Leigh Leopards force ‘unprecedented’ situation for Super League rivals

Leigh Leopards are set to travel in such large numbers to face Catalans Dragons that the French side have been forced to stop selling tickets to Leigh fans.

An away trip to Perpignan is on the bucket list of lots of Super League fans, particularly if your team are lucky enough to land a summer clash in the sunny South of France, which is exactly what Leigh have this coming weekend.

After pummelling Steve McNamara’s side 30-2 at the Leigh Sports Village in Round Nine, Leigh will face Catalans on Saturday evening and will have the backing of 1,500 Leopards fans.

That figure of 1,500 is reported as being a record by journalist Steve Brady and it’s certainly struck fear into those at Catalans who have now decided to stop selling tickets to Leigh fans with the French side’s commercial director arguing: “We don’t want to have the feeling of playing away”.

Leigh Leopards take record figures to France

Catalans Commercial Director, Christophe Levy, told French publication L’Independant about the club’s decision, something that the paper have reported as “extremely rare” and reflective of an “unprecedented situation”.

Levy said: “We are closing the ticket office to supporters of the Leigh club. The club has no choice. If we continue, we will be invaded and we don’t want to have the feeling of playing away. It’s an important match, we especially need the supporters to support our Dracs.”

With 1,500 Leigh Leopards fans travelling over, it’s expected to be a sellout at the Stade Gilbert Brutus with a full 11,000 expected to be watching the game in Saturday evening. It will be an opportunity for Catalans to solidify their playoff position and end their poor run of form that started with defeat against the Leopards.

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For Leigh though, it’s another massive game with the club’s poor start to the season placing them in a position where they need to win the large majority of their remaining fixtures to be in with a shot at making the top six, something owner Derek Beaumont noted recently.

Adrian Lam and Co will certainly be grateful for the travelling support in that case with Catalans’ Levy further explaining that Leigh Leopards are taking twice as many fans as Warrington did recently.

He explained: “In the middle of June, this match is obviously full of English people but this is unheard of, we have already sold 1,500 tickets at the club, that’s twice as much as for Warrington.

“It’s over. If supporters want tickets, they will have to be taken at the ticket counters, if there are any left.”