roughyed34

Oldham v Skolars was a pretty tough game really for 40 mins. Skolars have some big lads and tbh i thought they just ran out of steam. Played some good stuff in the first half but their fitness didnt seem so good and that contributed to the final score. Oldham were pretty good and controlled the game well. Skolars will definately trouble some teams if they can do the full 80.

Should not matter who we play, Oldham "fans" are supposed to support Oldham not the opposition! Poor surroundings? The viewing at the ground is fine.More excuses. If we get to the play off final and its at home , the ground will be full of all these stay aways and i bet they wont complain about poor surroundings then. Easy to go to finals isnt it, proven in the 1400 attendance at Vestacare in the 2015 final v Keighley. Pity people dont actually go to the bread and butter games but want to jump on the bandwagon when its an "i was their moment" and a chance of glory 🤔 This team deserve more than the 400 diehards, 8 wins on the bounce,3rd in the league and the crowds are poor. What more can this team do to get people through the gate? Allegedly there are 100s of Oldham fans who claim to support the club,but dont show that support by attending games. If people really want a team in Oldham then its about time they stopped whining about everything and actually turned up to watch matches!

Oh for christ sake the crowd was blah blah blah. The performance was superb, the fans who were there enjoyed it. Sadly the thousands of so called Oldham fans who allegedly support the club couldnt be arsed yet again. Credit to those who were there today, true Oldham supporters.

Possibly Bedford, my feeling after reading the responses from various Championship CEOs/Chairmen is that the RFL seem to have almost conceded the battle and have not made a positive statement against the so called coup and said "look, the game is bigger than just the top table" , just talks are ongoing blah blah-incredibly weak from the sports governing body. Capitulation and surrender spring to mind. Hope im wrong, i dont want to see this kind of Civil war ripping the game apart but i will fight to the end to retain our "small" clubs. We as Oldham fans surrendered meekly really last time after and during the SL days, it killed us once losing our home, they didnt want us then,they dont want us now. Its time that all the clubs outside the promised land stood together. When it comes down to it ,lets be right, most SL clubs only survive because of Sky and their money. Without Sky's 1.8m quid handout every year, some SL clubs could not survive on income they generate themselves. Thats the main reason they vote allegedly 11-1 to change everything. Greedy barstewards, im alright jack, fcuk the game as a whole but we will take talent from every area we have pillaged. Time the RFL stood up and looked after every member club, but they also need every club who are not in this cartel to stand with them. Otherwise,sadly, we are all doomed after 2021 when the renegotiated Sky deal is done by SL probably excluding the lower leagues. Stand and fight or the game under SL dies.......

Definitely Yed, could be a tough game tomorrow, London have some very decent players. Hopefully we will continue with the same intensity we have shown for the past few weeks and chalk up another W. Squad looks good, im going for Hooley,Kershaw,McComb,Holmes,Eccleston,Crook,Hewitt,Joy,Owen,Spencer,Langtree,Bridge,Bent. Subs. Wilko,Jones,Davies,Nelmes. Nice to be in a position to rotate players, so far Nobby has got selection spot on. Hard to leave lads out, but it will do us good come the business end of the season to have everyone fit. Looking forward to the game tomorrow. Up the Yeds!

Quite a few of the Roughyeds current squad came up from the under 20's and have been with us a number of years. There has been a bit of discussion amongst fans about closer ties with the local amateur game but to be honest a lot of local talent gets picked up at an early age by SL academies as Tex says ,without even an under 20s now its difficult for Oldham to offer lads a pathway to our first team as we just (along with a lot of champ/league 1 sides) dont have a colts,under 20s, A team structure anymore . They head off to SL and we pick them up when they are jettisoned from various SL sides. Oldham lads are all over SL, good luck to them. Just wish there was a chance we had a structure within the game that would give these local lads a chance to play for their home town team. Coventry are a lovely club and deserve some success for the effort the club put in to market the game and the welcome you receive there.For the geographical area they are in it will take some time to have a side full of local talent that can compete with the clubs who can draw from a bigger pond. I wish them all the best and hope they can improve and develop in the future.

