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Leigh Leopards staged a highly successful event where all the academy and scholarship players, together with members of their families were invited to the Leopards Den for presentations by club officials, players and staff.
Head of Youth Kieron Purtill, who was the mastermind that led to a successful Academy bid, which saw the club through to an approved scholarship and academy programme for the first time in 20 years, was also in attendance for what was one of the proudest days in the club's history.
Kieron Purtill said: “It was a proud and historical day to help deliver our official Scholarship and Academy launch at Leigh Leopards. This is a significant milestone not only for the club but all local juniors looking to develop into professional rugby league players.
“We now can provide a genuine pathway from community rugby league through to Leigh Leopards Super League team, underpinning the future of the club from a performance playing aspect.
“I would like to say a massive thankyou to all the sponsors involved in supporting our junior pathways, to all the volunteer coaches who take part and allow this to happen and most importantly to all the community clubs and their coaches, who do a fantastic job in naturing these young athletes from an early age.“
This is a long term vision and will only grow stronger year by year with the support of everyone involved."
As Kieron said, at long last there is now a pathway for the town’s most talented junior players to progress through the ranks with their hometown club. As can be seen by the community clubs listed on the Under 18s, Under 16s and Under 15s squads, many other community clubs from the Wigan, Warrington, St Helens and Widnes areas are among those involved, giving opportunities to young players over a wide radius.
There were two presentations, the first involving the Scholars in age groups 15s and 16s., followed later by the 18s Academy squad. As well as listening to the presentations, the main objective was the photo opportunity of each player in training kit, signing their forms with them and the family, then a group picture of each age group in the iconic North Stand.
Kieron Purtill provided the welcome and then showed a video of the players in training. Club chairman Mike Latham then provided an introduction and a brief history of the club, before speaking to owner Derek Beaumont, 1st team head coach Adrian Lam, reserves coach Stuart Littler and two Leigh born players who have earned places in the Leopards 2025 squad, Andrew Badrock, and Frankie Halton.
Former player Phil Johnson, who came through the old Leigh Colts set-up as a junior represented Great Britain Colts and went on to earn a testimonial after ten years in his hometown club’s first team, spoke from the heart about what playing for Leigh meant to him. He said that even though it is 30 years since he retired as a player he still wears his heritage number as a badge of honour and follows the Leopards avidly.
General manager Mike Smaill outlined to the attendees about the sponsorship opportunities and the importance of the Gold Plus membership, whereby members can donate a monthly or annual amount towards the costs of the Academy programme. He stressed that donations are welcomed to any membership category or supporter and are not exclusive to Gold Plus members and that any donations are ringfenced purely for that purpose.
Mike has also pioneered the successful business club which meets monthly and provides vital funding for the academy and scholarship programme.
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