| WIGAN NEWS | | |  | | | LESLEY RICHARDS | | | | |  We have a fantastic array of hot deals, cruises, day trips and sporting breaks run by our friendly staff at the Reader Travel Office.
| | CENTURIONS' UPDATES | |
|
|
|
Ashton back in Leigh
FORMER England RFU head coach Brian Ashton was at Leigh Sports Village complex where he was guest speaker at Wigan Borough Sports Council's annual meeting.
Ashton was invited to appear alongside Trevor Barton, who made his final appearance as chairman of WBSC, Rodney Hill (chief executive of Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust) and former Wigan Rugby League international and GB team manager, Phil Clarke (president of WBSC).
Clarke said: "We invited Brian because of his strong links with Leigh and with rugby in particular. We were delighted that he accepted our invitation, which gave us a chance to show the work that voluntary sports groups do in the area to maintain social cohesion in an otherwise deprived area."
Ashton took a tour of the sporting facilities in his former home town of Leigh, including the new £6.4m Leigh Indoor Sports Centre and said: "I can't believe what a transformation the Sports Village has made to Leigh, and the range of fantastic sporting facilities now available to the people of the town. I'd like to come back when the stadium is open and see these excellent facilities in action."
Noted both nationally and regionally for his services to sport, and in particular rugby football, Brian was arguably the man responsible for the most exciting period of English rugby when, as assistant coach to Clive Woodward from 1998 to 2002, England played their most exciting brand of rugby for many years.
Chief Executive of Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust Rodney Hill said: "We believe the facilities are some of the finest in the region and are working closely with the rest of the partners at Leigh Sports Village to make this one of the most vibrant sporting areas in the North West."
Ashton was controversially removed as the national side's head coach last month.
The Leigh Grammar School old boy was brought Opal Grove near Leigh Bridge and played for Tyldesley RUFC and Orrell and held coaching posts as Ireland head coach and RFU National Academy manager.
10:27am Wednesday 7th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
