So far, so good in dual Wembley bid

The draw for the fourth round (last l6) of the Betfred Challenge Cup will be conducted live on BBC 2 this Saturday during the half-time interval in the televised Super League game between St Helens and Salford Red Devils, which kicks off at the Totally Wicked Stadium at 5.30pm.

Round One was exclusively for community clubs but Sean Long's men qualified for the later stages by demolishing local amateur giants Rochdale Mayfield in round 2 and then following that up with a terrific performance to give renowned cup battlers Barrow Raiders a huge and comprehensive cup heave-ho in round three.

We are now through to the last 16 (round 4), the draw for which can be seen on BBC 2 on Saturday tea time TV and, as John Chadwick was quick to remind me this very day, this year it's exactly 100 years since we beat Hull KR at Headingley to win the famous Cup for the first time in 26 years.

We won it in 1899, 1925 and 1927, losing in the final in 1907, 1912, 1924 and 1926. Our appearance in four consecutive finals in the Roaring Twenties — two losses and wins in 1925 and 1927 — was a record for many years. Two of our four finals were at Rochdale at the old Athletic Grounds off Kingsway and the other two were at Headingley (Leeds) and at that mecca of rugby league in days gone by, Central Park in Wigan, on the banks of the Douglas, but just about as legendary as they come.

A multi-national stands there now and if it was a shame when Watersheddings made way for private housing , it was an absolute tragedy when Central Park was sold to super-market giants and the sport we love was moved to a posh, modern and so-called home for the 21st century on the other side of town.

Give me Watersheddings, Station Road, Central Park, Thrum Hall, The Willows, Kirkhall Lane and Knowsley Road any time. They were the grounds of my youth, but they had charm, charisma and atmosphere, grounds that made the hairs on the back of the neck stand up whenever you passed through battered old turnstiles or watched a match from the top of an old bale of straw, or, as I once did at Central Park when I was a boy in short pants, from a seat on the ringside.

That was a row of seats on the INSIDE of the boundary wall. Health and Safety being what it is in 2025, it wouldn't be allowed in this day and age, but 75 years ago I had a bird's eye view of Wigan v Leigh and that famous Leigh forward Charlie Pawsey was tackled over the touchline and ended up at my feet. Those were the days !

However, I digress. We were talking of Oldham's dual chance of going to Wembley for the first time. It hurts, it REALLY hurts, that we are one of the few pro rugby league clubs never to have played in our nation's most famous stadium. We last won the Challenge Cup in 1927 and we were last runners-up in 1926, but the first final at Wembley was in 1929.

I hear our new-look club would give anything to follow up last year's 2024 League One title triumph by going to Wembley for the first time in 2025 with an Oldham-born boy, Jordan Turner, as the Roughyed to make history as the first player to lead out Oldham in Wembley stadium.

Oldham have two chances now — the Challenge Cup, which has eluded them for 98 years, and the comparatively new 1895 Cup, in which they will play, in round one, the winners of this Sunday's preliminary tie between Rochdale and Swinton. I'm going for Hornets to win that one, so the fact remains that Oldham are in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup and are at Boundary Park against derby rivals Rochdale or Swinton in the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup.

All is well thus far in the dual Wembley bid but Jordan knows that if his dream is to come true even in the 1895 Cup, which does not involve Super League clubs of course, there will be plenty of tough challenges, possibly away from home against the likes of Bradford, who have already knocked Castleford out of the Challenge Cup, and the club with special reasons for wishing to beat Sean Long's Oldham, namely Featherstone Rovers, Long's former club.

Jordan was still a toddler when his late grandad, a big Oldham fan, tossed him a rugby ball and said nonchalantly (maybe thinking it wouldn't last long}: "Oldham have never been to Wembley."

A lot of water has flowed under the rugby bridge since then. Jordan never did play for Oldham in his younger days, but he's here now; he was clearly very close to his grandad and he would love to put the Roughyeds' record straight if only for grandad and his precious memory of the man.

The rest of the squad would like to do it for Jordan — and if it did happen to come true it would be a magical time for the club, for Jordan, for Bill Quinn, Mike Ford and the board, for the Foundation, for the town, for Rugby League, and, most of all, for excited Roughyeds fans.

No wonder there was a huge following of Rugby League names at the Barrow cup-tie last Sunday when Longy's men worked terribly hard in defence and showed plenty of razzle-dazzle on attack to win 42-4.

I'm normally in the Broadway Suite, but on this occasion I was in the Holy of Holies as a guest of sponsors Keith and Shirley Mullaney. Among the many well-known names in there were Mike Ford, John Chadwick, Sale Sharks and England RU fly-half George Ford (a boy at Waterhead in his youth), Oliver Russell (Oldham-born Wakefield and former Huddersfield star), Saddleworth Rangers chairman Andy Wood and the man who knows everybody who's anybody in rugby league, Barrie McDermott.

Said the club's John Chadwick: "Chairman Bill Quinn isn't here today because of a bug that is doing the rounds, but it's great to welcome everyone on Bill's behalf. The fact that Barrie McDermott and Oliver Russell are here says a lot about the way our club is going. I told Oliver, an Oldham boy, that it would be nice if he was playing for Oldham some day. He was non-committal, but you never know."

Barrie, the former Wigan and Leeds prop-forward star, and now a popular and well-known Sky TV pundit, started his pro career at Oldham and was happy to have his photograph taken with John, who was on the board when Barrie was a young forward at the club.

As vice-president, John now has responsibility for the club lottery and he was delighted to tell me that Barrie had joined the lottery and was intending to come again.

Also there were close relatives of the late Norman Hodgkinson, now deceased, a very talented and unorthodox winger back in the Graham Starkey era. Norman came up from the South of England to play for Oldham. He settled here when his playing days were over and had connections with Saddleworth Rangers, as did the family group which represented him, including his daughter, grandson and Andy Wood, of course.