Team photograph of short-lived local rugby league team Oakworth Wanderers taken before a match held on Saturday 31st October 1981. Oakworth Wanderers’ came into being when former Hull and Bramley professional Allan Bancroft, then a coach, and Dave Ingham left Silsden and formed their own club.
Rob Grillo, ‘Trying Times: Keighley’s Amateur Rugby Teams 1876-2011’ (robgrillo.co.uk): “Initially based in Keighley, (Oakworth Wanderers) were accepted at the last minute by the Pennine League to the new division seven for the 1980-81 season as ‘The Wanderers’. The club subsequently secured the old football ground adjacent to Oakworth Cricket Club on Wide Lane, and despite initial objections from local residents began their first season there. Only a few players had actually followed Ingham and Bancroft from Silsden. In November 1980 the club registered with BARLA as ‘Oakworth Wanderers’. Their first season saw them finish at the foot of division 7, with 3 wins and a draw from their 16 fixtures… The 1981-82 campaign began with the formation of another new Keighley club… It was mooted that five clubs was one too many for the town, and that existing sides teams – might struggle to attract sufficient players. Within twelve months Oakworth had resigned from the league, although this was not due to a player shortage but a lack of committee members. Their absence was at the time hoped to be temporary, but Wanderers were never revived and died a quiet death.”
In 2021, Keighley and District Local History Society acquired an extensive collection of photograph negatives taken by the Keighley News. Groups of negatives were held in small wallets with the date and basic labelling written on the wallet. These photographs are from that collection.
