Old Boys back to get their Heritage certificates

They were at the Keighley game in numbers . . . Phil Larder, Valu Bentley, Lucas Onyango, Steve Molloy, Michael Fogerty, Steve Patterson . . . to renew old friendships, to watch their talk-of-the-town team against their biggest League One title rivals, but mainly to be presented with their Oldham Heritage Certificates on the pitch at half=time.

Chatting to Lucas and ‘Foggy’ in a full-house Broadway Suite was like old times, a real pleasure and great news to hear that both are well and enjoying middle age. Proud as punch to be there with his wife and kids, family-man Lucas said:

“It’s great to be back. We played here a lot in my time. This new stand wasn’t here back then and we were looked after on the other side.”

Michael, remembered as a try-scoring centre, and related to that local legend of the 1960s, Terry Fogerty, had a twinkle in his eye as he talked about his Oldham Rugby days. It was a different game back then and the old-timers probably didn’t recognise it last Sunday, but we remember Michael all right, a local boy who fulfilled his dream of playing for Oldham, just like all the little ones who were there on Sunday.

The same can be said of the other locals who were there to receive their certificates, such as Larder, Molloy and Patterson, a young scrum-half from St Anne’s back then and a player who, if memory serves, went on to become a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. Well done, that man!

Molloy, of course, was always regarded as a ’local’ even though he was actually born down the road in Manchester, moving here when still a small boy. A prop-forward in the days when props were generally ball players, Steve won many England and Great Britain caps while playing for Warrington, Leeds, Featherstone, Oldham, Huddersfield and Batley,

In 2002 he became player-coach here where he was the boss for two years before he eventually accepted a development role with the RFL. Part of his job for the RFL was to look after the interests of young guys who were just finding their feet in the game – a fact that will certainly hit a chord with Mike Ford, Joe Warburton and Co and all the hard work they are doing currently with local talent.

That brings us to Phil Larder. Now aged 79, Phil had a long and highly successful playing career at Watersheddings before going into coaching, in which he hit the top in both League and Union. As a player, he was an accomplished centre and goalkicker, playing for Oldham in more than 300 games, scoring 111 tries and kicking 475 goals. Who remembers “Murphy, Elliott, Larder” – the first three names on the Oldham team sheet for many years and, as I have often said, almost as well known back in the day as “Freeman, Hardy and Willis.”

Strongly influenced by everything that was coming out of Australia, Phil went into coaching with Widnes, Keighley and Sheffield at club level, coaching England and Great Britain to the highest possible level in a World Cup final. He got one over the Kangaroos in an early round at Wembley, but the green-and-golds prevailed in the Final.

He coached at the top level in Union too, reaching the pinnacle of his Union career when, as Clive Woodward’s right-hand man and defence coach, he was a key member of the coaching team that helped England beat Australia in the World Cup Final in Sydney.

Larder received the MBE in the New Year Honours of 2004 – a worthy and fully-deserved honour. As his former PE teacher at Saddleworth School, he has also had a large part to play in the Mike Ford story, especially in Ford’s entry into Rugby Union.

How nice to see Phil and Mike Elliott in deep conversation. Elliott, now a leading figure in the Oldham Players’ Association, was Larder’s Oldham winger for many years. What memories they must share!

Header Image from left to right: Steve Patterson, Mick Fogerty, Valu Bentley, Lucas Onyango, Steve Molloy