Warriors star Sean O'Loughlin: Why I'm supporting the new Wigan Youth Zone
As the 17th season of Super League kicks-off, on one top player’s agenda is more than just rugby.
Wigan Warriors captain Sean O’Loughlin is beginning his testimonial year, granted to him for his ten years’ outstanding contribution to his hometown club.
What does this mean exactly? Well, for the young people of Wigan, quite a bit actually.
The loose forward, who has lifted both the Super League trophy and the Challenge Cup in his time as captain, is using some of the funds generated by the testimonial to help out the new Wigan Youth Zone.
The build has finally commenced opposite Wigan and Leigh College, so while the work got underway, writer Tom McCooey caught up with Lockers to talk about the project.
“I got the opportunity to visit the Manchester Youth Zone to have a look a what kind of facilities might be coming up in Wigan,” said O’Loughlin.
“There was nothing around like that when I was a kid. It was a matter of knocking around the streets or the parks - that kind of stuff. I think for young people to have a facility like this which is their own to use pretty much as they want to, it’s pretty special.”
So why did the Youth Zone become one of the chosen charities for SOL13, (the name behind Sean’s testimonial)?
“I’d heard that the Youth Zone was going to be taking off in Wigan, but I didn’t realise it was run from funding. When I found this out, I spoke to Simon Barker (from charity OnSide who will run the Youth Zone), who is in charge of drumming-up the support and the funding for it. He was keen to be involved in the testimonial. “I think it had been around the time there had been the Manchester and London riots and there was a lot of bad press going around about young people so it fitted-in really.”
The Wigan Youth Zone will undoubtedly present new opportunities for the young people who use it and O’Loughlin was keen to highlight the benefits which were not available to him as a young person.
“It gives them somewhere to go and treat like their home. They can see their friends and pretty much do whatever they want. They can go and be active or just go and have a chill out.
“Also, the sporting side of it - with this being Wigan maybe some of those young people will run out for the first team one day.”
So will he be paying Wigan Youth Zone a visit once it’s finished and the town’s young people are coming through the doors?
“100% - I’ve already spoken to Simon and he’s keen to show us around when there’s a bit of building work up there but I’ll be keen to go down when it’s up and running.”
*The Youth Zone is currently under construction on Mesnes Field. The project is the brainchild of businessmen Dave Wheelan and Martin Ainscough, will be largely run by charity OnSide and will be supported by Wigan Council.
By Tom McCooey