Oldham R.L.F.C.

History

Early years

In 1876, Oldham Football Club was founded in a meeting at the Prince Albert Hotel, Union Street West, attended by Chairman of the Watch Committee, William Chadwick, Chief Constable Charles Hodgkinson, mill owner Fred Wild, eminent local Quaker and Lord to be Alfred Emmott and three brothers of the Fletcher family.

A playing field was organised at Sugar Meadow, Gartside Street adjacent to Glodwick Spinning Mill and changing facilities were provided by the nearby Shakespeare Inn. The club's headquarters were at the Black Swan Hotel, Bottom O'th Moor, Mumps. Their first match at Sugar Meadow was held on 21 October 1876 against Stalybridge. After two seasons they joined Oldham Cricket Club at the new Clarksfield ground before finding a more permanent home in 1889 at Watersheddings.

Oldham were one of the twenty-one clubs that left the Rugby Football Union to form the Northern Union in 1895. Oldham were fourth in the first title race of 1895–96 and second a year later. They were the second club to win the Challenge Cup after beating Hunslet 19–9 in 1899. Batley had won the first two finals.

Oldham finally won their first Championship title in 1904–05, just edging out Bradford Northern by three points. Oldham won the Lancashire League in 1897–98, 1900–01 and 1907–08 as well as the Lancashire County Cup in 1906–07. In the 1907–08 season, Oldham finished as league leaders but Hunslet were crowned champions in their historic all-four cups season after winning the Championship Final 12–2 in a replay after an initial 7–7 draw.

Another title success followed in 1909–10 as they beat Wigan in the Championship final. Also in that same season they managed to win the Lancashire League and Lancashire Cup. The following season, 1910–11, they beat Wigan again in the Championship final.

Oldham's record attendance was set in 1912 when the visit of Huddersfield for a league match drew 28,000 spectators.

Oldham won the Lancashire League in 1921–22 and the Lancashire Cup in 1912–13, 1918–19 and 1923–24. The annual Law Cup was first contested against neighbours Rochdale Hornets on 7 May 1921. Having lost in the 1907, 1912 and 1924 Challenge Cup Finals, they finally won the trophy again in 1925 when they beat Hull Kingston Rovers 16–3 at Headingley, Leeds.

Post-war

In the 1950s, Oldham won the Championship and other trophies with a side that included Alan Davies, John Etty, goalkicker Bernard Ganley, Jack Keith, Sid Little, Frank Pitchford, Derek 'Rocky' Turner, Don Vines and Charlie Winslade.

On Monday 15 September 1952, record receipts were taken from a gate of 19,370 at Watersheddings to watch Oldham take on the Kangaroo tourists. The Australians lost only one of twenty-two club matches in Britain during that tour, but came close to defeat at Oldham, where the Roughyeds held them to a 7–7 draw.

Oldham played in the 1954–55 Championship Final at Maine Road, Manchester against Warrington. They also lost the Lancashire Cup final in a 2–12 defeat by Barrow in 1954.

Oldham's success in the 1950s also included a Championship title – in 1956–57; the Lancashire League 1956–57 and 1957–58 and the Lancashire Cup 1955–56, 1956–57 and 1957–58. Oldham lost 16–13 to Wigan in the 1966 Lancashire Cup Final. In 1964, Oldham reached the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup against Hull Kingston Rovers, the tie is remembered for taking three games to find the winner, the first match at Headingley finished 5–5, the replay at Station Road, Swinton finished prematurely 17–14 in Oldham's favour when the game was abandoned midway through the second half due to bad light, and the third game was won by Hull Kingston Rovers 12–2 at Fartown, Huddersfield.

Oldham were Division Two champions in 1963–64.

At the end of a disastrous 1969–70 season, when Oldham finished 29th out of 30 clubs in a single division, the committee was voted out of office en bloc and replaced by nine new officials and a new chairman in Arthur Walker. They brought in Graham Starkey as player-coach.

Dave Cox coached Oldham for 18 months until December 1978.

In the 1983–84 season, Oldham lost just two of their opening 11 Division One fixtures but collapsed around Christmas. After four defeats in five games, January's home game against Leigh descended into a mass brawl before the referee abandoned the match. Both clubs were fined £1,000 and coach Peter Smethurst decided to quit. The club committee asked his assistant, Frank Barrow to step into the breach. His first game was against rock-bottom Whitehaven, winless after 22 matches. But the Cumbrians ran in seven tries, handing Oldham a 42–8 mauling, and prompting Barrow to resign minutes after the game. He was replaced on a temporary basis by Brian Gartland.

