The rugby gods are looking down on us

HAVE you noticed that, in this year's two main cup competitions, we have still to be drawn away from home.

The rugby Gods are looking down on us favourably this year in both the Challenge Cup and the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup and although I run the risk of tempting fate, it needs to be reported that we we have come out first in draws in each of the two cup competitions.

Unlike last year, when we went to Barrow and then to Swinton in the Challenge Cup and to York in the 1895 Cup, we have played amateurs Rochdale Mayfield at Boundary Park in the Challenge Cup; we are at home again to Barrow in the next round; and we also take on home opposition in the first round of the 1895 Cup.

In the draw for the third round of the Challenge Cup we were particularly fortunate in that we avoided Super League opposition AND got a Boundary Park clash with Barrow Raiders today, this despite a move by the powers-that-be to ginger up the cup by seeding it, introducing Super League clubs at the third-round stage and conducting the draw in such a manner that every Super League club was required to hit the road.

We got Barrow at BP this Sunday at 3pm and while all 16 ties take place this week-end , they will be played over Friday, Saturday and Sunday with holders Wigan winning at Sheffield, Leigh winning at Workington, Hull KR at York and so on. The 12 Super League clubs were purposely drawn away. We could easily have been up against top-flight opposition, as were Workington, Sheffield and York, for instance, but we got Barrow at home , which will take place today with a 3pm kick-off.

Some might argue we would do better financially with a Super League club at home, but a knock-out competition is surely about getting as far as you can and as Jordan Turner has already made perfectly clear publicly there is something special about Wembley and being from Oldham, the local side never having played at that iconic stadium in London, which has such a rich history in Rugby League.

The better chance might be in the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup, that's another story, but the fact remains that Barrow at home is the magic of the Challenge Cup and that "magic", as our ex-Waterhead man and club captain has already said, is something special.

Turner won't play in this one because of his hamstring trouble, but you can guarantee he will be at BP today, urging on the lads who are playing and looking forward to the home tie in the 1895 Cup against Rochdale or Swinton.

But back to the big game against Barrow and the fact that if Ted Chapelhow gets on, it will be his 200th senior appearance , having played 25 times for Oldham, 62 for Newcastle, 60 for Widnes, 45 for Whitehaven, 1 for North Wales on dual-reg and 6 for Bradford Bulls on loan.

So it could be a personal milestone for Ted, who tends to play somewhat in the shadow of his twin brother Jay. Does anyone else think the same?

Again, I don't want to tempt fate, but Oldham have won their last 17 home games against Barrow, whose last win down here was a 15-8 triumph at Watersheddings back in the old Slalom Lager days of 1981.

One of those 17 wins was at Bower Fold, three at Whitebank and one at Boundary Park in pre-Royle stand days when most of us watched from the dressing-room side.

It's been a different story up there, however, where we have won two, but lost three of our last five meetings.

More significantly, in fact, we have played Barrow seven times in the Challenge Cup and won five of them, losing only in 2006 at Barrow and in the quarter-final of 1923. One of our cup wins up there was our 22-10 win in round three last year, but we lost at Swinton next up and then we were well beaten at York in the 1895 Cup.

This time, the draw for the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup was held here, another plus, and our luck held fast again. With seven of the eight ties already known, Oldham were still in the drum with Rochdale, Cornwall and Swinton. Thankfully, Oldham came out first to land home advantage in the last of the eight ties.

Rochdale have since hammered Cornwall at Mayfield in a preliminary tie, so its Oldham v Rochdale or Swinton in an 1895 Cup derby-day at Boundary Park on March 2.

What does all this mean ? Coupled with two home games on the first two Sundays of the soon-to-be-here Championship season, it means we will have had no fewer than SEVEN games on the spin at Boundary Park before we hit the road for our first away game.

Remember Wigan Warriors in a pre-season friendly, Rochdale in the Law Cup, Mayfield in the Challege Cup, to be followed by Barrow today in the Challenge Cup, York and Batley in the league on February 16 and Feb 23 and Rochdale or Swinton in the 1895 Cup on March 2?

How good is that — a mixture of good fortune in cup draws and other things, like fixture lists from the RFL, over which they have no control

Let's hope the good fortune continues when the action starts.

On a different theme, congrats to Oldham Community Radio for winning the gold award at community radio awards in Cardiff in a news and journalism category for their programme about Oldham Coliseum. "We are chuffed and telling everyone," said Gerald Brierley, one of the station's leading reporters and presenters.

OCR have been very supportive of Oldham RLFC for many years and its a real pleasure to record one of their many successes.

Might I say, on behalf of Oldham RLFC, that rugby fans in the town are very lucky indeed to have a local radio station like OCR on their doorstep. From everyone at Oldham RLFC to everyone at OCR we say: "Very well done. To win gold is no mean feat."