Roughyeds to pack a punch in pink

LEFT to right, back: Roughyeds chairman Bill Quinn, chief executive Chris Hamilton. Middle: Judi Hibbert (fund raising co-ordinator Genesis Appeal), Brian Hurst (appeals co-ordinator Dr Kershaw’s). Front: Skipper Rob Roberts.

BILL QUINN believes that Oldham’s new all-pink kit won’t stop the team packing a punch.

The specially commissioned one-off strip, which will be worn a week on Thursday for the televised visit of Doncaster to Boundary Park, is to provide an illustration of support for the club’s fund-raising initiatives.

Both Dr Kershaw’s Hospice and The Genesis Appeal, for research into the prevention of breast cancer, will benefit on the night of the game from the minimum charity submission of £1 from each spectator.

No admission fee is being charged due to help from sponsors meeting the cost of staging the fixture, with the club aiming to break the National League Two attendance record they set last year of 4,327.

Oldham’s chairman recently turned out in pink for a charity rugby league boxing event.

And Quinn stated that the new kit shouldn’t stop the side from playing tough rugby.

“The club’s support for Dr Kershaw’s and Genesis was one of the reasons I dressed in pink and it led to us coming up with this idea,” he said.

“As I said to the guys in the team regarding the pink kit, I did it and won — and you don’t get any more macho than boxing. So if I led the way, hopefully they will follow.”

Parallels exist in other sports. In cricket, Middlesex wore pink in support of a breast cancer charity when playing against Surrey in the Twenty20 Cup last month.

Italian Serie A soccer club Palermo regularly play in pink shirts, as do French rugby union side Stade Français.

But no professional men’s rugby league team in this country has yet done so.

Roughyeds officials, who gained special permission from the RFL for their pink plan, also hope to crack a world record at half-time in the July 17 fixture.

Everyone in the ground at Boundary Park will take part in a bid to create the world’s largest and longest game of “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”, which has to continue for a minimum of five minutes to get into The Guinness Book of Records.

There will be pre-match entertainment on the night from singer Jason McCann and there are plans in hand for a mass choir, bringing together school choirs from throughout the borough.