Leigh Leopards kick-off time switched as Super League’s 5,000th game plans revealed
A general view of the Leigh Sports Village ahead of a Leigh Leopards game in 2024, with fireworks being set off and flags being waved
Warrington Wolves’ home clash with Leeds Rhinos next Friday night will officially be Super League’s 5,000th game: because Leigh Leopards’ meeting with Wakefield Trinity has seen its kick-off time pushed back for that to be the case.
Super League‘s first-ever game back on March 29, 1996 took place in the French capital as Paris Saint-Germain beat Sheffield Eagles 30-24 at Stade Sebastien Charlety.
Fast forward almost 29 years to the day, and the competition is fast approaching game number 5,000.
The way the schedule had been drawn up originally, the honour of the 5,000th game would have officially been shared by Leigh v Wakefield and Warrington v Leeds.
Both of those games had been pencilled in for an 8pm kick-off next Friday night (March 28). But now, the issue has been resolved – with Leigh’s kick-off pushed back so that Warrington and Leeds can take the honour.
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Leigh Leopards kick-off time switched to celebrate Super League’s 5,000th game at Warrington Wolves
Super League will now celebrate the landmark figure of 5,000 games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium when the Wolves face the Rhinos in a meeting of two clubs that have never not been a part of the competition.
News of Leigh’s kick-off time being pushed back to accommodate those celebrations was revealed to the media in a short meeting with RFL chiefs on Wednesday afternoon.
The kick-off time at the Leopards’ Den as Adrian Lam’s side host newly-promoted Wakefield is yet to be officially confirmed, but is expected to be only slightly later, by a matter of minutes.
For everyone’s sake after all this faffing, we just hope that Wire and Leeds kick off on time at 8pm!
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Bumper crowd hopes for Easter games
Elsewhere, Super League and the RFL are preparing for a big Easter, harbouring hopes of beating the biggest cumulative attendance at a round of games in the competition’s history.
The Easter weekend of 2023 currently holds that accolade, with 83,557 spectators watching the six ‘Rivals Round’ games which took place that year.
The average attendance of 13,892 over that Easter weekend in 2023 also remains a record for any single round of Super League stretching back to the launch of the competition in 1996.
This coming Easter weekend, when the six Super League fixtures take place between April 17 and 19, is again a ‘Rivals Round’.
Among the standout games, West Yorkshire foes Wakefield Trinity Castleford Tigers square off at Belle Vue, while Hull FC v Hull KR and Wigan Warriors v St Helens both take place on Good Friday as is tradition.
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