Club historian publishes informative booklet on Batley rugby players and directors buried in town cemetery
An informative guide on the graves of former Batley RLFC players and directors buried in the town’s cemetery has been written by the club’s historian
The booklet, Batley RLFC Cemetery Walk, written by John Roe, is designed to help intrigued readers go on a walking trail to find the 26 graves within Batley Cemetery which contain 27 individuals who had either played for Batley RLFC, been on the Board of Directors or served the club in another official capacity.
15 of the 27, one of whom also became a director, had played for Batley, whilst another 11 had been on the Board, whilst the remaining individual had been the caretaker of the Batley RLFC Supporters’ Club.
The graves are scattered across 12 of the 23 sections of the historic cemetery and span between the years 1916, the earliest burial, and 2015, the most recent. The oldest of the deceased was 96 and the youngest was 29. 12 of the burials took place before World War II, one during that war, and 14 after it. Only three of the burials date from the 21st century.
One of those featured in John’s poignant guide is Joe Oakland, who scored the first ever points in a Challenge Cup Final with a successful drop goal in Batley’s eventual 10-3 triumph over St Helens at Headingley in 1897.
He played in all three of the club’s Challenge Cup winning teams, lifting the famous trophy again in 1898 and then 1901. He passed away on January 17, 1951, aged 75.
A snippet from the booklet reads: “Apart from registering the first points scored in this historic competition, this was also the last occasion on which a drop goal would be worth four points.
“Later that year the rule was changed so that all goals would subsequently be worth two points, a rule which remained until the value of a drop goal was reduced to one point in 1971.
“However, in some accounts of the inaugural Challenge Cup Final, Joe’s drop goal mistakenly only counts as two points, thus creating the impression that the final score was Batley 8-3 St Helens, when the actual score was 10-3.”
From Spring 2027, John will begin conducting periodic tours along the trail, one or more of which he intends to offer as part of Heritage Open Days next September.
John, who received “invaluable assistance” from local stalwart Roger Jenkinson, lifelong Batley fan Julie Bownass and Bulldogs legend Craig Lingard, said:
“The booklet is designed to enable individuals and groups to either walk the full trail or select specific graves they wish to see.
“The walk offers a variety of headstones. The choice of headstone is sometimes an indication of the social status of the deceased.
“In addition, there are two individuals who are in unmarked graves, each of the two being identifiable via a combination of the section number and the grave number within that section.”
Individual copies of the booklet can be purchased for £1 at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium on a Tuesday morning between 9.30am and 11am, or from Batley Library.
The walk takes approximately one hour.