15/08/2024
NO wonder the fans were queuing up in the Broadway Suite last Sunday to have a pic taken with Glen Liddiard, who was here to collect his Heritage Certificate along with Paul Round and Martin Ellswood.
A week or two back it was John Cogger. How we love to have these Aussies back here on familiar ground, telling stories of their younger days when they starred for Oldham at Watersheddings.
Liddiard, you will recall, was only 16, a boy, when the late Frank Myler – a stand-off of some repute himself in his playing days – took the Aussie youngster on one side and told him he would play at 6 in the Challenge Cup semi-final at Wigan against mighty Castleford in 1986. I remember it well. David Topliss had been injured in a car crash and Myler had no hesitation in calling up the Aussie kid to play a key role at Central Park.
“I was sweet 16,” recalled Glen, who was – and still is – the youngest lad ever to play in a Challenge Cup semi-final.
“I was considered to be too young to be left at home when Mum and Dad were flying to Oldham with my elder brother David, so I came too.
While David was playing full-back for Oldham, I was playing for Saddleworth Rangers. Frank invited me to train at Oldham where I played on the wing. The next thing I knew he was telling me I was in the semi-final line-up. It was scary. I recall I was very nervous.”
Now aged 55, and in England to spend quality time with his son Tyran, who plays cricket for Bollington in the Cheshire League, Glen scored on the stroke of half-time when he followed a chip by brother David to give Oldham a 7-6 interval lead – a lead they clung to until 18 minutes from the end.
There were four Australians in the Oldham team that day – David and Glen, Gary Warnecke in the centre and skipper Mal Graham in the second-row. Team: D Liddiard; M’Barki, Foy, Warnecke, Taylor; G Liddiard, Ashton; Jones, Sanderson, Hobbs, Worrall, Graham, Flanagan. Subs: Parrish, Nadiola.
The Liddiards flew home the next day and I’ll never forget their Dad’s farewell rendering of the famous ballard ‘Danny Boy’ in the social club that night.
Glen told us his dad passed away two years ago – a poignant end to a never-to-be-forgotten chapter in the Oldham story.
Talk of the Liddiard's reminds us of David’s stunning debut in the sun at Salford and of that Boundary Park spectacular in the Challenge Cup against Carlisle when the Aussie took the ball direct from the kick-off and ran straight through the entire Carlisle team to score.
“I think it was the quickest Challenge Cup try on record,” added Glen. “Just seconds.”
Happy memories, indeed!