Kenny Roberts is one if not the most recognisable faces at the Rugby League grounds of Great Britain having visited every one in England and quite a few in Scotland and over the years has amassed a staggering collection of programmes the earliest from the 1930s and one from 1939 which caught my attention. It is the match between Salford and Oldham played on Wednesday August 30th, 1939 and in the programme notes by, Willow Whispers he talks about the forthcoming fixtures being played on the H.P. System....Hitler Permitting..and as we all know, World War Two broke out several days later on September 1st causing all sporting fixtures to be postponed indefinitely. Kenny who grew up in Ordsall was a keen Manchester United fan travelling home and away until he was invited to watch a rugby league match away at Leeds of all places and he was hooked switching his allegiance to Salford Rugby Club. When the Super League started in 1996 he became disillusioned with the game and the money that was flooding into it and decided to watch amateur rugby clubs and once again he travelled the length and breadth of the country and became a personality at these smaller clubs, a Salfordian travelling to Lincoln and South Wales to watch the games which you must admit is dedication! Sadly after amassing over a 1,000 programmes mainly from Salford, Swinton (for whom he wrote a weekly column in the programme for ten years) and Leigh Kenny has decided that he wants to gift the programmes to either fellow supporters, or anybody who can and will make use of them. He has donated several early programmes to Salford Media and we shall be scanning them and putting them online for people to read. So if you wish to grab these programmes free of charge then contact Kenny on 07919 061034 he lives in Winton, Eccles but please hurry as several people have requested them and he has been let down.
