Hilton Park was a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England. It was the home of Leigh RLFC rugby league club and Leigh Genesis

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club. It had a capacity of approximately 10,000. The stadium was demolished in February 2009.

History

In 1947, Leigh Rugby League Club moved to new headquarters in Kirkhall Lane, having played at Mather Lane before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and at Madeley Park (Leigh Harriers Athletic ground) immediately after the war. In 1953, floodlights were installed at a cost of £4,100. The ground saw a record home crowd of 31,326 attend a Rugby League

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

tie with St. Helens in the same year. Later, Kirkhall Lane was officially renamed Hilton Park after former club chairman Jack Hilton in recognition of his work in securing the site for the new ground. Leigh's record attendance for rugby was set in 1953 at 31,326 when St Helens visited for a third round

game. The largest modern-day attendance saw 9,760 watch a Challenge Cup Quarter Final against local rivals

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

in 2002. In 1995, the

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club

Horwich RMI Horwich ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Prior to 1974 in the historic county of Lancashire. It is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest of Manchester. It ...

moved from the

Grundy Hill Grundy Hill was the former home stadium of Horwich RMI association football club in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England, near the Horwich Leisure Centre. The ground had a capacity of approximately 5,000 spectators, with 500 being seated. The t ...

stadium, in

Horwich Horwich ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Prior to 1974 in the historic county of Lancashire. It is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest of Manchester. It l ...

to Hilton Park, changing its name to Leigh RMI in the process. As part of the deal a new company, Grundy Hill Estates, was formed to take over the ownership of the ground. Leigh added Centurions to its name for the 1995–96 season, and as part of the name change the stadium was renamed the Coliseum. Leigh moved to

Leigh Sports Village Leigh Sports Village is an £83 million multi-use sports,
retail and hou ...

for the 2009–10 season. Hilton Park has since been demolished with a housing development being built on the site.

Rugby League Test Matches

The list of international rugby league matches played at Hilton Park is. * This match, played a week after the

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was ...

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, was played in very muddy conditions and saw both teams come out in different coloured jumpers after half time. Australia wore red and New Zealand wore blue.Australia vs New Zealand 1954
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Rugby League Tour Matches

Hilton Park also saw Leigh and an English League XIII select side play host to international touring teams from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

from 1948 to 1982.

References

External links

Hilton Park - Leigh
Defunct rugby league venues in England Defunct sports venues in Greater Manchester Defunct football venues in England Leigh Genesis F.C. Multi-purpose stadiums in the United Kingdom Sport in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Sports venues completed in 1947 Sports venues demolished in 2009 Buildings and structures in Leigh, Greater Manchester Leigh Centurions Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom {{England-sports-venue-stub