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Leigh Centurions are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh in Greater Manchester. They will play in Super League for the 2005 season. They were originally simply known as Leigh Rugby Club, adopting the Centurions moniker for the 1995-96 season.
History
The club was founded in 1878 and initially they played at Bucks Farm, Pennington.
They were 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 finish 9th overall in that season.
In 1906 Leigh become Northern Union champions following a superb season, boasting an 80% win rate. 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.
In 1934 they play under floodlights for the first time, losing 8-25 at London Highfield. In 1947 they moved to their new Kirkhall Lane headquarters. In 1953 floodlights were installed at Kirkhall Lane at a cost of £4,100. A record home crowd of 31,326 attended a challenge cup tie with St Helens. Kirkhall Lane was officaily named Hilton Park after former chairman James Hilton.
In 1978 John Woods played and scored in every game as Leigh secured the Second Division. In 1982, Leigh were Champions following a tense 13-4 victory at Whitehaven, after trailing 4-1 at half time. Whitehaven were agoin the opponents when Leigh won the National League One Grand Final 32-16 (after extra time) in 2004, thus securing promotion to Super League.
Honours
Records
Player records
- Highest attendance: 31,326 vs St Helens
- Biggest victory: 92-2 vs Keighley
- heaviest defeat: 4-94 vs Workington Town
Team records
- Most tries in a game: 6 by Jack Wood vs York, 1947
- Most goals in a game: 15 by Mick Stacey vs Doncaster, 1976
- Most points in a game: 38 by John Woods vs Blackpool, 1977
- Most tries in a season: 55 by Neil Turley, 2001
- Most goals in a season: 173 by Chris Johnson, [1985]]-86
- Most points in a season: 404 by Neil Turley, 2002
- Most career tries: 189 by Mick Martyn, 1954-67
- Most career goals: 1043 by Jim Ledgard, 1948-58
- Most career points: 2492 by John Woods, 1976-85, 1990-92
- Most career appearances: 503 by Albert Worrall, 1920-38
External link
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