Well this time last week, myself and the majority of my hometown of Leigh were gripped by Wember-Leigh fever! Leigh Leopards were preparing to face Hull KR in the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.

A sleepless night followed the blog and I can only describe the feeling that evening similar to the excitement of Christmas Eve as a young child and the anxiousness of not hearing your alarm the night before going on holiday! I slept on the couch for a few hours then retired to bed about 1am, waking up every hour asking myself, “How can it not be time to get up yet???”

5am arrived and finally the moment had arrived, today I was living a lifelong dream of watching Leigh in a major cup final at Wembley Stadium. I’d been to the ‘old’ Wembley a couple of times watching Bolton Wanderers, the first time a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in the 1995 Coca-Cola Cup Final and the second time later that year in the Championship Play-Off Final against Reading, a 4-3 extra time victory which propelled the mighty Wanderers into the Premier League. Today though was going to be special, very special.

We boarded Coach 13 at Leigh Sports Village and we were lucky enough to be the second coach to depart from the stadium. A quick stop off at Stafford Services to collect our driver-in chief, Cliff and then we were back on the road with an estimated arrival time of 11.30am. You could feel the nervous excitement on the coach. Hopes and dreams flickering through everyones mind.

We arrived at Wembley not too far off driver , Cliff’s estimation. We found our bearings and wandered onto Wembley Way. A cameraman approached us from Granda Reports and asked if we’d walk towards the camera cheering, so we duly obliged. We were then interviewed briefly by Mike Hall, the Granada Reports sports reporter.

My Dad was trying to explain to him how he was there back in 1971 when Leigh last won the cup and how it was a week after he’d married my Mum. Two takes later and he still ended up on the cutting room floor!!! Alfie gave a bold prediction of 16-0 to Leigh and Louise repeatedly said how amazing the occasion was!!! Maybe we were just overwhelmed by the reality of where we were and how big this occasion was. We seemed to be outnumbered by Hull KR fans on Wembley Way, the red and white adorning their fans was bold and bright whilst the leopard print was almost like camouflage. As time went on, step by step we discovered more Leythers and soon enough the leopard print was appearing everywhere!

After walking on Wembley Way, we decided to head into the stadium and prepare ourselves for the main event! That’s then were the reality finally hits home and the nervous excitement properly kicks in. Abide with Me and God Save the King complete the formalities and we’re almost ready for kick off!

I’m not going to give you a full running commentary of how the game went as this is a blog not a sports report but a very topsy turvy first half saw Leigh Leopards slightly edging Hull KR by 10-8, it was finely balanced and anyone’s game. The drama didn’t relent. A Hull KR penalty made it 10-10 but with 10 minutes left the Leigh fans were finally believing the cup was coming home after 52 long and painful years as winger Tom Briscoe put Leigh back ahead. It looked to be a decisive score until the Leopards failed to deal with a kick, Hull KR were awarded a try after an anxious 4 minute wait from the video referee and the conversion with seconds left sent the game into golden point extra time. If we were going to win this trophy then we were doing it the Leigh way!!

I’ll be honest but letting a 16-10 lead go with less than a couple of minutes to go felt like our chance of lifting the cup had well and truly gone as I felt the momentum was now with Hull KR. At that point I was planning how to deal with the kids reaction as they’d be distraught and the journey home on the coach would be horrendous. Neither side really deserved to lose this final. After missed drop-goal attempts, first by Leigh’s Gareth O’Brien and then by Hull KR’s Brad Schneider, Lachlan Lam came up with the magical moment that will live with Leigh fans forever, his match winning drop-goal sparked wild uncontrollable celebrations both on and off the pitch! WHAM! BAM! THANK YOU LAM!

“CONGRATULATIONS to LEIGH LEOPARDS – CHALLENGE CUP WINNERS 2023!” said the Stadium announcer. It felt like a very surreal, out of body experience. I remember just hugging anyone that came within my vicinity and shouting “We’ve won, we’ve won!!” I grabbed hold of Alfie and just gave him the biggest hug and kiss, I think he was just in shock at my uncontrollable reaction more than anything!! Then Mila-Rose and Louise came running along the concourse to see what was going on as they’d either been the toilet or just couldn’t bare to watch!!!

The joy of seeing so many jubilant Leythers allowing this moment sink in will live with me forever. It’s a feeling that I wish I could cork in a bottle and pop whenever it was a down day. What followed was the lifting of the trophy, a very long but joyous journey home on the coach and a homecoming the following day that just finished off the most perfect weekend. I think a lot of people were affected by the grit that was flying about on Sunday!

Little owd Leigh, the fairytale story of 2023! I’m not sure any other club will achieve what this team has accomplished this season. This time last year, Leigh were celebrating winning the 1895 Cup (the competition for non-Super League teams) and the curtain-raiser for the Challenge Cup final. 12 months on and the Leopards have their claws on the sport’s biggest prize for the first time since in 52 years!

Following their controversial re-brand, Leigh Leopards were tipped to be fighting relegation this season. Yet incredibly, we have won the Challenge Cup and are in contention for a top 4 finish in Super League. I think the Leigh Leopards fairytale story would have made great viewing on the Amazon Prime – All or Nothing sports documentaries! I’m not sure they have an owner that is quite ready for the limelight just yet!!

So I hope that’s given you just a bit of insight into our momentous day at Wembley and if you’re outside of the North of England, be sure to try and catch a Super League game on Sky Sports Arena or Channel 4 (Leigh v Catalan on Sky Sports 19th August 3pm). I’m sure you will be hooked!

Finally, I’m just so glad Mila-Rose and Alfie (and my nephew, Finley) were there to share Leigh Leopards successful day at Wembley. I’ve long been jealous of my Dad being there in 1971 and my hopes were fading fast that I’d never witness seeing Leigh at Wembley.

Another one ticked off the bucket list, wonder what will be next??

Let me know in the comments your experiences of last weekends Wembley trip. Also, what’s on your bucket list? Will you have to wait 40 years to tick something off your bucket list like I did?

Thanks for reading! Take care, K x

Wembley experience comments – “Fabulous blog Kieron – & god yeah last Friday night really was like Christmas Eve as a kid again!!! M couldn’t sleep either brilliant weekend ” – TD

“A brilliant weekend and memories to treasure. Glad my Dad came with us to celebrate.” – SS

“Great Kieron! A great day for everyone, it felt like we had been to a wedding so many people we hadn’t seen in years” – KA & SA

“Another brilliant Blog of Brilliant Memories. A great read that captured the Magic , tension and nervous energy that a Challenge Cup Final brings. #UpTheLeopards” – GR

Love this! Brilliant blog Kieron I couldn’t make Wembley but we all gathered as a family gripped and celebrated. You certainly captured what we were feeling at home too – CP