Statue to RL legend unveiled

A statue of Leigh rugby league legend John Woods was officially unveiled.
John (white shirt) with L-R: grandson Luke Briggs-Wood, present Leigh Centurions captain Mickey Higham, grandson Rieve Woods and former Leigh coach Alex Murphy — A statue of Leigh rugby league legend John Woods was officially unveiled. John (white shirt) with L-R: grandson Luke Briggs-Wood, present Leigh Centurions captain Mickey Higham, grandson Rieve Woods and former Leigh coach Alex Murphy

The bronze likeness of Leigh’s all-time record points scorer John Woods officially went on display on Saturday afternoon.

The statue stands in pride of place at the front of the Leigh Sports Village (LSV) after fans, businesses and councillors raised £30,000 to create it.

John was joined by former Leigh chairman Brian Bowman to unveil the statue, watched by a large crowd of Centurions supporters as well as former players and local politicians.

Leigh rugby league legend John Woods signing autographs next to his statue

The afternoon was a double celebration for the club and its fans as the statue ceremony was followed by the Centurions celebrating promotion to Super League with victory against Batley Bulldogs in front of more than 10,500 people.

Stand-off John, from Butts Bridge, scored 2,492 points during his two spells with Leigh.

Fund-raising events to make the statue a reality included a 110-mile bike ride to all the clubs John played for during his career and a sportsman’s dinner reuniting many of the members of Leigh’s 1981-2 Championship-winning team.

The organising committee successfully raised the money in time to unveil the statue to coincide with John’s 60th birthday celebrations.