Born to support Oldham rugby!

KEEPING it in the family . . . Dave Naylor with son Fraser and daughter Lisa

ON Boxing Day 1989 Dave Naylor was in a record crowd of 8,150 at Spotland for Oldham Roughyeds’ derby clash with Rochdale Hornets.

Nothing unusual for a lifelong Oldham rugby fan - except that when he got back to his Springhead home he was within minutes of becoming a proud dad for the first time.

Twenty six years later his daughter Lisa, born at the Royal Oldham Hospital on the day her dad cheered on the Roughyeds (they lost 24-12) will be with him at Spotland on Sunday to watch her first Rochdale-Oldham derby and make his day.

Hornets are turning back the clock on Sunday and inviting the players who beat Oldham to be guests, to help surround the Law Cup clash with nostalgia.

For web designer Dave (53) - still a Roughyeds fanatic even though he lives in Leeds - it will be more nostalgic than most.

“The birth wasn’t imminent when I left for the game, but I arrived back and found the house in darkness. It was a different world then: no mobile phones meant I didn’t know what was happening while I was enjoying myself at the derby. I dashed to the hospital and just made it in time to be present at the birth.

“I knew the club commercial manager, Ray Hill, and he arranged for two of the players, Charlie McAlister and John Cogger, to visit mother and baby in hospital because he knew it would mean so much to me. Lisa was only a few days old and big Charlie, a gentle giant of a man from New Zealand, held her in one hand. She’s never lived that down.

“When she was a baby I took her to games strapped to my chest and tucked under my coat for warmth but to my disappointment she wasn’t all that interested as she got older. To have her with me at Spotland on Sunday on a special day will mean the world to me.”

An operations manager at a Huddersleld leisure centre, Lisa said: “My sister Rebecca is more interested in rugby than me, but she lives in Oxford..

“I’ve lived all my life hearing stories about dad nearly missing my birth because of the big game and how two of the players came to see me in hospital. It will mean everything to him for me to be by his side on Sunday. I might even put on a Roughyeds top, or wear a club scarf, just to see him smile.”

Also with them will be the latest member of the Naylor clan — Dave’s four-year-old son Fraser.