Leigh granted elite academy license from 2025

[LeytherRob]

 

Great news for the club and another step in the right direction for us

[Eddie]

Good, Leigh are a progressive club we could do with a few more like that. 

[LeytherRob]

Looks like Salford have had theirs awarded also

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, LeytherRob said:

Looks like Salford have had theirs awarded also

Just saw that on the TRL twitter feed.

Well done to both clubs.

[sweaty craiq]

Train station next - before someone else says it.

Best signing ever - well since Colts was disbanded

[Damien]

Great news for Leigh, it really is a must for any SL club.

[Barley Mow]

I assume the limit (imposed at the time of the last awards) on the number of 'heartlands' based academies has now been lifted/relaxed in light of London and Newcastle closing their elite academies.

Edited May 23 by Barley Mow

[sweaty craiq]

6 minutes ago, Damien said:

Great news for Leigh, it really is a must for any SL club.

Apparently 40 leigh born lads in Elite system at other clubs.

[Damien]

5 minutes ago, sweaty craiq said:

Apparently 40 leigh born lads in Elite system at other clubs.

I suppose the difficulty will be persuading the better players to sign for Leigh. It's something that hasn't really happened at youth level in my lifetime. Maybe Beaumont and Leigh's new standing can change that.

[Snowys Backside]

22 minutes ago, sweaty craiq said:

Apparently 40 leigh born lads in Elite system at other clubs.

Doesn't surprise me.

With stability and hopefully with a SL club to play for, Leigh will keep the kids and become a self sustained SL club for many years to come.

The amount of Leigh born players snapped up by Wigan, Saints and Warrington over the years has been depressing. Over to you Degsy !!

[Zilla Budgie]

25 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

Doesn't surprise me.

With stability and hopefully with a SL club to play for, Leigh will keep the kids and become a self sustained SL club for many years to come.

The amount of Leigh born players snapped up by Wigan, Saints and Warrington over the years has been depressing. Over to you Degsy !!

And also in nearby Lowton,  Warrington have had a few of those...

[DoubleD]

1 hour ago, LeytherRob said:

Looks like Salford have had theirs awarded also

How will both these additional academies impact community clubs, given the proliferation of academies already in the NW?

Edited May 23 by DoubleD

[Snowys Backside]

16 minutes ago, Zilla Budgie said:

And also in nearby Lowton,  Warrington have had a few of those...

Nah, they are confused in Lowton, especially in Canaan where one side of the street is WN7 and the other side is WA3 

[Gooleboy]

Good news for both clubs.

[WN83]

For all the good Derek has done and continues to do for Leigh, nothing will leave a legacy like getting a top class academy set up, that can produce players for years after he is off on full time safari holidays. 

[Superb Chops]

1 hour ago, sweaty craiq said:

Apparently 40 leigh born lads in Elite system at other clubs.

Decades ago I played for my town’s schools team. We got hammered by Leigh routinely.

Sweaty’s fact suggests the supply line remains vibrant.

Only right and fair then that the town’s RL club can prosper from its fair share of the emerging talent.

Well done Leigh and Salford.

[OriginalMrC]

This will be Beaumonts real legacy if they manage to embed this academy in the club 

[JM2010]

What is the criteria for an Elite Academy? Do clubs have to invest a certain amount of money into pathways and development and is there a requirement for a minimum number of ambassador clubs?

[LeytherRob]

30 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

This will be Beaumonts real legacy if they manage to embed this academy in the club 

I know from discussions I've had with him, it's something DB has become obsessed with in recent years after initially going down the short term route in 2016/17. I think he realised after 2018s debacle that if he pulled out there would be nothing to show for all his money spent.

[binosh]

Great news for the club, Leigh Miners, Leigh East and to lesser extent Leigh RU regularly churn out great young players, being close to home with great facilities, running track, Swimming Pool, State of the art gym, 5G pitches, College and of course a nice Costa Coffee should hopefully attract some of the quality youngsters we have been losing to other teams.

[Cheadle Leyther]

5 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

Doesn't surprise me.

With stability and hopefully with a SL club to play for, Leigh will keep the kids and become a self sustained SL club for many years to come.

The amount of Leigh born players snapped up by Wigan, Saints and Warrington over the years has been depressing. Over to you Degsy !!

Lost count of the Leigh born youngsters on the Wigan Academy always referred to as Wigan youngsters, when in effect are Leigh born and bread.

[Dunbar]

Very good news.

I have fond (is that the right word!) of visiting the Leigh sides as an amateur player.  It is a hotbed of talent.

[Eddie]

20 minutes ago, Cheadle Leyther said:

Lost count of the Leigh born youngsters on the Wigan Academy always referred to as Wigan youngsters, when in effect are Leigh born and bread.

I saw Leigh referred to as a suburb of Wigan the other day in a non-RL news article

[DoubleD]

36 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I saw Leigh referred to as a suburb of Wigan the other day in a non-RL news article

It is

[sweaty craiq]

36 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

It is

StHelens is a suburb of Knowsley etc we had no vote 50 years ago