Roy still making waves 50 years on

Oldham Athletic volunteer Roy Butterworth

A SEASON ticket holder at SportsDirect.com Park at the age of seven, selfless Shaw-based Roy Butterworth has now worked for Athletic on a voluntary basis for half-a-century.

“Are you a hero, I was asked once,” said Roy (74), the club’s match-day press officer and one half of the in-house commentary team. “No, I said. They are, for putting up with me.

“This is my hobby. I am very lucky to be able to do it.”

Early arrivers in the upper tier of the George Hill Main Stand on match days can see Roy going about his business, week after week, organising seating arrangements and handing out programmes, food vouchers and stories to members of the press and radio crews.

Stories? Then there’s the one about his live commentary partner Gordon Lawton getting bashed over the head by a handbag at Scunthorpe, wielded by a middle-aged women who didn’t care for his shout of “GOOOOOAL” after a 94th-minute equaliser for Athletic.

Or, going back to the days when it all started — when Harry Massey was the chairman, in 1964, accepting Roy’s request by letter to perform radio duties inside the ground — there is the tale of the commentary down a phone line, submitted by former Chronicle editor Jim Williams.

They queued all the way down Sheepfoot Lane and paid in to hear it, with Roy holding one end of the line from Shrewsbury to a speaker system in the now-defunct Boundary Club, later to become the Clayton Arms.

There is also another story from far more recently about a fiery visiting manager, who grabbed Roy by the collar and pinned him against a wall for interrupting a post-match rocket with a knock on the dressing room door and a polite enquiry to talk to the media.

In truth Roy, who picked up a lifetime achievement prize at Athletic’s 2014 awards dinner, gets quite the insight into the managerial psyche.

As the club’s press officer he has an access-all-areas backstage pass, spending time with the manager when he is effectively off-duty after games, in between the two acts of talking to players and then to the waiting press pack.

“You get to know exactly what they are like,” he said. “The best one we have ever had is obviously Joe Royle.

“But this isn’t a tongue-in-cheek thing. Whoever is chairman or manager at Oldham Athletic gets my 100-per-cent support — and only a couple have pushed the boundaries!”

Roy’s loyalty to the cause extends to providing live commentaries from everywhere Athletic play, accessed through the club website.

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