The Millennium

Mike Ford retired as player-coach of Oldham in 2001 and in January the following year took up a post as defensive co-ordinator with the Irish Rugby Football Union. Oldham put Mark Knight in temporary charge of the first team. After a successful 2001 season, they narrowly missed out on promotion to the Super League, losing to Widnes 12–24 in the Northern Ford Premiership Grand Final.

During the 2002 season they played at Ashton United's Hurst Cross ground in Ashton-under-Lyne, due to a dispute with Oldham Athletic over the use of Boundary Park.

Steve Molloy took charge of the Roughyeds after former boss John Harbin left to join Oldham Athletic as fitness conditioner and sports psychologist in July 2002. Under Molloy, Oldham won seven and drew two of their last 14 games. In doing so Oldham finished high enough to gain entry into National League One when the Northern Ford Premiership was split into two. In the first season of National League One, 2003, Oldham reached the last four of the play-offs. Although they still made the play-offs for the next couple of seasons trouble was waiting in the wings. Those troubles surfaced in March 2005, Oldham entered a creditors' voluntary agreement (CVA) with total debts of £325,000.

John Pendlebury resigned after three games as coach in March 2006 and was replaced by Steve Deakin, with very little money to spend and a poor squad the team finished the 2006 season with only one league win and were relegated to National League Two, the season ended on a high note though because the club paid its final payment of the CVA and would start the next season debt free. The Roughyeds also announced that they would stay at Boundary Park for the 2007 season after reaching agreement on a sliding scale rent.

2007 – new ownership

In 2007, a few games into the new season, the excavation and demolition firm, the William Quinn Group, acquired a 52% stake in the club. That stake was later increased to 75%. Bill Quinn became the club's new chairman, with previous owners Chris Hamilton and Sean Whitehead remaining as directors.

On Friday 4 May 2007, Oldham took part in the first ever National League Two match broadcast live on British television, on Sky Sports. They won 34–26 away to the Crusaders in Bridgend, having trailed by 20 points after 45 minutes. The match was considered a warm-up for the Millennium Magic weekend in Cardiff the following day and, due to fans of Super League teams attending, attracted National League Two's highest ever attendance of 3,441.

That National League Two attendance record was broken in the return fixture on Thursday, 30 August 2007 between Oldham and Crusaders, again in front of the Sky Sports cameras, when 4,327 fans turned up at Boundary Park beating the old record by 886. it was also Oldham's largest attendance since the early 1990s. The event also raised around £8,000 for local charities and the rugby league players' benevolent fund.

Oldham finished their most successful season in recent years in 4th place on the National League Two table, they then played and won games against Swinton at home then Barrow away in the play-off to reach the National League Two Grand Final, but the game seemed a step too far for Oldham going down to an inspired Featherstone Rovers team at Headingley.

2008 season summary

Northern Rail Cup – Oldham enjoyed reasonable success in the Northern Rail Cup, achieving a win over National League One favourites, Salford at Boundary Park to enable them to make it through the group stage of the competition into the knockout stages where they faced and beat another National League One team in Whitehaven to progress to the quarter finals against Batley at Mount Pleasant, in a see-saw battle Oldham's challenge died thanks to a dubious referee call followed up by a quick fire Batley try.

Challenge Cup – Oldham were the last non-Super League club to be knocked out of the 2008 Challenge Cup, going as far as the quarter finals before being beaten by Wakefield Trinity at Belle Vue.

National League Two – Despite winning more games and losing less games than Barrow but only winning 1 bonus point (to Barrow's 5 points) all season Oldham finished 3rd in National League Two on points difference behind Barrow who came 2nd and Gateshead who won the league, Oldham would again have to face the route of the play-offs and like the previous year Oldham again reached the National League Two Grand Final, this time against Doncaster and like 2007 Oldham again lost to miss out on promotion to National League One losing 18–10 at Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium, as a result of not gaining promotion to National League One coach Steve Deakin did not have his contract renewed.

2009 season summary

Tony Benson became head coach of Oldham.

2009 Championship 1 – Oldham finished fourth in the 2009 Co-operative Championship One table with a record of 10–1–7. The Roughyeds won 31–26 at home to Swinton in the first round of the play-offs before winning 54–30 at home to Hunslet Hawks. That set up a final eliminator against York City Knights, who finished third in the table, and the Roughyeds upset the hosts by winning 44–14 to reach the Grand Final again. But Oldham were beaten in the Grand Final for a third straight year, losing 28–26 to Keighley, who finished second in the table.

Roughyeds were told they would no longer be able to use Oldham Athletic's Boundary Park in November 2009. The club went to Oldham Council for help. Oldham Council bought Whitebank Stadium from Oldham Boro F.C. and then entered into a lease agreement with Oldham Roughyeds RLFC.

