Leigh Sports Village

Leigh Sports Village Stadium
Full name Leigh Sports Village Stadium
Location Sale Way, Leigh, Greater Manchester, WN7 4GX
Coordinates 53°29′28″N 2°31′44″W / 53.491°N 2.529°W / 53.491; -2.529Coordinates: 53°29′28″N 2°31′44″W / 53.491°N 2.529°W / 53.491; -2.529
Owner Leigh Sports Village Company Ltd.
Operator Leigh Sports Village Company Ltd.
Capacity 12,000[1]
Record attendance 12,005
Castleford vs Widnes
11/08/2014 [2]
Surface Deso GrassMaster
Construction
Built 2007–2008
Opened 28 December 2008
Construction cost £17.5m[3]
Main contractors Hall Construction[3]
Tenants
Leigh Centurions 2008–present
Leigh Genesis 2009–2010
Blackburn Rovers Reserves 2009–present
Manchester United Reserves 2014–present

Leigh Sports Village is a £50 million multi-use sports,[4] retail and housing development in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. The centerpiece of the development is a 12,000-capacity stadium which is home to professional Super League team Leigh Centurions. The complex also plays host to amateur rugby league club Leigh East and amateur athletics club Leigh Harriers, who both occupy dedicated facilities on the site. Other facilities on site include the Leigh campus of Wigan & Leigh College, Leigh Sports Centre, which includes a gym, multi-use sports hall and swimming pool, and the Park Inn Hotel.

Background

Leigh Sports Village is a development southwest of Leigh town centre, on the north side of the Leigh arm of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, close to Pennington Flash Country Park and accessed from the A579, Atherleigh Way and by pedestrian routes from the town and surrounding area. The scheme was initially developed to contribute to the regeneration of Leigh and provide modern facilities for local sports clubs, schools and the local community.[5]

The main focus of the sports village is the stadium built for local professional sports clubs and its associated facilities. It is all seating in the West, East and South Stands with standing in the North Stand. There is a 25-metre swimming pool, gymnasia and activity rooms and a sports hall used by the sports clubs, college and local community. A synthetic 400-metre running track, covered training facility and field sports area has been built for Leigh Harriers and Athletic Club and amateur rugby league club, Leigh East ARLFC has a clubhouse.[5]

Leigh College occupy a site on the stadium perimeter and share sports and youth facilities. To make the project commercially viable, retail and commercial premises, housing and a hotel are built on the site close to Atherleigh Way.[5]

Roads on the Sports Village site are named after three local sporting personalities: Tommy Sale , Jimmy Ledgard and Geoff Turner.[6] The roads are Sale Way, home to the stadium, sixth form college and sports centre, Turner Way address of Leigh Harriers Athletics Club, whilst Ledgard Avenue accommodates the new Leigh East clubhouse.

Stadium

Two ramp-up events were held during December 2008 to fulfil safety certificate requirements. A children's rugby league festival was held on 14 December 2008 as the first event, rescheduled from the previous week because of a frozen pitch.[7] After a successful first event, the crowd capacity was set at 4,775. A sell-out crowd of 4,714 saw Leigh versus Salford on 28 December 2008.[8][9]

Leigh Sports Village was officially opened on Thursday 21 May 2009, by Her Majesty the Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.[10]

Leigh Sports Village was included in the London 2012 Pre-Games Training Camp Guide. The facility was available for use by competing nations as a training camp before the London 2012 Olympic Games. Though officials negotiated with the Ukrainian Olympic team, no nation chose to base athletes at Leigh Sport Village.[11]

On 27 July 2013 the stadium staged its first Rugby League Challenge Cup semi-final, between Wigan and London Broncos.

On Tuesday 5 November, the stadium hosted the Rugby League World Cup 2013 Tonga versus Cook Islands tie, which was won by Tonga 22-16 in front of a then stadium record crowd of 10,544.[12] This attendance was surpassed on Sunday 11 August when the semi-final of the Challenge Cup saw an attendance of 12,005 witness Castleford defeat Widnes 28-6.[2]

On Saturday 21 June 2014, Sir Elton John and his band played in front of 17,000 fans[13] in one of only three announced UK venues for his 2013/14 tour.

In October 2015, England took on France in a warm-up match before their end-of-year test-series against the Kiwis.[14]

Rugby league test matches

The Leigh Sports Village has hosted three England internationals. The results are as follows;[15]

Date Opponents Result Attendance Part of
12 June 2010  France 60 - 6 7,951 Test match
29 October 2011  Wales 42 - 4 10,377 2011 Four Nations
24 October 2015 France France 84 - 4 8,380 Test match

The stadium hosted a 2013 Rugby League World Cup inter-group match between Tonga and Cook Islands on November 5, 2013 with 10,554 in attendance. Tonga won 22 - 16.

The stadium held a qualifying play off game for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. The match was between Italy and Russia on Friday 4th November 2016, with the winner securing the 14th and final berth in the tournament in Australasia in 2017. 450 were in attendance as Italy took the final World Cup spot with a 76 - 0 hammering.

Facilities

Facilities available at Leigh Sports Village include:[4]

Site users and tenants

The site is operated by Leigh Sports Village Company on behalf of Wigan Council – owners of the stadium, athletic stadium and clubhouse, swimming pool and sports centre, rugby league clubhouse and 3G pitches. Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust operate Leigh Indoor Sports Centre. Along with general public, use of artificial and grass pitches, sports hall, gymnasium and swimming pool, the Leigh Sports Village site has several long term tenants.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.leighsportsvillage.co.uk/leigh-sports-village-facilities/stadium/
  2. 1 2 www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/match/rl3732360
  3. 1 2 Hall gets the go-ahead for Leigh stadium, Contract Journal. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
  4. 1 2 Leigh Sports Village – Wigan Council
  5. 1 2 3 Prospectus (pdf), Sport Keighley, retrieved 28 October 2011
  6. ↑ Roads honour for Leigh legends
  7. ↑ A Festival of Rugby – as Leigh warms up the new stadium
  8. ↑ Barker, Neil (28 December 2008). "Rugby League – Leigh 6 Salford 26". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  9. ↑ Hulme, Mike (30 December 2008). "New era for Centurions". Leigh Journal. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  10. ↑ "Warm Welcome for the Queen in Leigh". The Leigh Reporter. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
  11. ↑ Olympic dreams become reality in Wigan and Leigh
  12. ↑ "Rugby League World Cup: Tonga 22-16 Cook Islands". BBC. 5 November 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  13. ↑ "Sell-out crowd gathers for Sir Elton John". Leigh Journal. 23 June 2014.
  14. ↑ "England to face France before New Zealand series". 27 April 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  15. ↑ Leigh Sports Village results @ Rugby League Project
  16. ↑ "Facilities". Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  17. ↑ "Swinton Lions return to Leigh Sports Village for 2014 season". Leigh Sports Village. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  18. ↑ About us, Leigh Harriers Athletic Club, retrieved 12 August 2013
  19. ↑ Blackburn Rovers Reserves make move to Leigh
  20. ↑ "Park Inn, Leigh sold to Kro Hotels". Manchester Evening News. 1 July 2014.
  21. ↑ http://www.leighathleticfc.co.uk
  22. ↑ Marshall, Adam (23 May 2014). "Manchester United Under-21 fixtures 2014/15". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  23. ↑ http://www.johnsontraining.co.uk
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