Sports
The major sporting body in the town is Widnes Vikings Rugby League Football Club who play in the Stobart Super League. Cup kings of the 1970s and 1980s, they were World Club Champions in 1989, after defeating Australian side Canberra Raiders at Old Trafford. More recently, they were winners of the Northern Rail Cup in 2007and 2009. Their home ground is Stobart Stadium Halton in Lowerhouse Lane, which is owned and run by Halton Borough Council. In addition to being a sporting ground it has facilities for conferences and banqueting. In October 2007 the club was defeated in the National League One Grand Final. Following this, and because of the club's financial situation, its board decided to put it into administration. It was subsequently purchased by Steve O'Connor, a local businessman. Stobart Stadium Halton was also the temporary home of St Helens RLFC, they were using the stadium for the 2011 season while their new stadium - Langtree Park - in St Helens was completed.
In Heath Road is a rugby union club, Widnes Rugby Union Football Club (otherwise known as "the wids"), an amateur sports club which is managed and administered by volunteers. The players are all club members and pay subscriptions. The club welcomes and encourages the development of rugby within all sections of the local community by promoting links with local schools, local authorities and the Rugby Football Union constituency body.
Widnes Cricket Club (WA8 9LA) was founded in 1865 and have its ground in Beaconsfield Road. Moorfield Sports & Social Club in Moorfield Road hosts sports including Football, rugby league, cricket and bowls. In Highfield Road is a private golf club.
Widnes Tennis Academy is located on Highfield Rd, WA8 7DW, sharing an entrance with St Peter and Pauls School. This is a privately operated facility consisting of 3 in-door courts, 2 indoor mini courts and six outside courts. It is a Beacon facility and has many links with schools, the local authority and the LTA to promote and develop tennis in the area. It is the home of Lane Tennis Club (Est 1876) which has a number of men's, women's and junior teams playing competitively in the Warrington District League. Other sports facilities are available.
In March 2012 it was announced that a new football club Widnes had been formed. The club is seeking to join the North West Counties Football League for the 2012/13 season.
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Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)
“Reading about ethics is about as likely to improve one’s behavior as reading about sports is to make one into an athlete.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“...I didn’t come to this with any particular cachet. I was just a person who grew up in the United States. And when I looked around at the people who were sportscasters, I thought they were just people who grew up in the United States, too. So I thought, Why can’t a woman do it? I just assumed everyone else would think it was a swell idea.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 85 (June 17, 1991)