Oldham Roughyeds

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Oldham Roughyeds
Full name Oldham Roughyeds Rugby League Football Club
Emblem Oldham coat of arms
Colours Red and white hooped shirts, blue shorts, red socks
Founded 1876
Sport Rugby league
League National League One
Ground Boundary Park
Royton
Oldham
Official website www.roughyeds.co.uk

Oldham Roughyeds are a British rugby league club, currently playing in the League Two of the National Leagues. They are based in Oldham in Greater Manchester.

The team strip consists of the traditional red and white hooped shirts, blue shorts and red socks.

They play their home games at Boundary Park, a ground which is best known as the home of Oldham Athletic A.F.C..

[edit] History

They were founded in founded in 1876 as Oldham RLFC. They moved to a ground called The Watersheddings in 1889.

Oldham were one of the twenty-one clubs that left the Rugby Football Union to form the Northern Union.

When a Rupert Murdoch funded Super League competition was proposed, part of the deal was that some traditional clubs would merge. Oldham were supposed to merge with Salford to form a club to be known as Manchester which would compete in Super League. This was resisted and instead they adopted the name Oldham Bears and were founder members of the new league. Relegation came in the second year of the new summer season, when they finished below Paris St Germain.

In 1997 under Chairman Jim Quinn, they went bankrupt with debts of over £2m. A new team Oldham Roughyeds was then formed in December to play at a lower level. The Roughyeds tag had been a long accepted nickname for the old club.

Oldham put Mark Knight in temporary charge of the first team in place of Mike Ford, after Ford quit for a post as defensive co-ordinator with the Irish Rugby Football Union. After a successful 2001 season, they narrowly missed out on promotion to the Super League, losing to Widnes Vikings 12-24 in the Northern Ford Premiership Grand Final.

During the 2002 season they played at Hurst Cross in the nearby town of 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, clinching promotion to National League One and reaching the last four of the play-offs.

In March 2005, Oldham entered a creditors' voluntary agreement (CVA) with total debts of £325,000.

[edit] Honours

  • Championship: 1904-5, 1909-10, 1910-11, 1954-55, 1956-57 (5 times)
  • Challenge Cup: 1898-99, 1924-25, 1926-27 (3 times)
  • Division Two Championship: 1963-64, 1981-82, 1987-88 (3 times)
  • Lancashire Cup: 1906-07, 1909-10, 1912-13, 1918-19, 1923-24, 1932-33, 1955-56, 1956-57, 1957-58 (9 times)
  • Lancashire League: 1897-98, 1900-01, 1907-08, 1909-10, 1921-22, 1956-57, 1957-58 (7 times)
  • Divisional Premiership: 1987-88, 1989-90 (2 times)

[edit] References


Rugby League National Leagues - National League Two

Barrow Raiders | Blackpool Panthers | Celtic Crusaders | Featherstone Rovers
Gateshead Thunder | Hunslet Hawks | Keighley Cougars | London Skolars
Oldham Roughyeds | Swinton Lions | Workington Town | York City Knights

See also: Rugby League Championship Third Division


Rugby league in Britain and Ireland

Competitions
Super League | National League | Challenge Cup | North West Counties | National League Cup
National Conference League | Rugby League Conference | Scotland Rugby League

National teams
Great Britain | England | Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Federations
RFL | BARLA | Rugby League Ireland | Wales Rugby League

Former competitions
Championship | Premiership | Lancs/Yorks Cups | Lancs/Yorks League
Regal Trophy | Charity Shield | BBC2 Floodlit Trophy