sheddingswasus

Sadly the crowd was only 419!

Just spotted this on the main board Terry Flanagan. - MBE For services to Rugby League and to charity in the North West also for Brian Noble and Natalie Gilmour (Ladies RL) Well done to all, especially Terry

I was just reading the Obituary to Eric on the Roughyeds site and reading the team he coached to the final, there were FIVE international in the team. I remember going watching the A Team one Saturday afternoon around 1980, and Eric was playing on the wing. He had a field day with the ball, but his kicking was amazing. He kicked them from all over the pitch.

There is, this is why clubs are struggling with getting enough lads to fulfil fixtures. We need to get back to our roots in the amateur game. We need to have winter rugby with a September to May season. There are simply too many things to do in summer, not just on a Saturday afternoon but during the week as well.

You only need to look at the lads who came through our very successful reserve team from a couple of years ago. We simply have to get a reserve team again!

We spent many hours discussing the project!

The thing about A Teams is it mixes up and coming kids with a combination of current players coming back from injury or who missed out on selection to the first team that week, and with some old times pro. This both helps the young ones to learn off seasoned pros and also to get to pace with pro rugby. In a way, it smartens then up as I was once told.

......and to echo the other thread, build bridges with the amateur league & players!

For me the saddest thing is the split in the town. It seems that we have two different sports in the town. We have the pro sport and the amateur sport. The two don't seem to meet. The Amateur League Committee and clubs seem to have disowned the pro club. On the opposite side you never see anyone associated with the pro-club at any of the amateur games. Compare that to the scouts from a host of SL clubs watching! When we played at shedding thew Amateurs used to turn out en-mass. They all stayed in their own groups in different parts of the ground, but they were all there. You see very few amateur lads now watching Oldham. When I was growing up all I wanted to do was to pull on the red & white hoops and play for Oldham. For me that came true playing for the Colts / B Team. I can still remember turning out for them the first time. Now there is no desire to play for the parent club. Kids want to play at SL clubs. The sport needs to re-unite in the town. That in itself would be a massive leap forward.

The Heritage Trust gave this some real thought a few years ago and we actually carried some initial research. We looked at writing the history of the standard cup and also the development of the junior game and schoolboy game (which was huge from its inception in the late 1910's (around 1919) straight through to the 1980's where it tailed off. Given the number of junior clubs that existed in the town the project would have been massive. On top of the clubs you mention above there were teams like Royton, Chadderton, St Marys, Watersheddings, Heyside, and many many more. In the end it was decided to concentrate on the pro game but include a good chance of the standard cup in Watersheddings Memories.

All Dedications are still rolling in, but there is still chance to get yours in. WE HAVE A PRINT DEADLINE OF THIS FRIDAY SPO IF YOU WOULD LIKE A DEDICATION OF BECOME A PATRON OF HONOUR, TIME IS RUNNING OUT! A fantastic way to remember a family member who was lost or survived! Presales on the book (due to be published in October) are going well, and nearly 100 have already been pre-sold. We have restricted this book to just 500 copies so for anyone thinking of buying one may bee as well reserving one soon. Remember, all proceeds from this as always here ploughed straight back into the Heritage Trust as we seek out this long lost gems to preserve them for ever. We hope to make an announcement on the future of the collection in the coming months.

On the playing front, I believe this is one of the best squads we have had for some years. Gas Owen is back to the form from when he arrived from Salford and this is showing on the pitch. Danny Langtree has stepped up a notch again and is definitely a better player for having Danny Bridge as his partner. Today was an excellent performance and you really couldn't pick out anyone player above another in what was an all round team effort. Well done to all!

Not sure how we solve this problem with the crowds TBH! I was three down today from my usual 5 as three of the grandkids were out elsewhere. But, we have an ageing fan base. Many of the fans from say 20 years ago, and even 10 years ago are getting too old to come. Many are no longer with us sadly, I know of a good number like that. My Dad is now in his 90's and has become too infirm to attend. He did until 2 years ago, but gave up the battle. The downside of summer rugby, particularly at our level, is there are many other things to do on a Sunday afternoon. But I think the biggest killer is the nomadic history we have had for the last 20 years. With every move out of town, more fans will have been lost each time and this I suspect is the biggest reason we have lost support. People simply got out of the habit of going t watch the games. Another issue is the the lack of regular home and away games. People are creatures of habit.

Definate no!

Just a reminder that anyone wanting a family dedication on the new book need to contact Mike Turner by next Monday. Pre-sales are going very well - may be worth getting your name down soon as at this rate it may sell out very quickly