Wigan Album
Wigan RLFC Challenge Cup Winners
6 Comments
Photo: Keith
Item #: 29789
Please note the "muddy" pitch, or as we commonly referred to it the "slutchy" conditions underfoot! I was lucky enough to visit Belfast this summer and the guide on our tour bus (it was a one day visit), referred to the fact that the reason Belfast does not have particularly tall buildings was on account of the underlying soil conditions which were muddy, she said the locals called it "sleetchy", a word I had never heard before and could only compare to "our" local term of "slutchy".
Lots of slorrin abawt on that pitch Keith. Favvers Somme.
When Rugby League was a PROPER game.
when Alex Murphy was commentating on a rugby league game for the BBC he mentioned that he couldn't identify a certain player because the number on his shirt was covered in slutch. The BBC received hundreds of letters from viewers in the south of England all wanting to know what slutch was.
Great story Tuddy - I was hoping something like that might emerge - fantastic.
If you trawl the early Census records (1850's and 1860's) for certain Wigan districts, every 2nd or 3rd household seemed to have one or more occupants who were born in Ireland, highly probable then that "their" word "sleetch" could have become "slutch" over time.
Just for the record, the definition from the online Collins English Dictionary for "slutch" is:-
1. slutch - noun (Northern English, dialect) mud
Derived Forms : slutchy, adjective
Looks as if they aren't aware of the probable Northern Ireland influence.