Since then, Leythers have been jealous of their big brothers, often trying anything they can to have a go at Wigan, even supporting St Helens. A Challenge Cup game therefore is something special when won. In all, Wigan and Leigh have met 12 times in the Cup with Wigan winning 10 and Leigh only notching up 2 wins (technically, but you'll see if you read on). Here are the meetings for those interested:
1904/05: 22 March (h) WON 5-0 Round 1*
1923/24: 16 February (h) WON 7-5 Round 1
1934/35: 9 February (a) WON 44-0 Round 1
1938/39: 4 February (h) WON 33-0 Round 1
1948/49: 12 February (h) LOST 11-12 Round 1 (1st leg)
26 February (a) WON 10-4 (2nd leg) (agg 21-16)*
1958/59: 11 April (Station Road, Swinton) WON 5-0 Semi Final
1967/68: 24 February (a) WON 20-2 Round 2
1969/70: 7 March (a) WON 6-4 Round 3
2002: 12 March (a) WON 30-16 Quarter Final
Leigh have enever knocked Wigan out of the Cup. Now... you may have seen a * appear in there once or twice. Firstly, let's look at the 1905 tie which Wigan won 5-0 at Central Park. The game was originally played at Mather Lane, Leigh on 4 March with the Leythers winning 3-0 but, due to them fielding an ineligible player the game was ordered to be replayed at Central Park. Luckily, Wigan won in a team which included legendary captain James Leytham and Johnny Thomas.
Secondly, we go back to February 1949 when Challenge Cup ties were played in 'legs'. Joe Egan, Ken Gee and Cec Mountford (to name but a few) failed to win the first leg, played at Central Park, losing 11-12. The second leg at Mather Lane, Leigh saw Brian Nordgren score a try and Ted Ward converting to see Wigan into a narrow win 5-4. With the aggregate score 16-16, extra time was not played as ruled, and the match was declared void. Instead, the game was ordered to be replayed in Leigh on 26th February in which Wigan won more easily 10-4 thanks to Nordgren and Ward doing the honours yet again.
In all, despite twice losing to Leigh, Wigan have never been knocked out of the Challenge Cup in 12 attempts since the 1904/05 season. It is interesting to note that Wigan and Leigh faced each other in the first round of the Cup for the first five encounters.
By the time Wigan and Leigh faced each other for the second time during the 1923/24 season Wigan had only lost once in the Challenge Cup at home. As this first round tie was at home, Wigan were fancied favourites. South African winger Attie Van Heerden was in devastating form at the time. A week before the Cup tie against Leigh, he scored no fewer than 5 tries against Hull KR, a nice warm up. Such was the attraction of this Cup tie, the Central Park secretaries had decided not to take any monies at the ground on match day but instead, told supporters to pre-purchase tickets beforehand or entry would be refused. The idea of this was to keep the crowd levels DOWN so that there wasn't to be thousands of fans locked out on match day. Due to a big crowd being expected, the Central Park pitch was covered a couple of days before match day just in case the weather got to it. In all, 32,226 spectators were in attendance which was comfortably the biggest attendance the game had seen in many a year with gate receipts of £1,786 breaking many records of the time.
The Wigan Observer reported on the day of Hull Kingston Rovers' mauling, that Leigh had gone into special training, similar to when they won the Cup a few years earlier against Leeds. New foods, 'less' alcohol, longer walks etc... were all in preparation for the Challenge Cup. Leigh were up for this one. Leigh lost 7-5 in a close game with Wigan going on all the way to the Final and winning the Trophy at last against Oldham.
Eleven years later in the 1934/35 season, the local neighbours met again, this time at Leigh again in Round 1. Despite historically being a close game, the traffic came all the way from Wigan. Wigan won 44-0 with ten tries, Jim Sullivan converting 7 of them with prolific try scorer Alf Ellaby scoring a hat trick. With Cup games against Leigh averaging one meeting every ten years or so, rugby supporters in the township only had to wait until 1939 to face Leigh again. This time played at Central, Wigan could only manage a score of 33-0 scoring 7 tries and Jim Sullivan converting 6 of them! Jackie Morley this time claimed a hat trick as Wigan could only manage a semi final appearance (losing to Salford) before the outbreak of War.
By the time 1959 came around, Wigan and Leigh supporters were thankful that they had finally avoided each other in Round 1 of the Cup. This time there was a great prize at stake: Wembley. In one of the most high profile matches between the two clubs, supporters from Wigan and Leigh travelled the short distance to Station Road, Swinton for the semi final. Wigan's team included unfamiliar names such as Billy Boston, Eric Ashton and Brian McTigue (who they?). Wigan edged out winners 5-0 thanks to a solitary score from Mick Sullivan. Wigan went onto Wembley and defeated Hull 30-13 in what was to be one of Billy Boston's finest games for the Wigan club.
By now, Leythers were starting to think that they would never beat Wigan in the Cup at all. In some ways they have been hard done by with winning a first leg match in 1949 and fielding an ineligible player in 1905 but that was the closest they have come to knocking Wigan out. Boston and Ashton were at it again nine years later in Round 2 of the Cup which was drawn to be played in Leigh. It wasn't a close game with Wigan winning 20-2 but by now Boston and Ashton were becoming the last two men standing of the Great post-War era. As the 1960s drew to an end, so too did Wigan's fortunes it seems. The 1970s were a disaster for the Wigan club whilst Leigh did win the Challenge Cup in 1970/71. The decade was started by a 6-4 win for Wigan in the 1970 Cup third round and then nothing...
It was to be another 32 years before the Borough would have at least one team entering the next round. 2002 saw a quarter final clash in which Wigan won 30-16 on their way to their 17th Challenge Cup triumph (over St Helens). As you can tell, the last few ties have been skipped over. The romance is long gone between Wigan and Leigh and no longer can we have crowds of 30,000+ watching a Round 1 tie against the two. Fortunes for both clubs have changed. Wigan eventually forgot about the 1970s and from the mid-80s the rest, they say, is history. Leigh on the other hand had their moment of glory in 1981/82 winning the Championship and Lancashire Cup. Today Leigh flirts with administration and crowds normally dip below 3,000. Wigan are the best supported club in the land and arguably possess the best rugby player in either code in the country in Sam Tomkins.
Whatever happens in the future I hope that the romance will return to this fixture. Once every ten years is enough, enough time for a generation to witness it. It may not seem much to many but it is a lot to some. Now all we have are slanging matches between townsfolk which achieves nothing. One thing is for certain: the Greatest players this Wigan club has seen have played in this fixture: James Leytham, James Sullivan, Johnny Ring, Billy Boston, Ken Gee, Joe Egan, Eric Ashton, Cec Mountford and today we have Sam Tomkins.
Match Facts & Stats
- Leigh have never knocked Wigan out of the Challenge Cup
- This fixture has been played 9 times at the earliest possible stage in the Cup when applicable (eg 2013 will be round 4 for Wigan) in 13 meetings.
- Two previous fixtures have 'not counted': 1905 - Leigh had an ineligible player and 1949 - Extra Time didn't happen so 2nd leg was replayed
- Three times have Wigan gone on to win the Cup after defeating Leigh (1924, 1959 & 2002) - we lost in 1970 to Castleford.
- Wigan have won the Cup a record 18 times, Leigh have won it twice (1921 & 1971)
- The Aggregate score for the matches that count is Wigan 171 - Leigh 43 from 10 matches (or 17-4)
- Jim Sullivan has scored 34 points against Leigh in the Cup.
