Wigan Album

1 JIM SLEVIN
Jim Slevin was born in Ireland in 1861, at Portarlington, County Laois in the Province of Leinster - famous for its rugby even today.
Played 290 Games, scored 131 Tries and was in 8 trophy winning sides for Wigan.
He attended Wigan Grammar School and was a fine athlete who at 16 completed the 110 yard sprint in 12.4 seconds. He became captain of the Wigan Hare and Hounds Club, where along with others formed the Wigan Wasps.
Played for Wigan from 1879 to 1891 and was Captain for a number of years. Mainly played as a right winger and scored many tries, some of them involved the length of the field efforts.
The above photo comes from around 1885.It could be reasonably argued that the opportunities to score tries in those Rugby Union days were fewer than later when there were fewer players on the pitch. Watching today’s Rugby Union matches can give an insight into this speculation.
He was selected to tour with the first English team to visit the Colonies in 1888 but declined. In 1917, Jim died at his home in Swinley, he was 56 years of age.

2 JIM LEYTHAM
Jimmy Leytham was born in Lancaster in 1879 and died tragically in a boating accident in 1916 aged 36.
He made 280 appearances for Wigan, scoring 258 tries and kicking 267 goals.
In December 1903 he signed for Wigan receiving £10 from the Central Park club. He was often known by his nickname “Gentleman Jim”. He played for Wigan from 1903 until 1912.
While at Wigan he won 3 Lancashire Cup medals, 3 Lancashire League titles, 2 SW Lancashire League titles and one League title. He represented Great Britain, England and Lancashire. Like Jim Slevin he played on the wing and captained the club.
He still stands fifth on the Wigan club’s all time highest try scorers list, 18th on the goal scoring list and ninth on the list of highest point scorers for the club. Not only that, he is also the highest try scorer of a player from either Wigan or St Helens in derby matches, with 28 tries. He remains the only player to score four tries for Great Britain in a test match against Australia, a feat achieved in 1910 with the Lions.
He was described as kind and sincere off the pitch and professional on it, Leytham was not just a great player, he was a man who everyone knew, liked and respected.

3 JIM SULLIVAN
Born 1903 Cardiff D 1977 Wigan.aged 73.
Played from 1921 to 1946, making 774 appearances, scoring 83 tries and kicked an astounding 2,317 goals.
Remarkably at the tender age of 16 Jim represented the famous Welsh side Cardiff at full back and was holding down his first team position at 17, he’d also played for the Barbarians. He was obviously a prodigy and yet was out of work at the time which gave Wigan the great opportunity to swoop and sign him for Wigan for £750. Arguably the best bit of business Wigan ever did. Jim played for 25 years, won every honour in the game, including the first Wembley win of the Challenge Cup Final in 1929. He then proceeded to be a very successful coach.
Although Jim was Welsh, having been born in Cardiff had Irish connections like Jim Slevin. Jim’s grandparents hailed from Ireland.
At Wigan he won 3 Lancashire Cups, 4 League Championships, 2 Challenge Cups,
Jim like the other two Jims, captained Wigan but also toured down under in 1932 where he captained one of the finest GB sides ever to tour down under.
Jim played baseball for Wales and was at one point contemplating a Golf career, he was that good.
Here are a couple of statements about Jim, from astute observers of the game.
“Throughout the 1920s and 1930s one man bestrode the Rugby League world like a colossus and was unquestionably the pre-eminent player of his era'
'Few men can ever have loved their sport more than Jim. he simply lived for it and it was, perhaps, this passionate love for the game which made him such a remarkable player. So many full-backs are either good in defence or in attack......... Yet Jim Sullivan was simply brilliant at both.”