Andy JG

With the snowy conditions at present I saw this article about a famous Leigh match I attended at Hilton Park in December 1981..played in a blizzard in deep snow. Snow was piled high on the terraces, and there is no way the game would be played nowadays in such conditions..health and safety of spectators etc.. The winter of 1981–1982 in the United Kingdom was a severe cold wave that was formed in early December 1981 and lasted until mid-late January in 1982, and was one of the coldest Decembers recorded in the United Kingdom. I was looking forawrd to the game, it being a top of the table clash, but I recall looking at the weather on the Sunday morning and thinking it would be off. Pre internet etc... the only way I could know was calling the club, at about 2pm and they said it was on. Leigh won quite easily in front of a severly diminished attendance. Got home and listened to Rugby League reports on Radio Manchester at 6pm and Ron Marlor (great RL correspondent on Radio Manchester) was interviewing the Aussie referee, Hartley who was actually in a hot bath at the time. Great memories.. From The Leigh Journal.... This weekend's snowy conditions give us another opportunity to relive the time when an army of volunteers and some old school ingenuity helped Leigh get their 1981-82 game with Widnes played despite the near Arctic Hilton Park conditions. It was a top of the table encounter in December 1981 in the middle of Leigh's Championship winning campaign. The victory over the Chemics that afternoon would go a long way to securing a first ever title for the Leythers. But how on earth did they get that game played – with snow falling and sticking, and banked up higher than the goalposts at the Railway End? A couple of years ago we asked Leigh’s former secretary John Stringer what he remembered of that day. And he vividly recalled: “Chairman Brian Bowman and myself spoke at length the night before the game and we arranged to meet at the ground at 8am on the Sunday morning to make a decision. “We contacted Brian Kitchen, a Leigh fan who owned Clarefarm – a garden centre on Nel Pan Lane, which is no longer there. “He had loads of machinery that would help us if we decided to move the snow to get the match on. “The two Brians and me met as arranged on the Sunday. It had stopped snowing, apparently around 6am, but with the scale of the drift at the Railway End, it was hopeless. “To our surprise Brian said. ‘I’ll shift it! I’ll get me lads here and we will do our best.’” Within the hour Hilton Park was a hive of activity with men and machinery shifting the snow and dumping it over the wall at the two ends of the ground. They were joined by a mass of volunteers, who turned up to clear the terracing on the two sides of the ground which would homes" target="_blank">house spectators. John continued: “I had been in constant touch with Ronnie Close, the General Manager at Widnes. “He said, ‘You must be barmy! You’ve no chance of getting it on’. “Then Leigh kitman Tony O’Neill arrived, pointing out that the white ball would cause a problem in the snow. “Tony went to a car spares shop on Railway Road and bought a few cans of orange touch up spray paint, and got on with the job of ‘painting’ the white Mitre balls in a bright orange colour. “The referee Greg Hartley arrived just before 12 and was seeing snow for the first time. “He was from Australia but was spending a season in the English game “He was impressed with the effort and was happy with the pitch, providing of course, we could get the deep snow off. “Having cleared 75 per cent of the pitch it was decided ‘Match on’, but it was still touch and go.” Brian Kitchen’s team continued to shove the snow over the boundary wall and the army of volunteers carried on sweeping and gritting the terracing. But then there was another twist – and at 2pm – an hour before kick off – it began to snow again. John recalls: “The Manchester weather centre had told us it wouldn’t return until 6pm, but it came with a vengeance. “But the referee was happy, so we opened the turnstiles at 2.15pm. “The 80 or so volunteers got a free match ticket and Brian and his guys were entertained in the boardroom and had the best seats in the house.” However, not everyone was happy – particularly as the Chemics were without a couple of their players who had not been able to make it because of the snow. “Widnes claimed the pitch wasn’t playable, but the referee disagreed and the game went ahead,” John said. That was not the end of the effort – with prop Derek Pyke, hooker Gary Ainsworth and the other reserve players from that day brushing the touch lines as the snow continued to fall. It was all worth it, with Leigh winning 18-5 in front of 2,553 brave souls. “The victory for Leigh that day certainly had a big say in the Club winning the League Championship,” concluded John. And he is not wrong – with Alex Murphy’s team finishing the season two points clear of Hull FC and Widnes. To make matters worse for Widnes, the team coach and a number of travelling fans struggled getting home due to the numbers of road closures caused by the wintry downfall. Leigh 18 – 5 Widnes Match URL www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/17021 Status Completed Date Sunday, 13th December, 1981 Referee Greg Hartley (Sydney) Venue Hilton Park (Leigh) Crowd 2,592 Leigh Scoresheet Widnes Ken GREEN T Mick GEORGE Tommy MARTYN Ray TABERN Alf WILKINSON John WOODS 3 G Mick BURKE Leigh Teams Widnes Mick HOGAN 1 FB 1 Mick BURKE Des DRUMMOND 2 W 2 John BASNETT Terry BILSBURY 3 C 3 Mick GEORGE Steve DONLAN 4 C 4 Eric HUGHES Philip FOX 5 W 5 Keith BENTLEY John WOODS 6 FE 6 Keiron O'LOUGHLIN Ken GREEN 7 HB 7 Andy GREGORY Alf WILKINSON 8 FR 8 Mike O'NEILL Ray TABERN 9 HK 9 Keith ELWELL Tony COOKE 10 FR 10 Steve O'NEILL Tommy MARTYN 11 2R 11 Les GORLEY Mick McTIGUE 12 2R 12 Eric PRESCOTT Ian POTTER 13 L 13 Mick ADAMS Steve TOMLINSON 14 B B 15 Brian LOCKWOOD Alex MURPHY HC Doug LAUGHTON

My first Rugby League memories are from watching the St Helens team of the mid 1970s of which Frank was an integral member., playing mainly at centre. Very sad that he's passed away...RIP

I once watched John Cogger (Aussie ex Runcorn and Oldham) spend 80 minutes getting penalties by holding onto the tackler who was then penalised for lying on.

Collected my Leigh Membership pack this afternoon. Very good set up...Derek Beaumont, meeting and greeting....I don't get that off John W Henry when I hand over my £1000 annually for my LFC season ticket. Jet 2 staff also present there helping out. Last time I had a Leigh season ticket was 1987/88 season, so a long time ago. I first got one in 1983-4 season and I recall carefully writing in pencil on each numbered ticket the name of the corresponding opposing team according to the fixture list. Very postive vibe about the place at the moment.

My first ever test match.. 1978 GB v Australia at Central Park.. I remember it vividly. Bus with schoolfriends....stood behind the posts at the clubhouse end. It was a really good, close game. GB went ahead well into the 2nd half with a John Bevan kick and chase try scored at our end, but the Aussies scored pretty much immediately to regain the lead. Main memories were how Ray Price stared at the posts, arms in the air, with his back to the kicker when Fairbairn was kicking a penalty. Also a full fist fight between Steve Nash and Tommy Raudonikis both getting sent off. One of my best ever childhood RL memories. Lions 9 – 15 Australia Match URL www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/7899 Status Completed Date Saturday, 21st October, 1978 Referee Ron Campbell Venue Central Park (Wigan) Crowd 17,644 Official Player of the Match Rod Reddy Match Stats Halftime Score 6 – 6 Great Britain Scoresheet Australia John BEVAN T Kerry BOUSTEAD Bob FULTON George FAIRBAIRN 3 G 4 Michael CRONIN FG Bob FULTON Steve NASH OFF Tom RAUDONIKIS Great Britain Teams Australia George FAIRBAIRN 1 FB 1 Graham EADIE [Manly] Stuart WRIGHT 2 W 2 Kerry BOUSTEAD Eric HUGHES 3 C 3 Steve ROGERS [Cronulla] Eddie CUNNINGHAM 4 C 4 Michael CRONIN [Parramatta] John BEVAN 5 W 5 Chris ANDERSON [Canterbury] Roger MILLWARD (c) 6 FE 6 Bob FULTON (c) [Eastern Suburbs] Steve NASH 7 HB 7 Tom RAUDONIKIS [Western Suburbs] Jimmy THOMPSON 8 FR 8 Graham OLLING [Parramatta] David WARD 9 HK 9 Max KRILICH [Manly] Paul ROSE 10 FR 10 Craig YOUNG [St George] George NICHOLLS 11 2R 11 Geoff GERARD [Parramatta] Len CASEY 12 2R 12 Rod REDDY [St George] Steve NORTON 13 L 13 Ray PRICE [Parramatta] John HOLMES 14 B Phil HOGAN 15 B Peter FOX HC Frank STANTON

Not a Warrington fan, but a John Holdsworth fan....I used to get the Rugby Leaguer on the Thursday, and look which game Holdsworth had been allocated for the coming Sunday. I made sure that was the game I went to so that I could see him in action.

John Holdsworth Gerry Kershaw Robin Whitfield

Maine Road, seen football and Wigan v Warrington cup sf, and went to watch Oldham play a home game v Featherstone there in a frozen winter. Moss Lane, Altrincham. Seen Alty play and also Trafford Borough play. Anfield. Saw Wigan v Penrith years ago, and also Warrington played Castleford in a one off fixture switch. Craven Cottage...went to a Fulham v Leigh game in ther early 80s, and seen a Fulham v WAFC premier league game. Old Trafford..many times of both codes. New and Old Wembley. Springfield Park... went a few times with schoolmates to watch WAFC in the Larry Lloyd era, and also Springfield Borough. Hilton Park... once saw Leigh RMI get hammered by Carlisle United. Brunton Park.. been the football and also Carlisle v Leigh a couple of times. JJB/DW etc.. loads of times for both. Elland Road..ditto Burnden Park...lots of BWFC games in the late 70s/early 80s....RL starting using it for a period for SFs and Regal Trophy finals.

For about 10 years from the late 70s to late 80s I watched Leigh at home, and to begin with occasional trips watching them at St Helens, Warrington, Wigan... close enough to go by bus or dad to give me a lift and pick me up after. In the early 80s I discovered Monk's Travel in Leigh organised coach travel to all away games, so this opened up a whole new world for a young Leigh fanatic..no longer limited to home games and occasional local aways. I could get my mum to book me coach tickets at Monk's in Railway Road, and I was no longer following crackly lined radio updates from Radio Manchester...I was at Thrum Hall, Odsal Stadium, The Willows, The Boulevard, Craven park, Derwent Park, and many others... Once I learned to drive, had a job and a car in 1985, I wouldn't limit myself to just Leigh games. I'd go and watch a match at Salford, Swinton, Dewsbury, Batley... I went to all grounds of the 30 teams who played in the league when i started watching plus most of the new teams in early 80s and thiose who changed grounds/names etc.. My favourite old stadium, apart from Hilton Park, was the Watersheddings. When i first went, there were identical looking stands running both sides of the touchlines, but one of them was demolished , leaving just the main stand opposite which looked extremely old and about to fall down. It always seemed cold, and the drive up had those snow warning signs by the road which came on if it was snowing somewhere locally. But it had a great atmosphere I always thought and loved going there. Particularly in the early/mid 80s when Oldham had a decent team with Kirwan, Flanagan, Foy, Goodway etc.. it was usually a very good game. Also scene of one of my favourite matches of all time... the Oldham v Leigh abandoned game in January 1984. The mass brawl onfield, the police man getting his helmet knocked off trying to stop it. Is was stood behind the posts in on the large covered terrace.

I went to a few BBC Floodlit Trophy games at Leigh in the late 1970s, and Leigh's floodlights were that poor, I recall banks of extra lights on scaffolding platforms in the corners. Maybe that was because of the extra brightness required for Colour TV, I don't know.

I first went to Hilton Park in 1976...it wasn't a great ground but provided me with some really great memories as a young man. and I loved it. It was only opened in 1946 so was still relatively new when I first went. I stll think about it when I regularly drive past where it once was. The smell of soup from the kiosk under the old scoreboard, the poor floodlights, standing behind the posts at the Chadwick Street end, the red and white wooden goalposts, Leigh coming out to 'Entry of the Gladiotors', the half time and full time hooter made a klaxon type noise, 3.30 kick offs on a Sunday, and the game always seemed to finish bang on 5pm by the clock on the scoreboard. The old main stand was a relic from the previous ground at Mather Lane. The supporters stand, opposite, was quite a large structure, but unfortunately suffered from a major design fault as soon as it was built. The rake of the stand was too shallow meaning that it was impossible to see all of the pitch from beyond the first few rows, so they only installed a few rows of seats. The view from the open terraces was quite good, as the steps were quite steep.

St Helens Recs... played in the league between the wars, won 2 Lancashire Cups, a Lancashire League, and almost reached Wembley in 1929, the 1st Wembley cup final. I don't think St Helens is big enough to support 2 RL teams, but would have been interesting to see the modern dynamic between 2 professional teams in one medium sized town.

For a spell in the mid 1970s Huyton were doing kind of ok... for around 3 seasons they were middle table ish, the best season being 74-75. 1974-75 for example 2nd Division table

The drop goal is now only really used towards the end of a tight game or in golden point. When i started watching RL in the late 70s and in the early 80s it was regularly used in general scoring...teams taking drop goals even when losing (see David Ward in 1978 cup final)...when Leigh won the championship in 81/82 I think Steve Donlan had about 17 drop goals in the season.

If Leigh win the Grand Final (unlikely I admit) the coach of the year is Adrian Lam... for it to be given to anybody else before that is decided would look foolish if Leigh did the unthinkable.