Watersheddings

[OLD YED]

Brilliant read this.

Another of my memories in the 70s/80s was the cold up there, goodness me it used be Baltic up there- i think it was a challenge cup tie in the mid 80s i literally recall not being able to feel my feet, and i had 3 pairs of socks on.

Its bitter sweet for anyone passionate about Oldham rugby, its so nice to see some of the pics, but so horrible at the same time.

[Tangle]

1963 I was working near Widnes and went to a match with Oldham when they put some form of  chemicals on the pitch to thaw it out. We still lost

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

I have 2 striking  memories of the where I stood at sheddings. One early 60's my dad took me , don't know who against. We were in the upper tier of the hutchings a stand . I was dropping stones and fag ends through  a gap in the floor boards onto people below. A bobby came and told my dad off, . The 2nd one was in 1983, me and my mates would stand on the kop at the club end, near the back just left of the sticks. I was making my way up from the pavilion corner when I passed a lad I worked with and an avid fan. We had a brief chat about the game and how we were looking forward to it. 2 days later I was told he had killed himself. That corner of the stand was the last place I stood and shed a tear on the very last game ever. RIP SRT.

[ArthurO]

In the early 1950s my dad used to carry me on his shoulders from Ashes Lane in Springhead and I used to sit with many other little boys on the lower (wooden) steps of the Hutchins Stand. He could then keep an eye on me during the 'A' team and 'First' team games as he stood with his brothers (Sam and Harold) whilst they were in the Herbert Street stand.

As the years went by and I got older, I progressively 'graduated' up each wooden step until I was able to assume my rightful place, upstairs, with the other 'big lads' at the front, directly behind the 'sticks'.

I spent countless years up there, leaning over the front, banging on the hoardings and shouting to cheer our lads on or 'verbally intimidate' the opposition when they stood beneath us on the try line.

I spent more time than I care to remember staring at the big '40 minute' clock above the scoreboard in the far corner mentally trying to make the finger move faster if we were winning and slower if we were losing.

That iconic little Hutchins stand in which I spent so much of my life, became my 'spiritual' home. And it still is !  

That said, in the final few years of our sad existence at Watersheddings I stood with my dear old dad opposite the tunnel in what remained after the Herbert Street stand had been demolished. 

Good times. Good memories.