Leyther_Matt

Salford have a link with junior teams in North Wales, don’t they?

I’ve posted this previously, but that Wigan v Australia game was the first ‘big’ game I ever went to, previously only used to crowds of a little over 1,000 rattling around Hilton Park. My godparent took my brother and I (I would have been 7 and he was 9) in the hope of turning us in to Wigan fans. He knew the game was up when we cheered the Aussies coming out and booed Wigan

Shame it (presumably) won’t be possible to change ends at half time, but you know you’re generally doing something right when that is the case as it usually means the ground is too busy.

Yes I’ve always had good experiences with them, too. Prior to the sponsorship, we had already booked with Jet2 for flying to Girona for the Catalans game (from Leeds, ironically enough) so I’m hoping to be upgraded to pilot for the day.

This Leigh fan does after going to Portsmouth away on a Monday night last season and half 12 at Crawley this season

There isn’t a Sky ‘channel’ game but it’s on the red button, so I guess it’s been done to avoid any fixture clashes with the other TV/red button games. Not a unique Super League issue as rafts of EFL games have been shifted to 12.30pm kick offs this season to cater for red button coverage.

Still reckon they should shift the corporate units to be side by side down the western side and then that frees up more space to build a decent terrace at the southerly end Would be a pretty unique corporate experience to be so close to the pitch down the touchline and wouldn’t need as much space as the terracing

Takes 15 minutes to try and find a route from the retail park through to the ground, mind I would love to say this hasn’t happened to me at least 3 times. But even twice in the space of a few weeks in RLWC2022 we buggered up our route from Pizza Hut and ended up having to climb a fence

Take away the sponsor (nothing against them, just doesn’t work with the aesthetic) and it’s a beaut.

George & Dragon/bus station, I’d say. To the corner house on Glebe St/Chadwick St, it is 0.5 miles. To the roundabout on Turner Way behind the North/East Stand it is 0.6 miles. Not exactly a mammoth difference, albeit I’ll accept I’m incorrect by 200 yards (less than that if, as in my case, you sit in East Stand at LSV and entered HP using the Mick Martyn Bar turnstiles!)

In Wiki we trust

Hindpool Road end had the roof removed in 2021 The other end still had the roof in 2009ish and remained for at least a couple of years after that, I’m sure

Tbf LSV is actually nearer to Leigh town centre than Hilton Park was, and is plonked right at the side of a council estate so not exactly marooned out on a ring road. Much more space than being tucked behind the houses though, just as was the case with Central Park and Wilderspool

Biggest dent to the capacity is in the North Stand but I don’t think we’ll ever see a point where it gets to the full 3,768 for a variety of reasons (currently 2,886) South going to reserved seating would only work if it was for home fans. Causes far too many issues when trying to implement reserved seating en masse for away fans. Having the stage in the East Stand loses a good few hundred, too.

Are Sale playing that weekend?

