13/10/2024
Remember the days when we often played Hull KR and Leigh and, even more significantly, often beat them? We didn't win every time, but we always went into action with a good chance of winning and we often did.
The red, red Robins are bob, bob bobbing along to Old Trafford while Leigh finished within one game of playing in our sport's most prestigious Final, having won the Challenge Cup at Wembley last year.
How times change!
Over the years, the fortunes of many clubs, including Hull KR, Leigh and Oldham have fluctuated amazingly, none more so than Roughyeds who, just as an example, were in the first elite competition of 1995 — a shortened centenary version to accommodate the switch to summer rugby.
They were founder members of Super League in 1996 and they were there again in 1997, but they then went belly up and into liquidation, less than two years after first playing in Super League.
Oldham finished eighth in Stones Super League in 1996, behind (in this order) St Helens, Wigan, Bradford, London Broncos, Warrington, Halifax and Sheffield and ahead of Castleford, Leeds, Paris and Workington.
In 1997, they sacked Andy Goodway early in the year and Australian Bob Lindner returned to the club as boss, but we lost 23-12 in Paris, went down — and ultimately out of existence.
By way of comparison, Hull KR were top of Division 2, which was effectively the third tier, given that tier one was the Stones Super League and poor old Leigh floundered down in seventh spot in the same division with only York, Chorley, Barrow, Bramley and Prescot underneath them.
There have been times since then, of course, when one or other of the three clubs has done something special while the other two have been also-rans but unless you support Wigan or St Helens the chances are that you will have experienced both good and bad, depending largely on who's in charge and whether he or she, or a collective unit, has the money, to buy good players, the will to spend it, the luck to make it count and the knowledge of the game, from top to bottom, with which to make best use of the available dosh.
I make these points, given that Hull KR are currently the team of the moment; that Leigh (the Leopards version) have come a long way since Trevor Allen, Mick Martyn, Bill Kindon and Co; and that Oldham are currently revolutionising the club with Bill Quinn bank-rolling it and Mike Ford providing the nous relative to who's who, what's what and so on.
The question is: will Bill Quinn be the next Neil Hudgell or the next Derek Beaumont. To put it another way: will boxer Bill eventually land the knock-out punch with which to beat not Brad Hepi but those people who think he might have taken on more than he can chew?
Let me say right away that I think Bill has the will and the steely determination to lead our club to a bright future and that there is no better man than Ford to point him and his money in the right direction.
Having listened on Oldham Community Radio to the chairman's interview with Gerald Brierley (and so much riveting stuff that keen Oldham fan Gerald had to be reminded that this was a programme about Bill's musical choices rather than rugby in the raw) I am firmly of the opinion that Bill has what it takes to push this club onwards and upwards.
He is no shrinking violet, that's for sure. Raised in Manchester of a relatively poor Irish-Catholic family, proud of his roots, his background, his working-class family, his school days when he was "frightened to death" of monks and nuns, his grafting Dad, his devoted Mum, his early working life in ice-cream, his inherited work ethic, the long hours he put in when working with his dad on demolition and building machines, he sounds a natural to be an influential figure at Oldham as the club moves forward.
He told us he started in business with £200 and that his main demolition business is now one of the biggest around, one of the best known, biggest and most influential in the country. He learned the hard way — on the job and on the machines with his Dad — an d that he has done major work all over the UK, in Europe and in Ireland, of course.
Appropriately, one of his song choices was "The Fields of Athenry", that famous Irish ballad loved and cherished by Irishmen everywhere. His dad's favourite Irish song, "The Fields of Athenry" has become part of the Irish sporting scene. There are so many Oldham Rugby people with a similar Irish-Catholic background to Bill, who has known Sean Whitehead for years through business, that I would suggest it is dedicated to all Oldham fans, not only as a tribute to Bill and his Dad but as a sign of the "togetherness" which is such an integral part of the Oldham story.
Anyway, back to Bill and THAT interview. He made it clear that he and Fordy were singing from the same hymn sheet relative to the development of Melrose, the development of the Pathway programme and local lads and the ongoing development of Oldham as a rugby league force generally.
The "togetherness" of the folk at the top table is always important. So, too, are relations with Oldham Council and the huge Asian community, both of which are good, said Bill, who added that Council leader Councillor Arooj Shah was not only a common denominator but was very pro Oldham Rugby as she was on all things Oldham.
He promised all manner of good things to come and the overall view was that here was a man who was determined to succeed in his vision, and that of the board, to take Oldham as far as they can go with Super League the ultimate goal.
I finish where Gerald Brierley started. Addressing Bill, he said: "I had given up on my dream of ever seeing Oldham at Wembley, but you have rekindled that dream."
That's the great imponderable, of course.
BUT WITH MIKE FORD AND THE PASSIONATE OLDHAM FANS ALONGSIDE HIM, ONE GOT THE DISTINCT FEEELING THAT BILL QUINN MIGHT INDEED MAKE GERALD'S DREAM COME TRUE AND COULD, IN FACT, EMULATE HUDGELL AND BEAUMONT IN THE YEARS AHEAD..