Watersheddings was the site of a former
rugby league stadium in the Watersheddings area of
Oldham in
Greater Manchester, England.
Historically
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
it was in
Lancashire, lying on the
A672 (
Ripponden Road) approximately 2 miles north east of Oldham town centre.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In the 1914/15 season Watershedding was selected to host the Challenge Cup final
In 1933 the cricket ground was demolished making way for the
Oldham Greyhound Stadium
The Oldham Greyhound Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in the Watersheddings area in the north east of Oldham.
Origins
In 1889 part of the Watersheddings area in north east Oldham was selected to construct sporting facilities for the town. A ...
; the south stand and kennels were erected next to the south-east corner of the Watersheddings ground. 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.
Closure
The club left Watersheddings in 1997 and, now called
Oldham R.L.F.C.
Oldham R.L.F.C., also known as the Roughyeds, is a professional rugby league football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The club currently competes in the RFL League 1, the third tier of British Rugby League.
Formed in 1876 as Oldh ...
, moved to
Oldham Athletic AFC
Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system.
The history of Oldham Athletic ...
's
Boundary Park stadium before they moved to
Whitebank Stadium
Whitebank Stadium, currently also known as the Vestacare Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a rugby league and association football stadium which forms part of Limeside in Oldham, England. It is the home stadium of Oldham R.L.F.C. and Avro F ...
in 2010.
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:
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.
References
{{Reflist
Buildings and structures in Oldham
Defunct rugby league venues in England
Sports venues in Greater Manchester
Sport in Oldham