Oldham..,

[Dave Naylor]

27 minutes ago, The 4 of Us said:

Hopefully, more times like this ahead for Oldham. I was at the game and have great memories of the night, despite the Wigan loss! Perhaps they should also bring back their blue shorts? 

There's Ellery Hanley.  Sick as a pig.  

Classic one-liner from the video commentator.

 

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

25 minutes ago, Anita Bath said:

Definitely the blue shorts.

Although blue shorts are traditional, in 90-91, the last golden era, we wore red shorts with a white stripe down the side. Oh, and Charlie MacAlister had thighs so big his stripe was, reputably, twice as wide as anyone else 

[meast]

I remember Oldham being the biggest club Huddersfield faced when I began my RL journey, I remember a game at Fartown where there was thousands of them!

Oldham was a boom sporting town in the late 80s, early 90s it seemed.

I also remember some good battles at Watersheddings in what was a feisty trans pennine derby and remember a cup quarter final v Huddersfield with 9,000 there, with 2,500-3,000 from Huddersfield.

Would be good to have them back and competitive.

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

7 hours ago, meast said:

I remember Oldham being the biggest club Huddersfield faced when I began my RL journey, I remember a game at Fartown where there was thousands of them!

Oldham was a boom sporting town in the late 80s, early 90s it seemed.

I also remember some good battles at Watersheddings in what was a feisty trans pennine derby and remember a cup quarter final v Huddersfield with 9,000 there, with 2,500-3,000 from Huddersfield.

Would be good to have them back and competitive.

The record crowd at Watersheddings was 28,000 v Huddersfield. In 1912.

[meast]

1 hour ago, The Art of Hand and Foot said:

The record crowd at Watersheddings was 28,000 v Huddersfield. In 1912.

I wasn't at that one unfortunately  

[Szymala]

11 hours ago, Dave Naylor said:

There's Ellery Hanley.  Sick as a pig.  

Classic one-liner from the video commentator.

 

'86-87 not 87-88 when Wigan beat Halifax at Wembley.

 

[dkw]

Great stuff for Oldham and the fans, hopefully this is the beginning of big things for them, they certainly deserve it after the last decade or so.

[Szymala]

A rugby league town without a doubt and their production line of talent is testimony to that....the game needs a strong Oldham.

[The Masked Poster]

 It would be fantastic if in 2 or 3 years we have a decent Oldham team in the mix at the top of the Championship. It’s things like this that also inspire others and make them up their own games. 
 

Fantastic to see. 

[DoubleD]

On 23/03/2023 at 19:40, The Art of Hand and Foot said:

Rumour has it that the new owners will include Mike Ford. 

I’m surprised by that, didn’t think he had the stomach for it

[Josef K]

How have the OAFC fans taken to this news. 

[koli]

On 24/03/2023 at 17:19, hw88 said:

I don't doubt it. Sadly we are no longer in the 1950s and the days of routine big crowds are long gone. Unfortunately it will take a lot more than a new stadium and a rich owner to turn around the fortunes of Oldham and clubs like them. People have simply got out of the habit of going to sporting events, and not just Oldham. These days we will be praising Wigan and Saints for attracting 16,000 or so - in the past 25,000+ was the norm.

Sadly too true.The “surge “ capacity for big games seems much reduced.As you say a Saints v Wigan cup quarter final could attract 30k plus .Mot sure why -maybe the move to a more season ticket/membership approach reduces the casual interest other than for Wembley or OT.

[koli]

Plus a lot of the really big gates were for cup games and the decline of the Challenge Cup a factor.

[DACS]

Have to take issue with big crowds as the 'norm'. When was this exactly? Not the majority of the 1970s and 80s for sure. In the first half of the 80s Hull had the biggest crowds in RL in England by some distance. Leeds average 5.5k in the first year I watched them (1981-82) and didn't hit 10k average for a long time afterwards. The support built up over time, and average crowds now, while down for some clubs on their peak a few years ago, are massively higher than they were for much of the last 40 years.

[hw88]

3 hours ago, DACS said:

Have to take issue with big crowds as the 'norm'. When was this exactly? Not the majority of the 1970s and 80s for sure. In the first half of the 80s Hull had the biggest crowds in RL in England by some distance. Leeds average 5.5k in the first year I watched them (1981-82) and didn't hit 10k average for a long time afterwards. The support built up over time, and average crowds now, while down for some clubs on their peak a few years ago, are massively higher than they were for much of the last 40 years.

