Wigan Album

Very impressive trophies indeed ! Back row second left Malc Holland, he still thinks he has that halo round his head to this day. It appears to me as though the entire front five players only have one leg each, which makes the trophy haul even more impressive.

I don't think that is Malc Holland as I'm sure he had hung up is boots by the time of this photo was taken.

The man with his hand on the ball got a very big hand.

The man highlighted is John Roberts (Jonty) my Gt. Grandfather. He died about 1910/11 in his 40's

I like your christian name Parnel.

is that definately a rugby ball?

The man 2nd left on the front row appears to have a sledge hammer for a foot

Parnel – great photo
Wigan Rugby league never played at Aspull.
the team could probably be the Aspull Rugby League team who were a force to be reckoned with in the late 1900’s
the cup on the left is the ‘West Lancashire Cup’ and I have a photo of Wigan with the cup in 1884-1885
I must say the players on that photo look different to those on your photo and the pit/mill chimneys in the background do lead me to believe this is Aspull not Wigan
I do have records of Aspull in the 1900s in the attic which I will dig out this week for names etc and report back
I think the cup on the right could be the ‘Northern Union Cup’
Johnny Roberts made 16 appearances for Wigan in 1885 scoring six tries

PS Jem & ‘Jack’ – despite your thoughts its definitely not me !!

I recall my late father, a Welshman and former Wigan RL player, mentioning that the Aspull RU team had a great reputation in the early days, amongst the top Welsh Clubs, who often toured the North of England. Dad was born in Llanelli in 1915 and played for the Scarlets before moving North in 1938, he was recalling stories he'd heard from old ex Llanelli players at the Club who had probably played against the Aspull side in the late 19th century.

Thanks Malc. I love the photo, it's the only one we have of him. It would be great if you could find the information, as I am beginning to wonder now if it was just Gt. Granddad that went on to play for Wigan from Aspul. I suppose it's possible that that's where the story became distorted. The impression was always that he played with a good team.

I am just going off what my mum can remember being told by her mother who would have only been about seven when her dad died. Sadly he cut his thumb down the pit in the days before antibiotics & died of septicaemia.

I am doing our family tree & trying to find out about the Robert's for her so it would be lovely to fill in this sort of detail. We know they came up from Wales (Mould we think) but looking for a Roberts in Wales! is a bit of a non-starter really unless you know who your looking for. So as much information about the one's we are sure about is probably the best we can do for now.

It would be great for my brothers to know too, they have followed Wigan for years & played rugby themselves so would love to know more I'm sure.

Thank you Maureen, it's taken a long time, but I like my name now too, probably because it go's back 5 generations, that I can find so far, and I have a growing respect for my ancestors the more I learn.

Thank you all for your comments so far too, the little bits of history will all go towards making the family tree a more interesting read.

This was the Aspull Rugby Football Club in the 1886/87 season. They defeated Wigan in the west Lancashire and Border Towns Union Cuo Final played around Fairfield, Liverpool (the larger trophy). They then did the Cup double over Wigan by defeating them in the Wigan Charity Cup competition (smaller trophy). This picture was taken in May once they got both trophies or possibly the start of the 1887/88 season once the medals were awarded.

John Roberts only played two games for Wigan on a helping-out capacity in 1887. 15th October against Barrow and 26th December against Warrington. He was a three quarter back and had plenty of success with Aspull.

my great grandad is on there left on the picture sat down i was always told the photo was taken at cale lane