Que sera, sera
Whatever will be, will be
We’re going to Wember-Leigh
Que sera, sera

A tune we’ve become accustomed to in ‘Little owd Leigh’ since Leigh Leopards beat the reigning World Club Champions, St Helens in the Rugby League Challenge Cup Semi-Final in late July.

It’s Friday 11th August, the night before what most definitely will be a weekend to remember for everyone in my hometown of Leigh, Lancashire. I felt I had to mark this occasion with a blog, it just had to be done!

So for those of you that don’t know where Leigh is, it’s a small town in the north west of England with a population of roughly 42,000 people. We reside in the borough of Wigan and our rugby league team, Leigh Leopards (formerly Leigh Centurions) have long been in the shadows of their trophy-laden neighbours, Wigan Warriors. Mainly as we’ve always been seen as just a bus stop in Wigan! Most Leythers (as we’re known!) will also say we’ve always lived in the shadows of Wigan as a town in general but I’m not going into that debate!

Famous people to come from Leigh most notably are Pete Shelley (The Buzzcocks), singer Georgie Fame and most recently the indie band , The Lottery Winners achieved the feat of being the first artist from Leigh to have a Number One album. Olympic middle distance runner, Keely Hodgkinson resides from neighbouring town, Atherton and ran for Leigh Harriers when she was younger.

So anyway enough about the celebs, let’s get onto the real stars of the show… LEIGH LEOPARDS! Leigh have long been a yo-yo club, gaining promotion convincingly into the big league but then sliding straight back down into the Championship the following season.

Our not so extravagant owner, Derek Beaumont had different ideas this time round. He invested his hard earned money once again but this time with a Super League quality squad that was finely prepped in the Championship. Leigh Centurions gained promotion following a victory against Batley Bulldogs in the Million Pound Game but what followed the promotion turned out to be Derek’s marketing masterstroke! Cometh the man, cometh the leopards!!!

After being known as Leigh Centurions for just under 30 years, a rebrand was announced in October 2022 and the club would now be known as Leigh Leopards! Now initially the rebrand didn’t go down too well with the fans and the rugby league world turned Leigh into a bit of a laughing stock. Who’s laughing now though?!? Visit any rugby league ground where the Leopards are playing and you’ll see a stadium awash with leopard print clothing! Myself included! If you’d said a year ago to any bloke in Leigh that you’d have more leopard print in your wardrobe than your missus then you’d have been laughed out of town!!!

At the time of writing this blog we’re not living in the shadows of the pie eaters anymore (Wigan’s nickname!), we’re keeping them company at the top of the ladder . Now I’m not saying we’ve taken the Warriors mantle but we have certainly taken the Super League by storm this season following our promotion from the Championship in 2022. The Leopards currently sit joint second in the Super League (with Wigan Warriors) and are on target to reach the play-offs with a goal of reaching the Grand Final at Old Trafford in October.

Most importantly though, tomorrow we are off to Wembley to watch the Leopards play Hull KR in the Challenge Cup final, a feat Leigh haven’t achieved since 1971 when they were the underdogs and famously beat Leeds in the final at Wembley.

My Dad was there at the final back in ’71, it was a week after he’d got married to my Mum! What a honeymoon that was! Well for one of them at least!!! I’ve long wanted to watch my hometown team at Wembley, not only for my own personal reasons but also to share that momentous occasion with my Dad and the rest of my family. There will be three generations of us in attendance tomorrow and given Alfie’s condition, it makes it all the more special for us to make fantastic memories, whether we win or lose. If Duchenne has taught us anything it’s to embrace the day.

On Thursday, we sent the Leopards off from Leigh Sports Village with at least a thousand fans turning up to cheer the squad on the road to the Wembley. We’ve made two flags for the occasion and Mila-Rose and Alfie were lucky enough to get their ‘Wham! Bam! Thank You Lam!’ flag (which is in homage to Leigh Leopards Head Coach, Adrian Lam and his son, Lachlan Lam who plays half back) signed by players! Adrian and Lachlan also kindly had their photograph with the flag which put the biggest smile on their little faces!

We will be up bright and early on Saturday (5am!!) and will leave the Leigh Sports Village on the coach number 13 at 7am on Saturday morning, no doubt we’ll hear “Are we nearly there yet?” god knows how many times on our journey to Wembley but everything single second of this day will be soaked up and enjoyed to the max!

No matter what the result tomorrow we will be immensely proud of what this squad has achieved. After myself and Alfie went watching them train recently you can quite clearly see that they have each others back, no matter what. The squad also interact so well with the fans. Every single one of the players has so much time for the fans, staying out after matches to have selfies sometimes half an hour after the match has finished! Football needs to take a good look at rugby league and how it engages with fans.

It will be momentous occasion for our town and it will certainly be emotional. I won’t quite believe it’s happening until I’m in the stadium belting out Abide with Me no doubt with a bit of that London grit in my eye!

To everyone travelling down to Wembley, safe travels and enjoy the day with your loved ones and your fellow Leythers! Be LOUD, be PROUD and be the ROAR that brings the cup home!

Will the last one to leave Leigh please turn out the lights!

Up the Leopards!