Rugby League: Rochdale Cobras celebrate 10-year anniversary with tournament in honour of former player

Rochdale Cobras ARLFC have celebrated their 10-year anniversary with a tournament named after a former player.

The tournament is named after Phillip ‘Roki’ Rokotuni, a player, long-time supporter, sponsor, friend and eventual patron of the Cobras, who died suddenly in 2015.

The 10-year anniversary game was held on Firgrove on Saturday (22 July) and was played in a round robin style by four teams: Littleborough, Rochdale Cobras, Sherwood Wolfhunt and Rochdale Cobras veterans (presidents).

The Roki Cup will now be played every summer at Firgrove with all player fees going to Phillip’s son, Tui. 

Littleborough Rugby league won the Roki Cup with the current Cobras team pushing them close in a tight game. 

The player of the tournament went to 19-year-old  Kenny Rowlands with Cobras’ current captain James Mills and Littleborough captain Dominic Kershaw running him close. 

Ben Boothman said: "It was an outstanding day played in the right spirit. It only seems like two minutes ago that we started the club, not ten years, that said, I feel 30 years older today after playing again.

"There are so many people to thank, Fiona Bowker for organising the event, the Cobras committee, Adam Bates for bringing up the fantastic Sherwood Wolfhunt, Dom Kershaw, Adam and Janine Browne from Littleborough, Ben Bird and Andy Reid at Cobras, Kev Lowe for coming back to coach the vets, and, last but not least, Bob Smithies for refereeing all the games at 70-years-old.

“The hope is this event will grow every year as we want to treat Tui to something he can remember his dad by.

"The only sour point of the game was a shoulder injury to ex-captain Ryan Tetley, who now needs an operation and will miss his family holiday. The club wished Ryan a speedy recovery but completely blame him for them not winning the cup."

Fiona Bowker added: "We were all saddened by the loss of a good and true friend. The Phil Rokotuni Memorial Trophy is our way of keeping his legacy of sportsmanship alive and at the same time, going some way to help contribute to his son's education the same way that Phil contributed to grassroots rugby league.

“This inaugural tournament has been so successful; we are really going to have to work hard to make it even better next year."

Rochdale Cobras was started in 2008 by former players from Milnrow Cobras, Ben Boothman, Gareth Hutchins and Ben Bird.

After a few weeks, it was decided they would have a run out together for old time’s sake. They then entered a sevens tournament at Keighley Cougars for nothing more than a get together, however, after winning the competition, the foundations for a permanent team started. 

At the time Milnrow Cobras already existed as a youth team and Milnrow open age had also started again so they went with the name Rochdale Cobras ARLFC.

They entered Division Six of the North West Counties league, appointed Sid Miller as coach and Craig Braund as chairman, and in the first season Cobras finished third behind Hindley and Milnrow open age. However, they beat both in the last two games of the season and have not looked back since. 

The team was voted BARLA national club of the year in 2010, won the RFL 2012 summer first division, Keighley Cougars sevens winners three times and runners-up once.

 They also merged with the Milnrow Cobras Youth team and set up affiliations with Fiji UK and the Rochdale Fijian Association. 

The club now has an open age team coached by Ben Bird and Andy Reid, plus an under 11s team coached by David Lawlor.

The tournament will be played in August next year and hopes to be an eight team event.