Local Heroine Fights to Preserve Club’s Legacy Amid Community Struggles

CHARLEY Blackburn should be part of hustle and bustle in an area brimming with pride and passion – instead she is in a ‘ghost town.’

Featherstone Rovers are one of the most famous names in rugby league. Champions in 1977, three times Challenge Cup winners.

Charley Blackburn says the demise of Featherstone Rovers’ men’ team has decimated the town. Credit: SWPIX.COM

At the moment, they are nowhere to be seen in the men’s game after going to the wall and the Rugby Football League’s refusal to allow a new company featuring its former directors to keep the name going.

Now Sunday afternoons feature emptiness, more depression for a place that has never recovered from the closure of coal mines and tumbleweed at a once proud institution.

Few see it more than Charley, the hometown girl who plays for the one team still carrying the Featherstone Rovers name, it’s women’s side.

“I was talking to my partner, who was walking past the club, and it’s almost like an eerie feeling,” she said.

“There’s nothing happening on a Sunday when it’d normally be bouncing with thousands of fans.

“Whenever you hear Featherstone, a lot of people would automatically go straight to Featherstone Rovers.

“Rugby league’s in our blood, the fact that it’s been taken away from us is really sad.

“Between 1pm and 6pm, you wouldn’t even dare go through Featherstone because it’d be packed with people that had been at the game. It’s like a ghost town at the minute.

“There’s no buzz around the town. There’s no buzz around the club. It’s really eerie to be around it.”

Featherstone’s demise in the men’s game comes as Charley and the women embark on a new Super League season following promotion back to the top flight.

The lack of action has meant some cleaning of changing rooms and the gym when they come to use it.

Charley and Featherstone’s women’ side are keeping the famous name alive in the Women’s Super League Credit: SWPIX.COM

Rovers’ women are entirely self-funded, players have even been responsible for getting sponsors on board.

And while they have results on their mind, something bigger is also in play.

The hooker added: “The future of the club is a very grey area. Nobody in or around Featherstone actually knows what’s going on.

“There’s nobody but us at that club at the minute, and it is really strange. We’re the only income that that club’s got right now, so the more fans get behind us, the better the position the club will be in for next year if we can get them back on the pitch.

“We’re aiming to put our name out there and show that we won’t go down without a fight and the league in Featherstone is going to live on, regardless of whether we’re there or not.”