Riding the 409: Rochdale AFC vs Oldham Athletic

Words: Arlene Finnigan

Images: Ed Stanley

Rochdale vs Oldham. The 409 Derby (named for the bus route between the two towns). El Flatcapico (named for…well, come on). The biggest local derby in non-league football? Let’s go with it.

Some of us Oldham fans are old enough to remember the glory days, when our derbies were against Manchester United and Manchester City in the Premiership.

Meanwhile, Rochdale were steady in 36 consecutive seasons in the bottom tier of the Football League which is the longest continuous spell any club has spent there.

This milestone is somewhat bizarrely listed on the Rochdale Council website under ‘Proud sporting achievements’, although both sides would take a long spell in the EFL.

That said, I’d have led with Keira Walsh helping the Lionesses to win the Euros.

A lot has changed. We’ve both been relegated to the National League. We’ve both faced near-ruin off the pitch. We’ve both been rescued by local business families. The Rothwells took over Oldham Athletic in July 2022, and the Ogden family completed their takeover of Rochdale in May last year.

There’s needle between the two neighbouring teams, naturally, and all too often it turns nasty.

©Ed Stanley/ Terrace Edition. Rochdale AFC vs Oldham Athletic.

There’s been solidarity, too, though. In January 2022, Dale Supporters’ Trust organised a walk from Spotland to Boundary Park ahead of the match between the two sides to highlight their legal fight against an attempted takeover of the club. They invited Oldham fans, whose team were rooted to the bottom of League Two and who were calling on then-owner Abdallah Lemsagam to sell up, to join them.

As well as raising awareness of the plight of the two clubs, the walk also raised money for local charities.

The teams were due to meet at Spotland last November, but the game was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.

Given that Rochdale have had to postpone a further four matches since then, there were concerns that the rearranged fixture last Tuesday would fall foul of the weather, but thankfully the pitch survived 20 minutes of heavy rain and an hour of drizzle.

The heavy, sandy surface was never going to make for a classic. Rochdale missed two great chances to score in the first five minutes, with Mitchell shooting wide and Rodney playing a ball across Oldham’s goal that would have been a tap-in had anyone been there to get on the end of it.

©Ed Stanley/ Terrace Edition. Rochdale AFC vs Oldham Athletic. Wilbutts Lane chippy.

It was to be Oldham who scored the only goal of the game, though. A half cleared corner saw the ball fall to Pett, who delivered a great cross into the box for Mike Fondop – God’s Number Nine – to head home at the far post.

It was a scrappy game, and a tetchy one, possibly best summed up by Josh Kay coming off the bench for Oldham in the 80th minute and almost immediately going into the book for fouling former Latics captain Liam Hogan with his first touch.

Ultimately, Oldham played the conditions better, and their fans returned home on the 409 with local bragging rights and the three points that lifted them to fourth in the table.

With only two promotion places into the Football League, it will be a big ask for either of these Lancashire rivals to go up this season. Both are currently in the play off places – Oldham fourth, Rochdale seventh – and have ambitions of going all the way.

We meet again at Boundary Park on March 15, the Ides of March.

We’ve both suffered more than enough misfortune and doom. Both sets of supporters are united in their relief at having coming through bad times with our clubs intact, and we both hope that better days are coming.

©Ed Stanley/ Terrace Edition. Oldham Athletic at Rochdale AFC.

©Ed Stanley/ Terrace Edition. Rochdale town hall.

©Ed Stanley/ Terrace Edition. The Regal Moon pub. Rochdale.

©Ed Stanley/ Terrace Edition. Rochdale AFC lads vs Oldham Athletic.

©Ed Stanley/ Terrace Edition. Rochdale AFC vs Oldham Athletic. Rochdale fans.

Ed is on X: @ed_stanley1

Arlene is on X and Instagram: @arlenefinnigan

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