I think the really big crowds were in the late 1940s and 50s - as it was with football. In those days there was no tv, men often worked until noon on Saturdays, shopping was 'womens' work (and certainly not a leisure activity), so going to the match was effectively the only recreational activity on offer. As those things changed the numbers going to sporting events dropped accordingly.

[koli]

1 hour ago, hw88 said:

I think the really big crowds were in the late 1940s and 50s - as it was with football. In those days there was no tv, men often worked until noon on Saturdays, shopping was 'womens' work (and certainly not a leisure activity), so going to the match was effectively the only recreational activity on offer. As those things changed the numbers going to sporting events dropped accordingly.

Crowds dropped from mid 50s to mid 70s and with increasing speed from the mid 60s  before recovering gradually over the 80s Soccer saw a very similar pattern.

SL gave a big boost but at a cost to Cup and lower league crowds and things have stagnated over last 10 years or so .

Soccer in contrast has boomed especially in PL and Championship and still, somewhat unbelievably to me ,club RU has exceeded certainly my expectations.
 

 

[D9000]

19 hours ago, Josef K said:

How have the OAFC fans taken to this news. 

How do you think, by whining about other people using their precious pitch and sneering at ORLFC. Just because they had a very few successful years once they still think they are a 'big club'.

[sheddingswasus]

1 hour ago, D9000 said:

20 hours ago, Josef K said:

 

How do you think, by whining about other people using their precious pitch and sneering at ORLFC. Just because they had a very few successful years once they still think they are a 'big club'.

From what I have seen on their forums and talking to those fans I know, I would say they are generally supportive. They realise the days of “us and them” have gone and the new owners want to bring together all sports in the town. 

[hw88]

3 hours ago, koli said:

Crowds dropped from mid 50s to mid 70s and with increasing speed from the mid 60s  before recovering gradually over the 80s Soccer saw a very similar pattern.

SL gave a big boost but at a cost to Cup and lower league crowds and things have stagnated over last 10 years or so .

Soccer in contrast has boomed especially in PL and Championship and still, somewhat unbelievably to me ,club RU has exceeded certainly my expectations.
 

 

I think that is because, in England, they introduced league fixtures in the 1980s - only a 100 years behind every other sport. Prior to that it was just friendlies - I remember there was a big hoo-hah because Leicester had to change from letters to numbers on the back of their jerseys! So with greater meaning to the fixtures the crowds increased accordingly.

[OL14.yeds]

21 hours ago, Josef K said:

How have the OAFC fans taken to this news. 

As a fan of both clubs I would say the fact the council had committed to laying the hybrid pitch has definitely helped.

There is a cross-section of fan that supports both clubs (not huge in number but there’s certainly a lot who want to see both do well), but from my experience the overall reaction has been more on the positive side.

[Anita Bath]

9 hours ago, hw88 said:

I think that is because, in England, they introduced league fixtures in the 1980s - only a 100 years behind every other sport. Prior to that it was just friendlies - I remember there was a big hoo-hah because Leicester had to change from letters to numbers on the back of their jerseys! So with greater meaning to the fixtures the crowds increased accordingly.

Yes, always fun watching tv coverage of !eicester in those days with commentators struggling with the Alphabet soup. I felt for the poor soul running around with P down the back of his shirt.

[Madrileño]

19 hours ago, DACS said:

Have to take issue with big crowds as the 'norm'. When was this exactly? Not the majority of the 1970s and 80s for sure. In the first half of the 80s Hull had the biggest crowds in RL in England by some distance. Leeds average 5.5k in the first year I watched them (1981-82) and didn't hit 10k average for a long time afterwards. The support built up over time, and average crowds now, while down for some clubs on their peak a few years ago, are massively higher than they were for much of the last 40 years.

Agreed. Pure revionism as usual from some totalrl contributors, who refuse to live in the present. 

Stuck in some mentally deluded "good old days" when League was played in winter, on a muddy quagmire, by guys with beer bellies, and punctuated by regular fights.

[DACS]

Its not just TRL contributors.  I'm over 50 but absolutely refuse to engage in the 'good old days' cobblers.  The game has a lot of real problems and doesn't honour the past enough IMO, but in some ways its actually in far better health than it has been for long stretches of its history. 

[Anita Bath]

You obviously dont attend league 1 games.

 

[David Dockhouse Host]

On 25/03/2023 at 22:08, The Art of Hand and Foot said:

Although blue shorts are traditional, in 90-91, the last golden era, we wore red shorts with a white stripe down the side. Oh, and Charlie MacAlister had thighs so big his stripe was, reputably, twice as wide as anyone else 

I played the following season and still have a pair of the blue shorts with castlemain 4X on them.

My pants are now bigger