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Rugby club talks about new home
Date published: 20 November 2009
SPECULATION was mounting today about possible sites for a new home for Oldham Roughyeds.
Oldham Council has been in “productive” talks with the rugby league club which is desperately searching for a permanent base with the new season now 10 weeks away.
The club’s agreement to use Oldham Athletic’s Boundary Park stadium has ended. No other sporting venue within the borough meets the Rugby Football League’s minimum standards at present.
The Co-operative Championship One club has been without a permanent base since the new club was formed in 1997.
Councillor John McCann, who met Roughyeds owner Chris Hamilton for talks, along with other council officers, said: “We were happy to meet Chris Hamilton and had a wide-ranging discussion which included the history of the club’s problems.
“Talks are on-going and are at an early stage. However, I would like to stress that we are sympathetic to their situation and willing to help them where — and if — that is at all possible.
“Speculation has already begun about possible sites for a new home for the club.
“We will be making no responses or comment on that at present, as such information is commercially sensitive.
”We are committed to working in partnership with the Roughyeds in a bid to keep professional rugby league alive in the borough and promise to issue further updates as soon as any firm progress has been made.”
Comments
Don't hold your breath rugby fans. When the Council roll our the "comercially sensitive" platitude you just know its all going to fall flat, as somebody high up in the system has spotted a way to make a fast buck at our expense.
I remember a time when ORLFC was one the fiest in the North of England and that was in the days when the game was only played in the north.
Bryn Daley,Bernard Ganley,Terry O'Grady,Billy Mitchell,Glynn Barraclough and many many others who graced the field at Watersheddings would be appaled to know that the town2was not supporting the club.A man by the name of Frank Ridgway was responsible for taking Oldham to the Cup Final.Frank was also an Oldham councillor.
Have Your Say
Come on OMBC, it's time to back up Chris Hamilton and help put Oldham back on the map as the top Rugby League town it once was rather than the current laughing stock claim 'the home of the tubular bandage'.Look at the top names to have emerged from the town to dominate the sport in recent years and think of the pride it would have generated had they been representing their home town.
By Martin29 @ 20/11/2009 18:36:23