Blue Plaque unveiled in honour of Rochdale Hornets first ever home game

Gillian Bishop from Link4Life, Councillor Peter Rush and RFL Chief Operating Officer Ralph Rimmer unveil the Blue Plaque in honour of Hornets first ever home game

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Rochdale Hornets has unveiled a commerative plaque at Asda, Rochdale to mark the 120th anniversary of the first ever game of Rugby League in the borough.

Hornets, along with 20 other clubs, are the founder members of the Northern Union, who broke away from the RFU over a discrepancy over payments to players for missing work (broken time payments).

The blue heritage plaque was unveiled today (Friday 25 September) by the RFL Chief Operating Officer Ralph Rimmer, former Hornets player Councillor Peter Rush and Gillian Bishop from Link4Life, following a business breakfast at the very site of Hornets first ever home game - The Dane St Enclosure, which is now the site of Asda.

Hornets Chairman Mark Wynn said: “Rugby league is a game now played across the world and to think that Rochdale, a small mill town in Northern England, was influential in the creation of a sport that has gone on to be the national sport of Papua New Guinea and played a major part on various cultures across the world is phenomenal."

Gillian Bishop, CEO of Link4Life, commented: "Rochdale has such a fantastic local history and we at Link4Life are proud of that history.”

Speaking about the event, Councillor Peter Rush said: “I am an ex-player of Rochdale Hornets, an ex-chairman of Rochdale Hornets and have been involved with the club for over 50 years, so it was an absolute honour to be asked to unveil the plaque. I went to Huddersfield for the 100th anniversary celebration when I was chairman so it was nice to be involved again. It was an absolutely excellent morning.”

The first ever game of 'Northern Union' played in Rochdale was Rochdale Hornets versus Bradford on 28 September 1895. The history of Hornets dates back even further to 1871, when a group of local businessman met in The Roebuck Hotel to form the Hornets.

120 years after the formation of rugby league as we know it today, local businesses met again in the town for a business breakfast to mark the start of the next 120 years.