Saddleworth rugby league official and breast cancer campaigner receive New Year’s Honours

A SADDLEWORTH rugby league legend has been given royal recognition with an OBE in the King’s New Year’s Honours List.

Tony Martin, of Grasscroft, has been named alongside famous faces in getting the recognition.

And it comes after a glittering career of officiating which spanned 34 years as a referee and touch judge.

Tony ran the line at the 2000 World Cup final and in 10 Super League Grand Finals and five Challenge Cup finals.

Tony Martin on the touchline – he has been awarded an OBE

He was a regular face throughout the first 25 seasons of Super League before stepping aside at the end of the 2021 season.

Now after being named on rugby league’s roll of honour that year, he is back centre stage after receiving word of his honour.

A retired heavy goods vehicle driver for British Aerospace, Tony turned to officiating after playing for Oldham amateur side Fitton Hill.

Recently, he was patrolling the touchline at the 745 Game, a hybrid rugby league/union clash that raised funds for motor neurone disease charities.

And Rugby Football League chief executive Tony Sutton has praised the way he still contributes to the sport in his home area.

He said: “It was typical of Tony that even after retirement, he continued to make himself available to officiate at grassroots and junior level in and around his native Oldham.”

Tony is not the only person from Saddleworth to feature on the New Year Honours List.

Breast cancer campaigner Jo Taylor, from Diggle, has received a British Empire Medal (BEM) for her work.

Jo Taylor has been awarded a BEM

Currently living with metastatic breast cancer, she has embarked on tireless work to improve the lives of patients diagnosed with the condition at a local, national and international level.

Jo has also championed the health and wellbeing of patients and runs retreats and Nordic walking groups which support patients affected by breast cancer across Greater Manchester.

In 2007, she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 38 while on maternity leave with her second child.

During this time, she discovered a lack of information available for patients to support their decision making for surgery and other treatments.

This led her to set up After Breast Cancer (ABC) Diagnosis – a website with a multimedia library of information including blogs, signposting, newsletters, links, educational material and more for patients after they have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

In 2014, she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer – also known as secondary breast cancer – which cannot be cured.

A year later, she became an active patient representative at the Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance.

Jo also went on to found the charity METUPUK, the only one in the UK focused on advocating and supporting patients with a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer.