Local rugby league side Leigh Leopards made multiple kinds of history with a landmark win over Greater Manchester rivals Wigan Warriors on Thursday night – their first in over four decades.
Head coach Adrian Lam called on his team to live up to the standards and energy they’ve been showing in and out of training of late, and although it turned out to be an even more hard-fought victory than anyone expected, they managed it.
It was a Super League season opener that no one could have predicted and despite not being a high-scoring game (far from it, in fact), the fans watching inside the ground and on TV couldn’t have asked for a more dramatic atmosphere and eventual outcome.
For starters, they even got to see legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer get the 2025 Betfred Super League proceedings underway.
In case you haven’t seen the scoreline already, Leigh Leopards defeated Wigan Warriors for the first time since 1983 – a whole 13 years before the Super League era had even begun.
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Prior to this fixture, the reigning champions were on a five-game winning streak too, but they ultimately found themselves down to just a dozen players while the Leopards still boasted 13 as the clock ticked on.
As no one could find a breakthrough in the normal halves, the two teams went on to play out an extremely tense golden point decider, with only a handful of matches having unfolded this way in 2024.
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Step-up 33-year-old Warrington-born former Wolves player, Gareth O’Brien, whose single drop goal in the 82nd minute sealed the result.
Here’s the moment it happened and just look at the reaction around the Brick Community Stadium:
To absolutely no one’s surprise, Leigh fans, players and dugout alike were sent into absolute bedlam, with an ecstatic Lam embracing his coaching staff in the stands.
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Winning just 1-0 might not sound that exciting but you have to take into account the wider context.
On the one hand, although it was the lowest-scoring game ever since the modern era started back in 1993, it was also Leigh’s first win over the old adversaries for more than a generation.
And the milestones didn’t stop there.
Thursday night’s ‘Battle for the Borough’ was also the biggest attendance for the first game of the season in Super League history, with 21,748 turning up for Round One – the most since Wigan‘s opener against Warrington Wolves in 2007 (21,693).
Safe to say it doesn’t need explaining how much it meant to them.
Speaking on the “football score” after the game, Lam argued the end spectacle will do wonders for the sport’s exposure, adding: “This is just the beginning. [We need to] keep our feet grounded and keep working hard.”
Even last season’s quadruple-winning Coach of the Year, Adam Peet, had to hold his up and just applauded the scenes, telling Sky Sports: “An amazing game, all the credit goes to Leigh […] both sets of players were incredible […] what they’ve built in the last couple of years, they deserve it.”
Is this the start of a new era for Leigh? There’s certainly plenty for Greater Manchester rugby fans to be excited about and the competition looks set to be stronger than ever.
England’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 matches are to be shown on big screens for free in Manchester this summer.
As England women’s national football team look to retain their title and continue to build on their ever-growing success as one of the best national football teams in the world, Manchester‘s National Football Museum is set to host a series of family-friendly watch parties after hours for the UEFA Women’s Euros this summer.
Visitors of all ages are welcome to support and celebrate England as they kick-off their campaign against France in the group stages on 5 July, followed by matches against the Netherlands on 9 July, and Wales on 13 July.
As Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses head to Switzerland with the hopes of being crowned European champions, you can head to the National Football Museum for some safe and inclusive fun.
Not only will the matches be shown in all their glory for free on a big screen, but you can also expect an on-site bar, and even the option to pre-order pizza ahead of time to feast on while you’re watching the action.
Watch parties will be taking place at the National Football Museum on the following dates:
France v England – 5 July at 8pm
England v Netherlands – 9 July at 5pm
England v Wales – 13 July at 8pm
To mark the beginning of the tournament, the museum will also be hosting a vibrant weekend of events on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 July, so get ready to strike a pose in Lionesses’ kits, create your own dazzling banner, and drum-up support with your very own chant.
Manchester’s National Football Museum is screening England’s Euro 2025 matches for free this summer / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
“This promises to be an exciting summer for football,” said Tim Desmond, who is the CEO of the National Football Museum.
“We want to bring the powerful sense of community that tournament football delivers to our museum, helping both new and returning visitors understand why football matters, and witness the impact our pioneering Lionesses can have in inspiring generations of budding young footballers.
“That’s why we are so delighted to be able to offer watch parties for this year’s tournament, providing a safe, inclusive, and exciting place for all fans to cheer on England.”
Featured Image – Molly Darlington / The FA (via England on Facebook)
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Manchester City confirm fourth signing of the summer as spending spree continues
Manchester City have officially revealed their fourth signing of the summer window after confirming the transfer of top target Tijjani Reijnders.
The highly sought-after Serie A midfielder joins the club from AC Milan on a five-year contract for an initial fee of approximately £46.5 million, after having been tracked by a number of clubs across Europe over the past season or so.
Reijnders, 26, registered 15 goals and five assists from central midfielder last season (more than any other player in the league) with Italian football journalist Mina Rzouki stating that he models his game on Kevin De Bruyne, making him the perfect replacement for the Belgian – on paper, at least.
Finally unveiled on Wednesday, 11 June, he is arguably the statement signing of what looks to be a continued spending spree which began back in January.
With Man City splashing roughly £200m to kick off the 2025 calendar year as they brought the likes of Omar Marmoush and a trio of defensively geared players in Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and CDM Nico Gonzalez, it seems like they started as they mean to go on.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak assured fans that the club would be picking up “several players” in a recent interview after he argued they hadn’t been aggressive enough last summer, and given that the current main window hasn’t even been open for a fortnight yet, we’d say he’s sticking to that promise.
This year actually marks a rare instance of the transfer window being broken up into two parts due to the FIFA Club World Cup (which City are among the favourites to win) and will then re-open on 16 June.
Nevertheless, the Blues look to have got plenty of their business done already, not only with the arrival of Reijnders but the acquisition of left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri earlier this week, plus another attack-minded midfielder, Rayan Cherki.
The second player of Algerian descent and the second signing of the summer window was quickly announced by the Man City social media team just before the Dutchman.
Along with the signing of a new shotstopper, Marcus Betinelli from Chelsea – set to replace former reserve goalkeeper Scott Carson, who left the club after six seasons on Monday – that makes it four new incoming already.
Once again, not only do these latest additions to Pep Guardiola’s squad take their transfer total to over £300m on new talent in 2025, but there is still plenty of time for City to sign even more players with the summer window not closing until 7pm BST on 1 September.
Although the club have now acquired all of the players they have been most publicly linked with so far, it’s unclear whether their spending will continue or if the focus now turns to the Club World Cup getting underway this month and preparing the current squad for next season.
What do you make of Man City‘s latest recruits? Don’t forget, there have been some new arrivals in the backroom as well.
Danny Jones -
14th February 2025 
