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.

Salford Red Devils confirm new owners after completing takeover

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Featured Images — Betfred Super League (screenshots via YouTube)

Sport

New Lancashire Cricket investors aiming to make Manchester Originals as big as United and City

Danny Jones Danny Jones Manchester Originals new Indian Super Giants owners press conference

Lancashire County Cricket’s new investors and Manchester Originals’ majority owners have stated their desire to make the local Hundred team as big as Man United and City.

The Originals were courted by the RPSG (Rising Pune Supergiant) Group this month, with the Goenka family agreeing to buy up a 70% share of the club after LCCC sold part of their stake in the franchise.

Famously in charge of the Lucknow Super Giants over in the Indian Premier League and their Durban equivalents in South Africa, the possibility of not just a shiny new kit but the Originals being renamed the ‘Manchester Super Giants’ isn’t out of the question, though it would be much further down the line.

Although the conglomerate was initially interested in one of The Hundred’s Southern teams, London Spirit – and they were quizzed on this in a press conference on Friday, 14 February – Vice Chairman Shaswat Goenka’s answer was simple: “Lords is Lords but Manchester is Manchester.”

Expressing a huge amount of respect and admiration for the city’s competitive history, even dubbing it a “sporting powerhouse”, Goenka began by insisting that the opportunity presented is one to build a perfect marriage of culture and a love for cricket.

Going on to identify sport as “one of the single biggest things that unites people across the world, regardless of race, colour” and so forth, he believes that while this is categorically not football, this new chapter could rival its prominence here in the UK and especially Manchester.

From there, he went so far as to argue that the stopping power is there and that RPSG “want the Manchester franchise in the Hundred to become the third biggest sports team in Manchester and challenge those two sports teams [Man City and Man United] in Manchester.”

Quite the statement indeed – but one that was echoed by his two new key collaborators in Lancashire’s CEO, Dan Gidney, and Manchester Originals Chair, James Sheridan.

Gidney in particular was visibly energised by the prospect, reflecting on the moment he realised a great potential after seeing the fanaticism shown by the crowd during India vs Pakistan at Emirates Old Trafford for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

RPSG Manchester Originals LCCC
RPSG invest in Manchester Originals
Even with new leadership, Lancashire Cricket will remain 30% owners of the Manchester Originals. (Credit: The Manc Group/Matt Eachus)

Waxing lyrical about seeing “just how much supporters celebrate a single game of cricket”, he said the goal is to “inject some of that passion into Manchester and LCC“.

Doubling down on Goenka’s statement, he continued: “We’re a bit conservative in the UK, we need to embrace the power of this sport; the fandom is off the scale – [it could be] stronger than the Premier League, in my opinion.”

All three executive speakers were also keen to reiterate that is by no means a complete takeover but rather a “joint venture” aiming to achieve a “true partnership” which could pose even more exciting cross-pollination in the future.

The consensus seems to be that further collaboration with the Super Giants is pretty inevitable and not just in regards to the men’s game but that this merging of brands presents a huge opportunity for young players and the women’s team too, the idea of players spending more time over in India and even some games perhaps being held still sounding very plausible.

Manchester Originals’ Chair, James Sheridan, did caveat the discussion by noting that “contracting isn’t straightforward in franchise cricket” but that conversations have at least started to take place” and, like Goenka, they don’t see this as a gamble but what is bound to be a “formidable partnership.”

He also reiterated the belief that Manchester is “probably the UK’s No 1 sporting city, adding “There you go, I said it”, and that the vision is to build the best team, the biggest fan base and the best culture – with this particular region being the perfect staging ground to do so.

lancashire cricket club manchester original owners
The Manchester Originals Chair and LCCC Chief Exec welcome the incoming co-owners. (Credit: Supplied)

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Two players were present for the press conference as well, with Originals Women’s star Beth Mooney saying she had “admired The Hundred for afar” since it started and quickly knew she “100% wanted to be a part of it”, aiming to “help create a legacy with the Originals as the tournament.”

Men’s player Phil Salt welcomed the new ownership as the start of an “extremely exciting new era” that should help them “bring the best product to the UK”, reiterating that “being part of the right organisation is key.”

Although the investment is yet to be fully ratified by the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) and Lancashire made no bones about the arrears they still have on the books, Gidney was keen to label a lot of as ‘good debt’ and an investment in facilities and infrastructure, something which RPSG will only further aid.

One of the biggest outlays even prior to the new co-owners is the ongoing Farrington project but since the wider county region may have struggled to cheer on a Manchester team, the Originals and Lancashire, more importantly, will no doubt benefit from its completion.

Farrington cricket stadium Lancashire
The new sister stadium will be based over in Preston, offering a second home for what is crucially a Lancashire club. (Credit: Supplied)

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Featured Images — Matt Eachus (supplied via Lancashire County Cricket Club)

Sport

KSI reveals the names who turned him down before booking Misfits fight in Manchester

Danny Jones Danny Jones KSI Dillon Danis fight Manchester

Social media star turned musician and boxer KSI has revealed a laundry list of names he wanted to fight instead of his upcoming opponent at the latest Misfits Boxing match in Manchester.

KSI’s next bout against mixed martial artist and multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion Dillon Danis was officially booked at the start of this month, with the fight just a little over a month and a half away.

The advent of celebrity/influencer boxing isn’t going anywhere – if anything it’s only getting more and more popular as time goes on – and the clamour for the recent Misfits franchise here in the UK is only further proof of that.

However, the promotion doesn’t have all of the pulling power it would hope to at present, as KSI revealed that he didn’t get his first choice of fighter when it came to picking an opponent – in fact, he claims Dillon Danis was actually his fifth choice overall.

As you can see in the clip above, taken from his most recent YouTube upload in which he discussed fellow celebrity boxer and influencer Jake Paul‘s potential fight against Canelo Alvarez was called off, the 31-year-old insisted that Danis was a backup.

“You guys always say that my opponents have been terrible but how many people pull out? I don’t think you understand how many people pull out of fighting me”, he began.

“Even with this fight, I know I’m not even allowed to say it but f*** it. Dillon Danis wasn’t even my fourth choice. We went to Nate Diaz, he said no; we went to Donald Cerrone, he said no; We went to Tony Ferguson: he said no. These guys said no to me.

“Even [Jorge] Masvidal [said no] – we went to Masvidal to fight. He can’t do it because of the UFC. Guys, we’ve been trying to find people to fight.”

Is this just some early and casual form of trash-talking from KSI? Maybe, but we know lots of these big conversations happen as proven by the younger Paul brother’s fight against Mike Tyson actually coming to fruition late last year.

tommy fury ksi rematch
There were talks for a rematch against Tommy Fury too.
dillon dancis ksi manchester
Dillon Danis during his weigh-in against Logan Paul.
KSI is set to fight Dillon Danis in Manchester next month. (Credit: The Manc Group/Ghazi Twaissi via Wikimedia Commons)

Even bringing up the discussion of a potential match-up against Darren Till following his fight against Tommy Fury falling through, he said that the Liverpool-born MMA and former Muay Thai fighter likely wouldn’t be willing to meet the ‘rehydration clause’, which essentially restricts a fighter’s weight limit.

So, for now, Danis it will have to be.

General admission for KSI vs Dillon Danis on 29 March and will be streamed live on the DAZN app and platform – will you be tuning in at home?

You can watch his full video speaking ahead of the fight HERE and grab your tickets down below:

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Featured Images — KSI (screenshot via YouTube)/Press Shot (supplied via AO Arena)

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