The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League.
The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895. Leigh have been Rugby League Champions twice, in 1906 and 1982, and have won the Challenge Cup three times, in 1921, 1971 and 2023. The club was known simply as Leigh until 1995, when they became known as Leigh Centurions. On 20 October 2022, the club was rebranded to the Leigh Leopards.
History
1878–1915: Early history
Leigh RFC was founded in 1878 by a surveyor named Fred Ulph. Leigh's first practice match was on 5 October 1878 at Buck's Farm in Pennington and their first game was against Eccles two weeks later.
In 1879, the club moved to a field behind the Three Crowns in Bedford and played there for 10 years. Leigh came to the attention of the wider district in 1885 when they had a 23 match unbeaten run with 21 wins and 2 draws. As attendances grew, improvements were made to the ground and the field's slope was levelled.
The club moved to Frog Hall Field, later known as Mather Lane, in 1889. The pitch was drained and levelled, a 10-foot-high hoarding was built around the ground, and a 500-seater stand was erected. The first game at Mather Lane was played on 7 September 1889 against Aspull and Leigh forward James Pendlebury scored the first try in front of a 2,000 crowd.
The 1894–95 season saw a new stand open on the south side in a momentous year for Rugby football. Leigh, along with Salford and Wigan, was suspended for professionalism by the Rugby Football Union, and placed joint bottom of the Lancashire league. With automatic promotion and relegation, it faced dropping down a division, and potential financial ruin. On top of years of arguments with the Rugby Football Union concerning player expenses, 22 teams including Leigh decided to form a breakaway governing body – the Northern Union.
The first season of the new game kicked off in September with Leigh recording a 6–3 loss against Leeds. Leigh finished ninth that season. Leigh had a great start in the new Union, they played well and the crowds increased; however they had mixed fortunes over the next few years. As the new century began, Leigh struggled and despite winning the West Lancashire and Border Towns Cup, the crowds and their fortunes dropped dramatically.
In the 1904–05 season, there was a dispute with Wigan in the Challenge Cup game. The game was played on 4 March 1905 and Leigh won 3–0 in front of 13,000 spectators. The Northern Union, after being alerted by Wigan, alleged that Leigh player Dick Silcock had played illegally after being absent from work in the week before the game without a permit breaking the 'working clause'. Leigh was found guilty of fielding an ineligible player and ordered to replay without expenses and for Leigh the gate receipts to be given to the Northern Union. Wigan won the replay 5–0 and Leigh were so incensed that the club considered leaving the Northern Union and starting an Association football club. Leigh became a limited company as a result of this financial blow.
In 1906, Leigh were Northern Union champions after a season with an 80% win rate. Many clubs complained that Leigh had provided themselves with an easy fixture list, ducking the challenge of the stronger clubs and play-offs were brought in.
In 1907–08, Leigh and Wigan were again in conflict in the Lancashire County Cup. An attendance record was set when 17,000 spectators watched Leigh and Wigan draw 3–3 at Mather Lane. Leigh lost the replay at Central Park but appealed for another replay because a Wigan player had left the field during the game without the referee's permission, Leigh lost the second replay.
In 1909, Mather Lane was upgraded when the embankment on the popular side was extended and raised giving the ground a capacity of 20,000 spectators. Around this time Leigh named its first coach – Jim Jolley. Over the next few years, Leigh had little success and crowd numbers dropped dramatically.
However, when the First World War began in summer 1914, the Northern Union believed that it would be over by Christmas and the season began as normal. Leigh performed poorly. Competitive rugby was suspended in 1915 until the hostilities ceased.