True TAOHAF but im expecting a tough game against Skolars, ran Hunslet close last week. Im not bothered if we win by 1 point or 20, its all about putting the 2 points in the bank. I like us being underrated . If Skolars are good enough to score a few against us fair play to them, i still expect another win,but every game is a potential banana skin, clubs up the top of the league are there to be shot at and i expect London will raise their game and give a good account of themselves,its up to us to keep the winning run going and play with the same intensity of recent weeks.I take no game for granted in this league, must admit i'm enjoying this season so far, even though some matches have had huge scores the teams on the end of them have tried to the end. Credit to them all for that.Much better comp overall this League 1 than its given credit for. I dont like predicting scores but heres my winners for this weekend. Hemel Stags v Newcastle Thunder Hunslet v Coventry Bears Keighley Cougars v West Wales Raiders North Wales Crusaders v York City Knights Oldham v London Skolars Whitehaven v Bradford Bulls Workington Town v Doncaster

Exactly mate, hence why i said i would wait and see lol. Unbelievable that the RFL have not made any kind of release around the SL statement. Looks like it may be a while til the future of the game is definately settled. Edit. Just read the RFL statement in response basically saying nothing has been decided full stop. The plot thickens..... http://www.rugby-league.com/article/52652/rugby-football-league-statement-from-chairman-brian-barwick-and-interim-ceo-ralph-rimmer

Hetherington has spoken out against the SL statement. On the whole i thought it was all quite positive including funding for the lower divisions will continue (at least to 2021) and a renegotiation with Sky for the TV deal. Step in the right direction and i agree, at last some sort of clarification on the future of the game, bit late halfway through the season but hey ho. Tbh i will wait and see till its all set in stone, a good start, but we know how often the powers that be change their minds 😉

Only thing i slightly disagree on is that a few more in would impact viewing. On current crowds/space at the ground i would say we could accommodate another 200 without too much of an issue. Anything over the York attendance would be a push for sure but i reckon anywhere between 600-750 would be fine. Depends if everyone wants to be at the same end though lol.

Apart from the modern all seater grounds i would suggest that the majority of spectators at Champ/league one and a couple in SL would actually be in standing areas tandle, yes other grounds may have more seats than us but even at Leigh,Cas,Warrington,Saints,Bradford,Worky,Batley for example they have large standing areas. That points to standing still having a place in RL, Bradford got 4000 against us with the majority standing even though the seating capacity is 5000 or so. The league does have some massive scores but overall the quality is pretty decent in League 1,despite the one sided games. Survival for most clubs in the lower echelons is the norm unfortunately these days, we have to cut costs to fit in with budgets etc, BP would be a big chunk of the funding (in this league or the higher one) and would impact on the teams success which imho is critical going forward. Give me a top 3 League 1 side playing good rugby and winning (not just against the so called weaker team's) based at Vestacare rather than a poor side at an expensive BP in front of no more than go now anyday of the week. The future as i have said before probably does lie in a groundshare if we get promotion and can establish ourselves in the championship. Sound Latics out by all means as a contingency in case that happens, as it stands we are doing a bit better than just surviving, if we remain in League 1 we will remain at the Vestacare i should think. Depends if people in Oldham want a successful Oldham RLFC or not, 450 or so seem to keep the faith, im sure we would love a few more to join us!

Probably around 400/420 for London Skolars, tangle. Clubs believe it or not are in a worse position financially than us, look at Haven for example and Rochdale making pay cuts before the season started,Sheffield and Swinton have had a few worries earlier in the season too. The facts are that the club IS surviving on low gates and has done for a while. AFAIK the lads get paid on time as do our hosts. Its not about chucking figures about, its all about increasing the crowd at the Vestacare to watch an attractive and winning Oldham team and holding on to those new/lapsed fans if/when we move from there. You say we cant survive,but we do. Some people who have come down to the games after a bit of a sabbatical have been quite impressed with the work done at the ground, maybe if people gave it a chance they would enjoy the matches and the sport on offer and not worry too much about the surroundings, after all i go to watch the team not the ground! There has been no problem for viewing this season even with 750+ in for the York game,plenty of room round the perimeter (look at the highlight videos for confirmation of this). Toilets are an issue, and questions have been raised to put some around the ground. People have given valid and understandable reasons before in this thread for not attending games,fair enough, but surely for a so called RL town we can do better than 450 people at games regardless of facilities?

You are correct in that, if promotion is achieved then the Vestacare wont meet standards. No harm in sounding out Latics about a potential ground share now as a contingency in case promotion is gained. Boundary Park in the championship may be indeed an option dependent on rent/funding etc. It is definately not an option in League 1. Tentative talks with Latics can only be a good thing long term, but still all that is in the future and depends on many factors wether or not promotion targets are realised probably being the main one. I agree with Spud that in the Championship at BP crowds could easily top 1000+, and Latics appear to be in a bit of a spot at present. Problem is the here and now, for the remainder of this season at least we are at the Vestacare, with a side doing well, playing good RL,my original point was how to get more watching now and keep those fans going forward to whichever ground we play at in the future. That last paragraph still remains the conundrum.

Great performance from the lads today in very warm conditions. Johnno's length of the field effort is try of the season so far for me. Coventry tried hard and massive credit to them for the effort, welcome and hospitality epitomised by a tweet from their Chairman\CEO in praise of the travelling fans. Made me proud to be a Yed this.......

Widely acknowledged as the greatest chant in RL that one mate 😂😂😂