As we’re very much in to the realms of out-of-season threads, I thought it was time to expand on a theme that was mentioned in the ‘old grounds’ thread and give rise to which grounds you have seen both RL and A N Other sport (mine are entirely football but I’m sure folk will have done others for RU or greyhounds etc) I do, however, feel I need to add the exceptions first of all and have somehow been to at least a dozen RL games at Old Trafford but never football. Also seen RL at Newcastle and the new Spurs stadium but not football (the opposite for Arsenal!) Bloomfield Road, Blackpool - a couple of Northern Rail Cup Finals plus a Blackpool Panthers v Leigh game. Been for football numerous times, watching both Bolton Wanderers and Hibs Toughsheet Stadium, Bolton - GB v Aus, Saints v Roosters, Challenge Cup Semi Final double header. Literally hundreds of football matches Gigg Lane, Bury - Swinton v Leigh and 2000 NFP Grand Final. Seen both Bolton and Leigh Genesis play there Millennium Stadium, Cardiff - RLWC 2013 opening games. Seen Bolton there twice The Rock, Cefn Mawr - bit of a trump card. Saw a Crusaders v Swinton game there having previously visited for a random football friendly Victory Park, Chorley - a good few Chorley Lynx games and probably a dozen football games Ricoh Arena, Coventry - England v Scotland, Australia v Scotland. Seen Bolton there once Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster - only saw RL at Belle Vue but been to plenty of RL games at the new stadium (domestic and international) and seen Bolton there a couple of times The Shay, Halifax - lost count of how many RL games. Only been once for football, watching Leigh RMI John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield - plenty of Leigh games and internationals. Been watching Bolton KCOM Stadium, Hull - several internationals and a handful of Leigh visits (twice in a week in 2005) and once watching Warrington. Seen Bolton there twice, losing 4-0 and 6-0! Elland Road, Leeds - Several internationals, Leeds v Bulldogs. Seen Bolton there twice Hilton Park, Leigh - countless Leigh RL games plus rep gamames, dozens and dozens of Leigh RMI games and a good few BWFC reserve games Leigh Sports Village, Leigh - majority of Leigh games since 2009 plus several internationals. Seen Leigh Genesis football games, plenty of reserve matches plus a few women’s football games. Anfield, Liverpool - Aus v NZ. Liverpool v Bolton Griffin Park, London - another one where I’ve seen both Leigh and Bolton get absolutely stuffed Olympic Stadium, London - England v NZ. West Ham v Bolton Wembley Stadium (v2), London - Only saw football at the old one, but seen two Challenge Cup Finals (including a certain one!) plus two football finals (Papa John’s Trophy and League One Play-Offs) Etihad Stadium, Manchester - GB v Aus, Magic Weekend. Been to a Man City game there Boundary Park, Oldham - seen Leigh there a few times and a single BWFC visit Whitebank Stadium, Oldham - Oldham v Fev, Oldham v Rochdale. Saw Avro v Atherton Colls earlier this season Spotland, Rochdale - plenty of Leigh games, the incredible Ireland v Fiji game in 2013 and Arriva Cup/Northern Rail Cup Finals in 2003 and 2004. Been to a few Rochdale AFC games plus the obligatory Bolton visits Salford Community Stadium, Salford - a few Leigh visits, a couple of internationals and a Man Utd v Bolton reserve game Bramall Lane, Sheffield - a couple of Leigh visits and a couple of Bolton visits Knowsley Road, St Helens - went to a few neutral games plus a couple of Leigh visits. Saw football there in the days of St Helens Town for a friendly v Leigh RMI Bower Fold, Stalybridge - Oldham v Leigh, Oldham v Bradford and plenty of Leigh RMI & Atherton Colls visits plus a few neutral football games The Brick Stadium, Wigan - too many Leigh defeats, too many Bolton defeats thankfully England/GB have a pretty good record Racecourse Ground, Wrexham - cheated slightly on this one as my first football visit isn’t until later this season, but went to a couple of Crusaders games there (previous club v Catalans and re-formed club v Leigh) Apologies for an admittedly dull thread. Got bored halfway through writing it. Roll on the new season!

Completely unrelated to the thread but arrived back this evening from a lovely weekend in Cork

Given your location, I’m not sure you’ll be quite aware of the irony of JD’s involvement

TBF it was still in the days of GB so was a not-so-glorified reserve team (I went to the game at the HJ) The real one for the rabbit hole was Russia getting 40,000 for an international game

This link has the attendances included too. Some decent gates in there! https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/competitions/emerging-nations-cup-1995/summary.html

I grew up virtually across the road from Hilton Park and it played a huge part in my childhood and early adult years. I first went when I was 5 and was 22 when we left so I spent a huge chunk of my childhood on those terraces, watching rugby, Leigh RMI and BWFC reserves. Always glad my son and nephew both got to go there before we left, albeit they were toddlers with no memory of it. Started off on the front row behind the sticks (whichever way Leigh were attacking, naturally) and the 5 of us always used to argue about who would have to stand over the grid that ran parallel to the centre of the posts and apparently a huge factor in the drainage from the pitch being so good. As we got older, we graduated further and further towards the back of the terrace and then eventually to the join the singers in the Supporters Stand (later Tommy Sale Stand) where big angry blokes like @Snowys Backside would stand. One my fondest memories was Micky Higham scoring a blistering try against Widnes one Boxing Day in one of his first games and we knew we had a special player on our hands. 4,500+ on which felt huge at the time considering in previous years we only ever seemed to get decent gates against Hull KR or Widnes, and even then only a touch over 2,000 As others have said, that smell of wintergreen just takes me straight back there. And frying chips, stale ale and the fumes from the floodlight generator The place was falling apart by the end, and I think we’re fortunate that our new ground absolutely knocks the spots off the old one when it comes to atmosphere. Even when we’d have 2,000 on at LSV, the North Stand was far louder than anything we’d had at Hilton Park, for no reason other than the noise just got lost with so much of it being uncovered. Considering I’m only just in my late 30s, I went to a lot of the grounds no longer with us on this side of the Pennines - Wilderspool, Central Park, The Willows, Knowsley Road. I always thought the Fletch was a bit overrated as it wasn’t really that big, not compared to the Kop at Wigan or Edington at Saints, at least. Got to say I had a real soft spot for the Willows. The Shed in full voice was hard to match, and those huge steps on the away end made for a great view. Such a shame they ended up in the middle of nowhere, with the smell of sewage replacing the wintergreen of old.

I always liked this one, especially on the back of the shirts

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