joe Royle stand at Boundary Park, so if you are not sure about eligibility discuss your potential application with one of the top brass mentioned above.

The Association recently had its big event of the year at St Herbert's, Broadway, and all the Rugby League organisations in Oldham were represented, including Oldham RLFC (1876) Ltd, which had head coach Sean Long, media manager and club president Roger Halstead and vice-president John Chadwick on the top table and director Jim Minton and marketing manager Kieran O'Reilly in the body of the hall.

Four former players — Richard Russell, Leo Casey, Bob Marsden and Tony Wainwright — received Heritage Certificates and close relatives of the late Jack Keith and the late John Fairbank received them on behalf of Jack and John.

Jack's son-in-law brought along the hooker's 1957 Oldham Championship medal and his Oldham Lancashire Cup medals of 1956, 1957 and 1958 — a highlight of the evening and one which proved the value and the importance of the Heritage system.

Not long after the dinner, the Players' Assn had its monthly meeting at Springhead when it was reported that the presentation of Heritage Certificates had caused fantastic interest from former Oldham players all over the world.

Ray Hill, currently in Australia on a long holiday, is delivering certificates to the likes of Mal Graham, Ashley Gilbert, Chris O'Sullivan and Gary Warnecke, while thanks were extended to David Walker and other members of the Assn for their terrific assistance in helping Mike Turner of the Heritage Trust to track down and send certificates to many other former Oldham players on the other side of the globe.

There are still a lot of certificates to go out, but this will be completed eventually.

Partially thanks to these certificates, the Players' Association and the Heritage Trust are working closely together as are the Players and the parent club. Oldham RLFC (1876) Ltd, through their links with Joe Warburton and Ray Hicks.

Joe, secretary of the Players' Association and a former Oldham player himself, is closely connected with the parent club's Pathway scheme for young lads and lasses.

Ray Hicks is a top worker for the Players Assn and the man charged with working with the main club re Players Assn attendances at Boundary Park.

The third man who devotes much of his time to the Players' Assn is John Watkins, who rarely misses a match at Boundary Park despite his great interest also in Manchester City and in Lancashire Cricket Club.

I give you Joe Warburton, John Watkins and Ray Hicks — three men without whom there would be no Players' Assn and without whom the entire rugby league scene in Oldham would be all the poorer.