Paul Sculthorpe to be inducted in RL Hall of Fame

LOCAL man Paul Sculthorpe MBE, who played his early rugby league at Royton Tigers and at Waterhead, will be inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame next month, hailed as one of the greatest players in the sport's history and thus granted Rugby League's greatest honour.

Paul, who grew up in Oldham, went to school here, and always regards himself as a product of the town, was one of several players recognised as "the best of the very best" and they will all be inducted next month at a special dinner to be hosted by Rugby League Cares on Tuesday, October 22, writes ROGER HALSTEAD.

One of our early guest speakers at one of our Networking sessions, Scully has been chief guest and speaker at an Oldham Players' annual dinner and he is believed to be the first local man to go into our great sport's Hall of Fame.

As a loose-forward, he had an illustrious career with St Helens, England and Great Britain, twice winning the prestigious Man of Steel award and proving once again that our town is something special in terms of rugby league, Paul having been described in the RFL's official announcement as one of the most athletic and most talented players in the history of the game.

The congratulations of everyone at Oldham RLFC are offered to Paul, who spent most of his early life here, first played rugby league here, used to be one of our ball boys and has two brothers, one of whom was a talented amateur and the other an England international prop, Danny, who played for several top clubs, and is now a leading figure and speaker in our sport's battle to get men to talk about their problems.