Three more Oldham legends added to Hall of Fame list

The Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust has announced that three more players are to be added to the ‘Hall of Fame’ for Oldham RLFC.

They are John Hough, Phil Larder and Mike Ford.

John Hough wrote himself into the folklore of the Roughyeds when he became the first player to sign for the re-formed club on December 2, 1997.

Locally-born John had played his early rugby down at Keb Lane for Oldham Rugby Union before joining Waterhead ARLFC.

He was later snapped up by Warrington before returning ‘home’ to become that historic first signing.

After playing in the emotional first fixture in the Law Cup against Rochdale on New Year’s Day 1998, a few weeks later he further enhanced his claim to fame by scoring the first points for the new club in a senior match with an early touchdown against Heworth in a Challenge Cup tie at Boundary Park on January 18.

Playing mostly as hooker, John was a model of consistency playing 228 matches over the next nine years.

Included in that total was a consecutive run on of 82 matches between February 1, 1999 and April 16, 2001.

He scored 53 tries, a great return for a number nine, many of which involved a classic dash from acting half-back.

He captained the club in the 2004 Law Cup victory against Rochdale at Boundary Park and made his last appearance against Harlequins on May 13, 2007.

Now settled in Perth, Australia, John will be back in Oldham in December and will be presented with his Heritage number and Hall of Fame award at the ‘Fox and Pine’ on Greaves Street, Oldham on Sunday December 22 at 2.30pm.

Phil Larder

Born locally in Moorside, Phil played for the Werneth club, before switching codes and going to play for Oldham Rugby Union.

His good form down at Keb Lane made the more senior clubs take notice and before his arrival at Watersheddings he had played for Broughton Park, Manchester, Loughborough College and Sale, picking up Lancashire county recognition along the way.

His debut for Oldham came in a pre-season friendly against Blackpool on August 10, 1968 when he immediately endeared himself to the home fans by scorching 60 yards up the touchline for a super try.

Phil is one of the few players to have scored most tries/goals in a season, three times finishing top try-scorer and on four occasions being best goal kicker, although never both in the one season.

He passed the century mark of goals in 1971-2 and 1972-3.

His consistency on keeping the scoreboard ticking over made him the most prolific, "three-quarter" points scorer in the history of the club.

Although he played occasionally on the wing, the great majority of his games were at centre, with the Larder / Elliott wing partnership enjoying much success, in what was to prove to be a most enduring and productive three-quarter pairing.

His last appearance for Oldham came against Featherstone on September 14, 1980, by which time he had played 328 times for the Roughyeds scoring 111 tries and 475 goals for a total of 1,283 points, which puts him third on the all time list for the club.

Only Bernard Ganley and Tommy Rees have scored more.

Phil was appointed director of coaching at the RFL in 1982.

He wrote the Rugby League Skills Manual, published in 1983 and The Rugby League Coaching Manual, published in 1988 and subsequently went on to have spells in charge at Widnes, Keighley and Sheffield before becoming involved in the Great Britain set-up and was the coach to the England team in the 1995 World Cup, and although they beat Australia in the first match of the tournament they eventually lost to the Kangaroos in the final.

He switched to Rugby Union in 1997 becoming the defence coach for England and was still there in 2003 when they won the Grand Slam and the World Cup.

He was awarded the MBE in the 2004 New Year’s Honours List for services to Rugby Union.

Mike Ford signed for his home town club in January, 1988 from Leigh, after having first had a successful spell with Wigan, tasting Wembley glory in the 1985 victory over Hull.

This was his second game in the famous stadium, his first being for the Oldham under-11s schoolboy side in the curtain-raiser to the 1977 final.

A scrum-half of real pace and a great ‘reader’ of a game, Mike played with the local St Anne's club before his move to Wigan, toured New Zealand with the BARLA under-18s and won Great Britain Colts honours.

He came to Oldham in January 1988 when the season ended in promotion and that thrilling win over Featherstone at Old Trafford.

This was supplemented by being selected for the 1988 tour ‘down under’, with Mike acting as Great Britain captain in some of the club matches.

The 1989-90 season saw Mike pick up the man of the match in the Second Division Premiership Final after skippering the team in another remarkable game at Old Trafford when the team came back from 29 – 6 down to win 30 – 29 against Hull KR.

He later left to join Castleford where he enjoyed much success.

After two spells in Australia and several other British clubs, Mike was back at Oldham as player coach for the 2000 season and took the club to being just one game away from Super League in 2001.

In 2002 he became the defensive coach for the Ireland Rugby Union team and would go on to earn more plaudits in this capacity with the full England national team.

After further appointments in Rugby Union at club and international level, Mike returned to Oldham as the managing director in March, 2023, as he looked to establish the club back to the top level of the game.

In spite of his many journeys in the rugby world, there is no doubting Mike’s passion for his home town club and his desire to take Oldham back to the top.

In his two spells as a Roughyed, Mike played 157 matches scoring 37 tries, one goal and 13 drop goals for a total of 163 points.

Mike and Phil will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Law Cup match against Rochdale at Boundary Park on January 12, 2025.

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