The 2010 season saw a transition with the five home games were played out of town at Sedgley Park R.U.F.C.'s Park Lane ground in Whitefield. Roughyeds' first game at Whitebank took place on 9 May 2010 with the opposition being York. This was the first time that Oldham had played in a ground within Oldham borough since 1997. Home crowds are nearly double at Whitebank compared to Park Lane.

2010s

Oldham suffered relegation to League 1 at the end of the 2017 Championship season.

In 2019, they earned promotion back to the Championship after defeating Newcastle in the League 1 play off final.

2020s

In the 2021 Championship season, Oldham finished second from bottom of the table and were relegated back to League 1 having won only two matches. Their top points scorer was Martyn Ridyard with 96 points scored.

In the 2022 League 1 season, Oldham finished sixth with a record of 8 wins, 1 draw, 11 losses and lost in the Play Off Q+E (qualification and elimination) round against Rochdale Hornets 38–24. Their top points scorer was Martyn Ridyard with 161 points

In the 2023 RFL League 1 season, Oldham finished fourth with a record of 12 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses. In the Qualifying & Elimination play-offs they lost 36–0 to Doncaster and lost 13–12 to North Wales Crusaders in the semi-finals. Their top points scorer was Martyn Ridyard with 163 points. The club returned to Boundary Park in August.

In the 2024 RFL League One season, Oldham won the league and were automatically promoted to RFL Championship with a record of 19 wins, 0 draws, 1 loss and a points difference of +741. Their top points scorer was Cian Tyrer with 140 points scored. In their first season back in the championship, Oldham enjoyed a strong year finishing 4th on the table and qualified for the playoffs.

The club's start to the 2026 season was marred by a dispute with Oldham Athletic over the ground-sharing agreement covering the club's use of Boundary Park. The dispute saw matches moved to Bower Fold in Stalybridge and the club chairman, Bill Quinn, banned from Boundary Park. Oldham Athletic denied all the claims.

Past coaches

Also see Category:Oldham R.L.F.C. coaches.

2026 transfers

Gains

Losses

Retired

Seasons

Honours

First Division (1st tier) champions: 4

1904–05, 1909–10, 1910–11, 1956–57

First Division (1st tier) runners up: 5

1906–07, 1907–08, 1908–09, 1921–22, 1954–55

Challenge Cup winners: 3

1898–99, 1924–25, 1926–27

Challenge Cup runners up: 4

1906–07, 1911–12, 1923–24, 1925–26

Second Division (2nd tier) champions: 3

1963–64, 1981–82, 1987–88

Second Division (2nd tier) runners up: 1

1992–93

Second Division/Northern Ford Premiership (2nd tier) promotion final runners up: 2

1992, 2001

National League Two/Championship One (3rd tier) champions: 2

2015, 2024

National League Two/Championship One (3rd tier) runners up: 7

2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2019

National League Two/Championship One (3rd tier) promotion final winners: 1

2019

Lancashire League champions: 7

Records

Attendance for a league match: 28,000 vs. Huddersfield Giants – 24 February 1912 at Watersheddings, Oldham

Attendance in a cup match: 25,000 vs. Huddersfield Giants – 23 March 1912, Challenge Cup 3rd Round at Watersheddings, Oldham

Record attendance (all games) : 62,217 vs. Hull – 18 May 1957, Championship Final at Odsal Stadium, Bradford

International tour match attendance record : 19,620 vs. Australia – 15 September 1952 at Watersheddings, Oldham

Record victory: 102–6 vs. West Wales Raiders – 8 July 2018

Record defeat: 0–84 vs. Widnes Vikings – 25 July 1999

Most all-time appearances: Joe Ferguson – 627 from September 1899 – April 1923

Most consecutive appearances: Joe Lawton – 134 from September 1897 – November 1902

Most goals in a season: Bernard Ganley – 224 goals in season 1957–58

Most tries in a season: Reginald "Reg" Farrar – 49 tries in season 1921–22

Most all-time tries: Alan Davies – 174 from 1950 to 1961

Most points in a match: Kieran Dixon – 36 points vs. Newcastle Thunder, 11 August 2024

Most points in a season: Bernard Ganley – 412 points in season 1957–58

Most drop goals in a season: Ray Ashton – 9 in season 1979–80

The Law Cup

The Law Cup is an annual pre-season friendly match between Oldham and Rochdale Hornets, first contested in 1921 as the Infirmaries Cup and later renamed after the Rochdale MP Alfred Law who had originally donated the trophy. As of 2019 Oldham have won 45 to Rochdale Hornets' 20 with 2 drawn games.