Watersheddings
Full name | Watersheddings |
---|---|
Location | Oldham, Metropolitan Borough of Oldham |
Capacity | 9,000 |
Record attendance | 28,000 |
Construction | |
Built | 1889 |
Opened | 1889 |
Closed | 1997 |
Tenants | |
Oldham Rugby League Club (1889-1997) |
Until 1998 Watersheddings was the site of a rugby league stadium which also housed a greyhound racing track. Located in the Watersheddings area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire and lying on the A672 (Ripponden Road) approximately 2 miles north east of Oldham town centre.
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.
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. (Oldham lost)
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,the game was moved to April and Central Park, Wigan.
The stadium, in its time, played host to many Australian and New Zealand national teams who played tour games against Oldham, the first being against the 1907 touring New Zealand team, the last being against Australia in 1986.
game | Date | Result | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 November 1907 | ![]() ![]() | 12,000 |
2 | 26 December 1908 | ![]() ![]() | 15,000 |
3 | 11 November 1911 | ![]() ![]() | 10,000 |
4 | 26 November 1921 | ![]() ![]() | 15,344 |
5 | 16 January 1922 | ![]() ![]() | 6,000 |
6 | 23 October 1926 | ![]() ![]() | 16,000 |
7 | 2 November 1929 | ![]() ![]() | 19,284 |
8 | 9 September 1934 | ![]() ![]() | 5,000 |
9 | 6 November 1937 | ![]() ![]() | 12,265 |
10 | 25 October 1947 | ![]() ![]() | 17,239 |
11 | 4 December 1948 | ![]() ![]() | 14,798 |
12 | 29 September 1951 | ![]() ![]() | 15,174 |
13 | 15 September 1952 | ![]() ![]() | 19,620 |
14 | 29 October 1955 | ![]() ![]() | 14,700 |
15 | 7 November 1956 | ![]() ![]() | 8,956 |
16 | 3 October 1959 | ![]() ![]() | 17,621 |
17 | 4 September 1961 | ![]() ![]() ![]() | 8,795 |
18 | 5 October 1963 | ![]() ![]() | 11,773 |
19 | 31 August 1965 | ![]() ![]() | 10,333 |
20 | 11 November 1967 | ![]() ![]() | 3,329 |
21 | 27 October 1971 | ![]() ![]() | 1,872 |
22 | 19 October 1973 | ![]() ![]() | 2,770 |
23 | 4 November 1975 | ![]() ![]() | 3,675 |
24 | 4 November 1986 | ![]() ![]() | 5,678 |
In the 1914/15 season Watershedding was selected to host the Challenge Cup final
year | Teams | Score | Team | Venue | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1914–15 | ![]() | 37–3 | ![]() | Watersheddings, Oldham | 8,000 |
In 1912, the stadium achieved its highest ever attendance of 28,000 against Huddersfield.
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. Great Britain recovered from a 5–2 half-time deficit to win 12–5.
The club left Watersheddings in 1997 and, now called Oldham Roughyeds, moved to Oldham Athletic AFC's Boundary Park stadium before they moved to Whitebank Stadium in 2010
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