Leigh Centurions

Infobox_esl_club | clubname = Leigh Centurions


fullname = "Leigh Centurions Rugby League Club"
emblem = Centurion
colours = Cherry and white
founded = 1878
sport = Rugby league
league = National League One
ground = Hilton Park Leigh
web = [http://www.leighrl.co.uk/main/index.php www.leighrl.co.uk]

Leigh Centurions are a semi-professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. They were relegated from Super League at the end of the 2005 season and now play in National League One. They were originally known as Leigh Rugby League Club. Leigh is also one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, making them one of the world's first rugby league teams.

The club adopted the "Centurions" moniker for the 1995–96 season. It was announced in January 2007 that the club would undergo a rebranding exercise that would ultimately lead to the Centurions name being dropped but [http://www.leighrl.co.uk/main/index.php?start_from=&ucat=&subaction=showfull&id=1177360715&archive=1177974010& the decision to rebrand was reversed] after a fan backlash.

History

Early history

The club was founded in 1878 and initially played at Buck's Farm, Pennington.

Leigh played at several minor grounds before moving to Mather Lane in 1889.

As one of the founder members of the Northern Union in 1895, the first season of the new game kicked off in September with Leigh recording a 6-3 loss against Leeds. Leigh finished ninth overall that season.

In 1906, Leigh become Northern Union champions following a superb season, boasting an 80% win rate. Many clubs complained that Leigh had provided themselves with an easy fixture list, ducking the challenge of the stronger clubs, as a result play-offs were brought in.

Their next major success came in 1921 when they won the Challenge Cup with a shock 13-0 victory over Halifax at The Cliff, Broughton, Salford. In 1934, they played under floodlights for the first time, losing 8-25 at London Highfield.

During the Second World War, the club was forced to leave its ground as the adjacent cable factory extended onto the land. The townsfolk of Leigh, acting on chairman James Hilton's inspiration, cleared some fields on the edge of the town, and built a new stadium, including moving and rebuilding the old grandstand from the original ground. Their players at this time included Albert Ashton, father of England national rugby union team coach Brian Ashton. [ [http://sport.guardian.co.uk/rugbyworldcup2007/story/0,,2194663,00.html Ashton's long road to Paris, via Leigh and Tyldesley] The Guardian - October 19, 2007] In 1941-2, Leigh quit the wartime Lancashire league and would not return to the league until 1946-7 when they played at the Athletic ground, Holden Road.

Post war

In 1947, they moved to their new Kirkhall Lane headquarters and in 1953 floodlights were installed at a cost of £4,100. The ground saw a record home crowd of 31,326 attend a Challenge Cup tie with St Helens in the same year. Later, Kirkhall Lane was officially renamed Hilton Park after James Hilton.

Leigh signed Jimmy Ledgard from Dewsbury in January 1948 for a then record fee of £2,650.

On Saturday 27 October 1951, 33,230 spectators saw Leigh lose 14-6 to Wigan in the final of the Lancashire Cup at Station Road, Swinton.

Leigh's record attendance was set in 1953 at 31,326 when St Helens visited for a third round Challenge Cup game.

Leigh and Bradford Northern were the first rugby league clubs to stage matches on a Sunday in December 1954, although there was opposition from the Sunday Observance lobby.

The 1955-56 season saw a tournament titled the BBC Floodlit Competition. Eight clubs participated in a series of games played at football grounds in the London area, with Warrington eventually running out 43 - 18 victors over Leigh at Loftus Road.

Alex Murphy joined Leigh as player-coach. In 1971, Leigh reached the Challenge Cup final and defeated Leeds, 24-7. Murphy left Leigh on May 20th 1971 to become player-coach at Warrington.

In 1978, John Woods played and scored in every game as Leigh secured the Second Division. In 1982, Leigh were Champions for only the second time, as Alex Murphy guided them to a tense 13-4 victory at Whitehaven, after Leigh trailed 4-1 at half time.

Leigh won the Second Division Championship in 1985-86, losing only one league match and again in the 1988-89 season.

In December 1994, Ian Lucas became head coach of Leigh, the youngest senior coach in the game.

Recent history

In 1995, the soccer team Horwich RMI made the decision to relocate from Horwich, near Bolton, to Hilton Park, changing their name to Leigh RMI in the process. As part of the deal a new company, Grundy Hill Estates, was formed to take over the ownership of the ground. Leigh added Centurions to their name for the 1995/6 season.

In April 1996, Eric Hughes was appointed head coach at Leigh replacing Ian Lucas who was sacked after Leigh had only won one of their first five games of the season. Hughes was replaced by Keith Latham who was in charge until 1998. Norman Turley was also head coach in 1998.

In 1998 Ian Millward was appointed head coach. Leigh had come close to relegation to the game's third tier. Under Millward, they were turned into promotion contenders. Millward left in 2000 to coach St Helens after the sacking of Ellery Hanley.

Australian Paul Terzis was coach of Leigh Centurions from 1999-2003. His reign was notable for a number of 'near misses' as Leigh attempted to win promotion to Super League. In 2001 Leigh recorded a shock Challenge Cup victory over Super League neighbours Salford City Reds, finished 9 points clear at the top of the Northern Ford Premiership and claimed the Trans-Pennine Cup. However, Leigh were defeated in the play-off semi-finals and Widnes went on to win the Grand Final and a place in Super League.

