'Hornets, Fijians and a Girl at Wembley' launches with sell out dinner

Ex Players at the 'Hornets, Fijians and a Girl at Wembley' Heritage Project pre match dinner

Rochdale Hornets launched the 'Hornets, Fijians and a Girl at Wembley' Heritage Project on Sunday with a packed pre match dinner before the outstanding 58-16 victory against Gateshead Thunder.

The heritage project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, has so far sparked the imagination of the local rugby league community as well as fans, sponsors and the public.

130 guests attended the launch, including Voate Driu, one of the original Fijian pioneers to play for Hornets and Sophie Cox, Team GB Judo Player and the fist girl to play Rugby League at Wembley.

Representatives from Littleborough ARLFC, Rochdale Cobras, as well as now defunct teams such as Kirkholt, Spotland and Milnrow & Newhey sat alongside Hornets ex players such as John Stapleton, Steve Gartland, Emon Ratu and Peter Rush, amongst others to listen to some of the many unique stories that the town of Rochdale possesses from its rich and proud rugby league history.

On display were many interetsing aretfacts currently held in store, from old minutes books, share certificates and season passes, to photographs and shirts, covering the main themes of the project.

Julie Clarke, board member at Rochdale Hornets responsible for overseeing the project, commented: "In Hornets centenary year, 1971, a book detailing the history of the club was commissioned and very well received. What we plan to do is create a timeline website where photos, programmes, newspaper clippings and so forth can be uploaded so records can be brought up to date and kept going into the future."
 
Mark Wynn, chairman, added: "The link between Rochdale and Fiji dates back to 1961 when Hornets took the innovative step of recruiting Fijians. It is a possibly unique situation of a club side introducing a nation to a sport.

"At one point there were over 100 rugby league teams taking to the field every weekend in Rochdale.

"Some of the trophies played for pre-World War II are still played for today, whereas others have disappeared completely.

"What we want to do is collect anecdotes about these and other aspects of rugby league in Rochdale through oral and video recordings, as well as collecting photos and artefacts that capture the stories, before that history is lost."
 
2013 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Rochdale Schools Team reaching the National Final with a very unique team.

In a first for rugby league, the Rochdale team included a female player, Sophie Cox, who later went on to represent Team GB at Athens and the London Olympic games in judo.

The public will soon be invited to donate items of interest, tell their stories and help shape the project before celebrating with a dinner around the historic Rugby League World Cup fixture in October.

Please email info@hornetsrugbyleague.com if you have anything that may be of interest to the project.