Hilton Park (stadium)

Hilton Park is a multi-use stadium in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. It is the home of Leigh Centurions rugby league club and also Leigh Genesis F.C. association football club. It has a capacity of approximately 10,000.

History

In 1947, Leigh Rugby League Club moved to a new headquarters in Kirkhall Lane, Leigh. 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 author James Hilton.

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

In 1995, the Association football club Horwich RMI made the decision to relocate from the Grundy Hill stadium, in Horwich in an area of Bolton currently home to Bolton Wanderers's Reebok Stadium, 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, as part of the name change the stadium was renamed "The Coliseum".

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 the decision to rebrand was reveresed after a fan backlash.