Pathway youngsters are our future — Haydn

OLDHAM RLFC hope to parade up to 100 Pathway youngsters in different age groups, all in familiar red-and-white hooped shirts, before the Cornwall game on Sunday, which starts at 1pm.

“The Pathway programme is going brilliantly well,”

said Joe Warburton, himself an Oldhamer, who is the man in charge and who, as a boy, dreamed of the day he would sign for his hometown club, a dream that came true when the club launched its famous colts side many years ago.

“What the club is doing with local kids is, to my mind, the best and biggest thing we have done in the past few months,” said director Haydn Walker.

“The first team is doing a fantastic job. top of the table, three wins from three, and piling up the points, but the kids are our future and are an integral part of the club’s journey.”

Managing director Mike Ford has expressed similar views in the past as the jobs being done by Joe Warburton and Beth Sutcliffe, the girls and women’schampion, assume greater importance by the day, writes ROGER HALSTEAD.

A massively significant news item was the info regarding the receipt of a £15,OOO grant for the development of female rugby league in this area.

As far as the boys are concerned, the Pathway kids are to be featured individually and collectively on the club website.

It doesn’t matter whether its Pathway potential or first-team maturity, a winning team works wonders – and three wins from four games by our under-15s against Halifax and Leeds Rhinos has merely added to the excitement.

Give the lads a cheer as they walk round – they deserve it.

Some of the Pathway boys who will be paraded at Boundary Park before the match against Cornwall on Sunday (1pm start).