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 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 where it was located, 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
year Teams Score Team Attendance 1914–15 Huddersfield 37–3 St. Helens 8,000
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. 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., moved to Oldham Athletic AFC's Boundary Park stadium before they moved to Whitebank Stadium 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:
Game Date Result Attendance1 7 December 1895 Yorkshire def. Lancashire 8–0 9,0592 21 November 1896 Lancashire def. Yorkshire 7–3 7,0003 16 October 1897 Lancashire def. Cheshire 11–10 7,0004 21 October 1899 Lancashire def. Cumberland 17–7 8,5005 12 November 1904 Yorkshire def. Lancashire 14–5 8,500
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.
Game Date Result Attendance Notes1 23 November 1907 Oldham def. New Zealand 8–7 15,000 1907–08 All Golds tour2 18 January 1908 Lancashire def. New Zealand 20–4 3 26 December 1908 Oldham def. 11–5 15,000 1908–09 Kangaroo tour4 11 November 1911 Oldham def. Australasia 14–8 10,000 1911–12 Kangaroo tour5 26 November 1921 Australasia def. Oldham 16–5 15,344 1921–22 Kangaroo tour6 16 January 1922 Oldham def. Australasia 15–5 6,0007 23 October 1926 Oldham def. New Zealand 15–10 16,000 1926–27 New Zealand Kiwis tour8 2 November 1929 def. Oldham 18–10 19,284 1929–30 Kangaroo tour9 9 September 1933 def. Oldham 38–6 5,000 1933–34 Kangaroo tour10 6 November 1937 def. Oldham 10–6 12,265 1937–38 Kangaroo tour11 25 October 1947 New Zealand def. Oldham 18–8 17,239 1947–48 New Zealand Kiwis tour12 4 December 1948 def. Oldham 27–7 14,798 1948–49 Kangaroo tour13 29 September 1951 Oldham def. New Zealand 21–18 15,174 1951–52 New Zealand Kiwis tour14 15 September 1952 drew. Oldham 7–7 19,620 1952–53 Kangaroo tour15 29 October 1955 New Zealand def. Oldham 15-13 14,700 1955–56 New Zealand Kiwis tour16 7 November 1956 Oldham def. 21–2 8,956 1956–57 Kangaroo tour17 3 October 1959 def. Oldham 25–14 17,621 1959–60 Kangaroo tour18 4 September 1961 Oldham / Rochdale XIII def. New Zealand 10–8 8,795 1961 New Zealand Kiwis tour19 5 October 1963 def. Oldham 12–4 11,773 1963–64 Kangaroo tour20 31 August 1965 New Zealand def. Oldham 5–2 10,333 1965 New Zealand Kiwis tour21 11 November 1967 def. Oldham 18-8 3,329 1967–68 Kangaroo tour22 27 October 1971 New Zealand def. Oldham 24–13 1,872 1971 New Zealand Kiwis tour23 19 October 1973 def. Oldham 44–10 2,770 1973 Kangaroo tour24 4 November 1975 def. Oldham 20–10 3,675 1975 Australian Rugby League World Cup tour25 4 November 1986 def. Oldham 22–16 5,678 1986 Kangaroo tour
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