Magic moments and major misses

BOOKS: 

MICK Burke’s conversion is on its way between the posts and as Watersheddings prepares to erupt, stunned Wigan stars Ellery Hanley and Shaun Edwards stand there with hand on hips, struggling to process the conclusion to one of the Challenge Cup’s biggest-ever shocks.

Meanwhile, in North Wales, university student and mad-keen Oldham fan Craig Halstead had somehow managed to tune in to Radio Cumbria to get score updates.

“I sat there, desperate for news for nigh on 80 minutes with barely a word,” Craig writes in his new Oldham RL memoir.

“Suddenly, late in the game, the commentator (covering a Whitehaven game) stopped in his tracks and shouted, ‘we are now joining forces with our colleagues at Radio Manchester, as something dramatic has just happened at Watersheddings’.”

That “something”, in 1987, was an injury-time try from Paddy Kirwan. Burke’s addition — of which the cover of Craig’s tome bears a striking photograph — made it 10-8 and necessitated a bittersweet trip to the pub.

“I sat there in disbelief for a moment or two then ran out of the house and made my way to the

student bar on the Ffriddoed site just down the road,” he adds, recounting a post-match meet-up with fellow Oldham fan Paul Eyre. “How I wish I had been there, lectures or no lectures.”

The Wigan game is one of two magical moments Halstead missed due to midweek fixtures clashing with his studies. The other was the famous old match in 1986 when a crack Australia touring side was chased to within six points by an Oldham side with a real sniff at a momentous upset.

At the halfway point in the 22-16 defeat, Craig rang the club to get score updates. Only a late try by Greg Alexander separated the sides.

Those who were able to attend those matches will certainly feel pangs of nostalgia as they read this entertaining and informative account of a life following Oldham.

“From Watersheddings to Whitebank” (details below) tells how the son of former Oldham Evening Chronicle rugby reporting legend Roger Halstead got bitten by the bug in 1971, to the extent that even the geographical challenges presented by following the club from a base in North Wales hasn’t stopped him watch the side ever since.

From the highs — Second Division Championship and Premiership titles — to the heartbreak of never

reaching Wembley, losing four times in Challenge Cup semi-finals, Craig’s account is leavened with the sort of humour needed as an emotional buffer to all the tears, triumphs and turmoil.

The details of all of the main games are here in what is an interesting, fan’s eye perspective on what - lets be honest - is a middle of the road rugby league club, through the years.

These days the club lulls in the bottom tier of the professional game and seems cursed to repeat annually defeat in the play-off final and the denial of promotion that accompanies it.

Craig, though, is happy to get along to Oldham games both home and away when he can to see the drama unfold.

“It is a major relief and pleasure to be able to have a professional rugby league side to watch,” Craig told me, remembering the demise of the old club and the birth of the post-1997 outfit.

“It will certainly be a long haul to get back to where the club once was. But there is a good side in place now, that sits at the top of the division.

“And there is an excellent coach in Scott Naylor. There is every reason to think that this could be a successful year.”

From Watersheddings to Whitebank: An Oldham Rugby League Memoir

By Craig Halstead, £11.95, available from the Chronicle offices.



twitter: @Matt_Chambers_