Watersheddings

Watersheddings was the site of a former rugby league stadium in the Watersheddings area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically it was in Lancashire, lying on the A672 (Ripponden Road) approximately 2 miles north east of Oldham town centre.

Watersheddings
Full nameWatersheddings
LocationOldham, England
Capacity9,000
Record attendance28,000
Construction
Built1889
Opened1889
Closed1997
Tenants
Oldham Rugby League Club (1889-1997)

Watersheddings was reportedly the highest professional RL ground in the UK at 770 ft above sea level, which would also list it as the highest ground of any professional sport in the UK.[1]

Origins

The stadium known as Watersheddings, named after the area of Oldham that it was located in, was built in 1889. It was constructed on the east side of a reservoir, Ruby Mill and Longfield Mill and north of Longfield Lane. At the same time the Oldham Cricket Ground was built adjacent to the stadium on its east side and a lawn tennis ground was constructed on its north side.[2]

History

Oldham Football Club (more commonly known as Oldham Rugby League Football Club) moved from their Clarksfield Ground and played their first match at the new Watersheddings stadium on 28 September 1889 against Swinton.[1]

In 1904 Watershedding was selected to host the very first Rugby league International between England and Other Nationalities on New Year's Day 1904 but the game was cancelled due to a frozen pitch, and held instead in April at Central Park, Wigan. In 1912, the stadium achieved its highest ever attendance of 28,000 against Huddersfield.[1] In the 1914/15 season Watershedding was selected to host the Challenge Cup final

yearTeamsScoreTeamVenueAttendance
1914–15 Huddersfield37–3 St. HelensWatersheddings, Oldham8,000

In 1933 the cricket ground was demolished making way for the Oldham Greyhound Stadium; the south stand and kennels were erected next to the south-east corner of the Watersheddings ground.[3] The Watersheddings floodlights were used for the first time on Wednesday 20 October 1965, when a crowd of 6,333 attended an under-24 international between Great Britain and France.[1]

Closure

The club left Watersheddings in 1997 and, now called Oldham R.L.F.C., moved to Oldham Athletic AFC's Boundary Park stadium before they moved to Whitebank Stadium in 2010.[4] The Watersheddings site was redeveloped into housing now called Watersheddings Way and Hutchins Lane.

County games

Watersheddings also hosted numerous county vs county games with Lancashire hosting various other county sides including the Rugby League War of the Roses matches against Yorkshire. The results were as follows:

GameDateResultAttendance
17 December 1895 Yorkshire def. Lancashire 8–09,059
221 November 1896 Lancashire def. Yorkshire 7–37,000
316 October 1897 Lancashire def. Cheshire 11–107,000
421 October 1899 Lancashire def. Cumberland 17–78,500
512 November 1904 Yorkshire def. Lancashire 14–58,500

Australia and New Zealand

The stadium, in its time, played host to many Australian and New Zealand national teams who played tour games against Oldham and the Lancashire county side, the first being against the 1907 touring New Zealand team, the last being against Australia in 1986.

GameDateResultAttendanceNotes
123 November 1907 Oldham def. New Zealand 8–715,0001907–08 All Golds tour
223 November 1907 Lancashire def. New Zealand 20–4
326 December 1908 Oldham def. Australia 11–515,0001908–09 Kangaroo Tour
411 November 1911 Oldham def. Australasia 14–810,0001911–12 Kangaroo Tour
526 November 1921 Australasia def. Oldham 16–515,3441921–22 Kangaroo Tour
616 January 1922 Oldham def. Australasia 15–56,000
723 October 1926 Oldham def. New Zealand 15–1016,0001926–27 New Zealand Kiwis tour
82 November 1929 Australasia def. Oldham 18–1019,2841929–30 Kangaroo Tour
99 September 1933 Australia def. Oldham 38–65,0001933–34 Kangaroo Tour
106 November 1937 Australia def. Oldham 10–612,2651937–38 Kangaroo Tour
1125 October 1947 New Zealand def. Oldham 18–817,2391947–48 New Zealand Kiwis tour
124 December 1948 Australia def. Oldham 27–714,7981948–49 Kangaroo Tour
1329 September 1951 Oldham def. New Zealand 21–1815,1741951–52 New Zealand Kiwis tour
1415 September 1952 Australia drew. Oldham 7–719,6201952–53 Kangaroo Tour
1529 October 1955 New Zealand def. Oldham 15-1314,7001955–56 New Zealand Kiwis tour
167 November 1956 Oldham def. Australia 21–28,9561956–57 Kangaroo Tour
173 October 1959 Australia def. Oldham 25–1417,6211959–60 Kangaroo Tour
184 September 1961 Oldham / Rochdale XIII def. New Zealand 10–88,7951961 New Zealand Kiwis tour
195 October 1963 Australia def. Oldham 12–411,7731963–64 Kangaroo Tour
2031 August 1965 New Zealand def. Oldham 5–210,3331965 New Zealand Kiwis tour
2111 November 1967 Australia def. Oldham 18-83,3291967–68 Kangaroo Tour
2227 October 1971 New Zealand def. Oldham 24–131,8721971 New Zealand Kiwis tour
2319 October 1973 Australia def. Oldham 44–102,7701973 Kangaroo Tour
244 November 1975 Australia def. Oldham 20–103,6751975 Australian Rugby League World Cup tour
254 November 1986 Australia def. Oldham 22–165,6781986 Kangaroo Tour

References

  1. "Blue plaque unveiled to mark birthplace of rugby league in Oldham". Manchester Evening News.
  2. "OS County Series Yorkshire 1894". old-maps.co.uk.
  3. Barnes, Julia (1988). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File. Ringpress Books. p. 295. ISBN 0-948955-15-5.
  4. "Records". Oldham Rugby League Football Club.
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