Sport

Leigh Leopards make history with landmark albeit narrow win over Wigan Warriors

Caught your breath back yet, WN?

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 14th February 2025

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.

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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.

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Featured Images — Betfred Super League (screenshots via YouTube)

Sport

Manchester City star Bernardo Silva weighs in on growing fixture list congestion concerns

Danny Jones Danny Jones Bernardo Silva says fixture list congestion is unfair

Manchester City star Bernardo Silva has become the latest Blue and high-profile Premier League player to weigh in on growing concerns around the increasingly congested fixture list.

Silva’s comments come after Man City ended up conceding an equaliser to walk away with a draw instead of three points in what was already tipped as a title-challenging clash between Pep Guardiola and his protégé, Mikel Arteta, whose Arsenal side managed to score in stoppage time.

The number of games was a big talking point after the game – as it has been on multiple ocassions over the past year or so – and captain Bernardo Silva was one of the most outspoken on the matter following the full-time whistle.

Addressing the media during his post-match duties, the ‘Cityzen’ and Portugal midfielder said the current playing schedule is “not right” and is simply untenable for footballers to keep up with. You can see the full clip down below.

He gave an extensive response to the ongoing debate.

Speaking with multiple media outlets, the 31-year-old began by clarifying that his statements were not because his team lost, but because “the reality is we cannot come to one of the most important games [against title rivals Arsenal] in the season with such a disadvantage, in terms of rest.

“It’s not fair to play one of these games like this, it’s just not right”, says the Man City man. “[Arsenal] had five days, we had two and a half. In one of the most important games, this cannot happen.

“I wasn’t feeling in a perfect condition to play, and people who have not played at the highest level don’t know how it feels to play a game like this.”

Targeting his response at the likes of UEFA and those in charge of the current and undeniably full-on schedule, specifically, Silva said: “They don’t listen to us – it is what it is. We would like to change something, but it never changes.

“It doesn’t really matter, but for the fans, for the respect of the clubs, and for the fairness of the competition, I don’t think what happened was good…”

“The schedule is the schedule, and I understand you have different competitions and UEFA, the Premier League, and broadcasters want to make their money; we don’t mind playing every three or four days, and don’t mind playing 60 games – we’re used to that, but what we ask for is common sense.”

It looks like City are putting up a united front on the matter, with Pep Guardiola sharing similar sentiments on Sky Sports (a question he quite clearly resented), stating that his squad were “incredibly tired” even going into the game.

As for the City skipper, he went on to reiterate: “This is one of the biggest games of the season. It’s not because of us, I don’t think they’re trying to make us lose – it could happen to Arsenal or Liverpool in a few months…

You need to have a bit of common sense and understanding of these situations, and in such an important game, players need to be in the same physical conditions; otherwise, I don’t think it’s fair.

In short, the senior City deputy and Portuguese international said he could tell the difference in the two teams’ fitness levels in the first half, adding: “If you play at the highest level, you know two days playing against one of the best teams in the league, away, with the travel, you need at least one more day to recover.

“It doesn’t matter if Arsenal had four, five or six days [to recover], just give us one more day, and that gives us three-and-a-half days, then you make it an even game. Two-and-a-half days is not enough to recover our bodies and perform at the highest level…”

Do you agree with Bernardo Silva and so many other players’ opinions on the fixture list congestion?

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Featured Images — soccer.ru)/Sky Sports/NBC Sports (screenshot via YouTube)

Sport

Viral Manchester United fan attacked by fellow Red after ‘needless’ behaviour inside Old Trafford

Danny Jones Danny Jones Man U supporter attacks United Strand fan not pulling hair

A Manchester United fan who has gone viral for his haircut strike stunt was involved in an incident at Old Trafford this weekend after another supporter attacked him.

Known online as ‘The United Strand’, Man United fan Frank Ilett has famously vowed not to cut his hair until his team win five games in a row.

The 29-year-old was in attendance for United’s fiery clash against Chelsea, which not only saw a very unwelcoming reception for Alejandro Garnacho on his first return to the stadium, but also ended in two red cards and plenty of flare-ups on the pitch.

However, scrapping up in the concourse caught plenty of attention, too; Ilett was grabbed by another fan by the hair and yanked around for several seconds. You can see the clip down below:

As you can see, he remains remarkably calm throughout the entire unprovoked ordeal and looks to have been a very popular figure around the ground up until this moment.

Countless other Reds were chatting with him and grabbing selfies before the as-yet-unidentified male approached him and began grabbing him by the hair.

Frank initially looks like he thinks it’s nothing more than a jokey tug and bit of teasing, as do many others in the immediate vicinity, before it becomes abundantly clear that the aggressive individual intends to do him harm.

After being pulled apart, the attacker can be heard shouting, “F*** off, I’ll do what I f*****g want! He’s not a United f*****g fan…”

Luckily, plenty more right-minded supporters close by were on hand to help in the moment and keep him away from Frank; we only hope he was immediately reported to security soon following the altercation.

Now approaching nearly a full year of not cutting his hair until his team, he shared his most recent video update this morning, opting not to go into the ordeal at this time, adding instead: “I’ll talk about it a bit more some other time.”

Originally from Oxford but now living in Spain, Frank travelled back to England specifically to attend the match with fellow recognisable online fan and music artist, Humz – it’s just sad that an otherwise much-needed win was somewhat soured by the assault.

Unsurprisingly, his attacker has been quickly condemned by the majority of other fans who identified the behaviour as nothing short of unacceptable and nothing short of criminal.

One person commented: “The United Strand lad is such a lovely lad, this guy with the bald head is well out of order, and I suppose he is jealous of him because he is popular! What a f*****g w****r!”

It’s worth noting that Frank Ilett started the self-imposed challenge of refusing to cut his hair not only as just a silly bit of fun but as a unique way of generating funds for The Little Princess Trust, who help raise money and supply real-hair wigs to young people who have lost their hair through cancer.

He also helped raise money for the crucial mental health charity, Mind, and even appeared as a guest on The Last Leg to help raise further awareness.

Manchester United has yet to issue any kind of statement addressing the situation; in the meantime, we hope Frank isn’t too shaken up by the whole thing, and we’ll simply direct you to his JustGiving page, where you can donate to the charity HERE.

You can see the highlights from Man United’s much-needed win over Chelsea here.

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Featured Images — The United Strand/@StokeyyG2 (via X)/Humz (via Instagram)

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