By Professor CHRIS BROOKES
WIGAN Warriors are recognised for excellence on the field. However, more than that, the club is an anchor institution in the town, building meaningful and deep connections with our community.
We are a place our fans can call home, where all are welcome irrespective of creed, gender or colour and can celebrate their passion for rugby league and how it positively impacts on their lives.
The single most important priority of our board is to make a positive difference to the community we serve.
That is underscored by the unequivocal commitment and backing of owner Mike Danson, Kris Radlinski – our CEO – and head coach Matt Peet. All are proud Wiganers who are acutely aware of the inequalities so prevalent.
One of the first actions under Mike’s ownership was offering the naming rights for the stadium to the nationally recognised Brick Charity, an anti-poverty organisation rooted in Wigan, offering services to those who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness, financial hardship and/or crisis.
The Brick’s strapline is poignant: ‘no one should be defined by poverty, hardship or trauma – rather hope, dignity and community.’ These beliefs became the catalyst and cornerstone for our partnership.
Consequently, at the beginning of 2025, we made a commitment to support the Brick to meet a range of objectives.
These included raising the profile of the charity and the impact it made in the local community while supporting with events and providing cash donations to enable matched funding to be generated, particularly via the national Multibank Partnership.
It is a sad yet recognised fact that in some areas of Wigan, a third of youngsters are living in poverty. Yet according to ‘Giving World’ more than £2 billion worth of excess products are estimated to be destroyed or wasted in the UK every year.
Across the UK there are six Multibanks, each of which redirect business surplus to communities most in need identified by a grassroots network of healthcare professionals, teachers and community groups.
In Wigan, a survey of 500 school staff revealed that nearly 30 percent of observed students repeatedly missing school due to hygiene issues including dirty uniforms, unwashed hair and unbrushed teeth, often stemming from families’ inability to afford basic hygiene products or laundry services.
The main focus of our partnership became providing vital support to enable them to receive basic food, toiletries, cleaning supplies and household items so that a better standard of living could be achieved.
An initial significant donation from a charitable foundation associated with us and a further £303,000 in donations via partners, has helped to achieve the ambitious target of creating £1 million in social value.
These vital funds have meant that in 2025, 50,000 Wigan families most in need have been supported.
Our second board priority was to work with our Wigan Warriors Charitable Foundation to firmly position the sport as a vehicle for positive change.
We recognised digital exclusion was a major factor perpetuating inequalities and, in conjunction with the Wigan Athletic Community Football Trust and with generous support from SKY UP, a Flagship Digital Hub to address that has been commissioned under the East Stand at the Brick Community Stadium.
This space provides 200 safe, state of the art, equipped spaces for study, access to broadband and digital connection.
At the end of February, 500 children attending the Foundation early season camp enjoyed the experience this hub offers, exclusion a significant barrier to hearing everyone’s voices and advancing career prospects.
The third community priority of the Warriors board is tackling the epidemic of mental health in the town. It is in this space that the Foundation has made such an enormous impact.
Their groundbreaking work around mental health and suicide prevention has meant that those in greatest need feel more empowered to seek help and support.
On World Suicide Prevention Day last May we adopted the strapline – ‘We’re all Wigan. We’re all Warriors’ – a message particularly poignant as tragically Wigan records the third highest suicide rate in the United Kingdom, with 106 residents lost which has risen significantly over the recent past.
We published a video which encapsulated our culture of strength in vulnerability which was a direct response to rising rates of male loneliness.
With limited presence of positive male influences and changing social attitudes towards masculinity, it is clear that young men have learnt to numb emotion, viewing vulnerability negatively.
‘We’re all Wigan. We’re all Warriors’ reinforces that Wigan Warriors are your team-mates on and off the pitch, with a shared commitment to support the growth and development of the next generation of men.
It also signposts viewers to ‘ANDYSMANCLUB’ a men’s suicide prevention charity, hosting free weekly peer-to-peer support group sessions at The Brick Community Stadium and online, as well as across 250+ sites nationwide.
Such tragedy has occurred at our club too. Terry Newton, a personal friend of myself and Kris – as well as one of our most revered players – tragically took his own life in 2010.
Working with the foundation and valued volunteers, our Community Garden at Robin Park Arena has been both refurbished and renamed in Terry’s honour.
It is a tranquil place for everyone to enjoy some quiet reflection and contemplation with a memorial wall on which our coaches and players have written their own thoughts.
In addition, the Wigan Warriors Foundation run physical and mental health sessions in many primary and secondary schools, along with Walking Rugby and a dementia-friendly Rugby Memories programme.
More recently the Foundation has hosted pilot sessions for the ‘Offload’ programme.
It was because of these truly outstanding contributions that it received the accolade of Rugby League Foundation of the year on the pitch at halftime at the 2025 Super League grand final.
It was richly deserved and testament to the indefatigable spirit shown by all the Foundation staff – so capably led by Scott Rafferty – in establishing such a vital vehicle for engagement.
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