In 2002 and 2003, the relegated Super League sides, Huddersfield Giants and Salford City Reds remained fully professional teams. Thus, their full-time fitness and coaching led to defeat in successive grand finals for Leigh. In October 2003, Darren Abram was appointed head coach, with a view to taking them into Super League. When Halifax were relegated to play in the 2004 National League competition, their financial troubles meant they were unable to retain a full-time team and struggled, paving the way for Leigh to go about achieving their dream. Whitehaven were the opponents when Leigh won the National League One Grand Final 32-16 (after extra time, 16-16 at full-time) in 2004, thus securing promotion to Super League.

Leigh's Super League season of 2005, however, proved a disaster and the club were relegated back to National League One after winning just two games. Abram resigned in August 2005 after a disagreement with the board, who felt unable to offer him the full-time contract he wanted for 2006 if the club were not in Super League.

New Zealander Tony Benson, was appointed head coach in September 2005. Leigh's relegation from Super League had been all but confirmed at the time of his appointment.

In July 2006, Leigh won the Northern Rail Cup after defeating Hull KR 22-18 at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool. It was the second time the club had won that particular trophy having also triumphed in the 2004 final against the same opposition.

Following Leigh's 23-22 defeat to Batley Bulldogs in the 2006 NL1 play offs, the club's future was thrown into doubt. The club's owners decided to part company with Tony Benson causing some of the back room staff and management to resign in support of their colleague. The uncertainty also caused a number of the club's playing staff to leave.

Darren Shaw was appointed as coach of the club in October 2006 to replace Tony Benson. However it was found that Darren Shaw did not have the necessary qualifications to coach at this level and he was moved to the position of Football Manager, while assistant coach Paul Rowley was appointed as First Team Coach.

In January 2007, the club announced that it would drop the Centurions name ahead of its move to a new stadium. The club also changed the name of its current stadium back to Hilton Park after re-naming it The Coliseum a number of years earlier. However, due to an influx of letters, e-mails and telephone calls from Leigh supporters asking the club to re-think its decision; this decision was reversed in May.

Darren Shaw's first full season in charge of Leigh Centurions ended with a 19-6 play off defeat away to Whitehaven. Leigh's 2007 season was one dogged by inconsistency. Convincing wins were often followed by heavy defeats as Shaw was forced to field a number of youngsters due to injury problems. The unsettled nature of the side in 2007 was reflected by the fact that Shaw gave debuts to over 20 players over the course of the season.

Despite the disappointing end to the 2007 season, Shaw was given a contract to coach Leigh for the 2008 season. After a promising start to the 2008 season, Shaw tendered his resignation following defeats to Salford, Widnes and Featherstone Rovers.cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/7336256.stm|title= Aussie Shaw quits as Leigh coach|date=2008-04-08|accessdate=2008-04-08]

New stadium

In the forthcoming years, Leigh Centurions will move into their new all-seater stadium, which will have a capacity of 12,000. The stadium will form part of the [http://www.leighsportsvillage.co.uk/ Leigh Sports Village] complex and will be shared with the Leigh RMI soccer club. The move to the new stadium is expected to go ahead in 2008. Hilton Park will be demolished with the land sold for a housing development. The as yet unnamed stadium will be the cornerstone of Leigh's application for a Super League franchise in the coming years.

Hall Construction Services Ltd. of Durham won the £17.5 million contract to construct the stadium in January 2007.

2008 Squad

"As of April 10, 2008":

Honours

* RL Champions: 1905-06, 1981-82 "(twice)"
* Challenge Cup winners : 1920-21, 1970-71 "(twice)"
* Lancashire Cup winners: 1952-53, 1955-56, 1970-71, 1981-82 "(4 times)"
* Second Division champions (including National League One): 1977-78, 1985-86, 1988-89, 2004 "(4 times)"
* Second Division runners-up : 2000, 2002, 2003
* Second Division Minor Premiers (League Leaders) : 2001
* BBC2 Floodlit Trophy: 1969-70, 1972-73 "(twice)"
* Trans-Pennine Cup: 2001
* National League Cup: 2004, 2006

Coaching history

1994-1996: Ian Lucas

1996: Eric Hughes

1996-1998: Keith Latham

1998: Norman Turley

1998-2000: Ian Millward

2000-2003: Paul Terzis

2003-2005: Darren Abram

2005-2006: Tony Benson

2006-2008: Darren Shaw

2008-Present: Neil Kelly

Records

Team records

* Highest attendance: 31,326 vs St Helens
* Biggest victory: 92-2 vs Keighley
* Heaviest defeat: 4-94 vs Workington Town

Player records

* Most tries in a game: 6
**Jack Wood vs York, 1947
**Neil Turley vs Workington Town, 2001
* Most goals in a game: 15 by Mick Stacey vs Doncaster, 1976
* Most points in a game: 42 by Neil Turley vs Chorley Lynx, 2004
* Most tries in a season: 55 by Neil Turley, 2001
* Most goals in a season: 187 (inc 10 drop goals) by Neil Turley, 2004
* Most points in a season: 468 by Neil Turley, 2004
* Most career tries: 189 by Mick Martyn, 1954-67
* Most career goals: 1,043 by Jim Ledgard, 1948-58
* Most career points: 2,492 by John Woods, 1976-85, 1990-92
* Most career appearances: 503 by Albert Worrall, 1920-38

References

External links

* [http://www.leighrl.co.uk/main/index.php Official website]
* [http://forums.rlfans.com/viewforum.php?f=22 Leigh Centurions forum on rlfans.com]
* [http://leythers.com Leigh Centurions @ leythers.com]
* [http://www.nationalleague.co.uk/ National League website]
* [http://www.rugbyleague.org/index.php?showforum=9/ Leigh Centurions Fans Forums - RugbyLeague.org]