- Ambitious Rebranding: Leigh Club’s transformation from Centurions to Leigh Leopards
- Surprising Success: Leigh challenges Super League’s status quo with strong performance
- Off-Pitch Preparations: Leigh aims to establish itself and achieve Super League success.
It was a statement that, in retrospect, seems somewhat prescient, but at the time it was very simple to criticize. Derek Beaumont, the owner of the Championship-winning Leigh club, stated after gaining promotion to the Super League last October, “We’re not going into the Super League to pad the stats.”
This was the day Beaumont announced an ambitious rebranding of a club known as the Centurions since 1995. The Leigh Leopards debuted in a new leopard-themed uniform, to widespread ridicule. Given that Leigh had previously been promoted to the Super League three times, only to be relegated the following year, it was difficult not to believe that history would repeat itself. However, how incorrect were the skeptics?
No Super League club has ever finished higher than sixth in its first season back in the top division, but Leigh are second heading into Sunday’s trip to Salford, they are in the Challenge Cup semi-finals, and they have a real chance of winning their first major trophy since 1982.
The rebrand has been a success, and a Greater Manchester town that is essentially a suburb of Wigan – so small that it lacks a train station – is threatening to upset the Super League’s status quo in a manner that no other club has.
Beaumont, the local businessman who has invested millions to make Leigh a power, makes this more than an underdog story.
“Proud doesn’t do justice to how I feel,” he says. “I need a new word to express what these players and staff members mean to me and how they make me feel. The sacrifices they make for this organization and our city give me an unprecedented sense of pride.”
Leigh has been a yo-yo club, frequently being too strong for the Championship but never being prepared for Super League. But at the beginning of the previous year, Beaumont endeavored to effect change.
He appointed former Wakefield head coach Chris Chester as Leigh’s director of rugby and then appointed former Wigan head coach Adrian Lam as the team’s head coach. Beaumont left rugby to more experienced players, and the results were excellent. Leigh annihilated the Championship, won the 1895 Cup, and steamrolled to promotion. “The key ingredients were Chezzie and Lammy,” admits Beaumont.
During the offseason, they signed notable players such as former England international Zak Hardaker and Samoan sensation Ricky Leutele. Leigh has won 12 of their previous 18 Super League games despite recent struggles. Lam declares, “As a coach, I’m very proud.” “You must continue to prod yourselves. We continue to exert effort, as we are not yet completed.
It’s a terrific time for the city with nine games left, second in the standings, and 80 minutes from Wembley.
They have not been able to discuss the possibility of traveling to Wembley for a long time. The athletes make them pleased.”
Leigh is also preparing off the pitch for IMG’s 2025 gradings, which will determine Super League players. There have been pre-match shows featuring the bands Scouting for Girls and the Lottery Winners, and the club has introduced women’s, physical disability, and learning disability teams to establish a development academy that can compete with Wigan’s.
It is hoped that Super League success will place the city and its 145-year-old club on the map.
The likelihood of Leigh obtaining a trophy has been compared to that of Leicester City winning the Premier League. Perhaps not surprisingly, Beaumont has a different opinion. “I understand the comparison, but Leicester had to first survive and then accomplish the impossible,” he says. “If we do it from the beginning, I believe it surpasses it.”
A win against Salford would bring Leigh one step closer to a postseason berth and secure second place. However, their upcoming Challenge Cup semi-final against St. Helens takes on added significance given that they have not played in the Wembley final since 1971. It is yet another indicator of Leigh’s remarkable progress over the past 18 months.
“I addressed the team before our first Challenge Cup match of the year, and we reviewed footage from 1921 and 1971 [when Leigh won the Cup],” says Beaumont. “We discussed what we could accomplish and how it could serve as a standard for future generations. Even if the season ends with nothing in the cabinet and no finals, I will be the most proud of this club I have ever been.
“My seatbelt is fastened and I’m prepared for the remainder of the rollercoaster ride. I wonder what the final image will look like when I exit.” Although Leigh lacks a train station, its rugby league club is undoubtedly on the rise.
