SCDF host inaugural Mersey Magic event

On Sunday 5th July 2026, Saints Community Development Foundation hosted our first ever Mersey Magic event prior to Day Two of Magic WKND!

Mersey Magic is a u14’s nines tournament that was run to help showcase community rugby league across Liverpool. With Magic Weekend coming to Liverpool, we wanted to make sure that there was a community element to the weekend that engaged our rugby league audience by showcasing our sport and clubs in a usually football dominated area.

A big thank you goes to Liverpool Lions and their volunteers for hosting the event. SCDF also partnered up with Liverpool City Council’s Public Health Team to help promote their ‘Smoke Free Side lines’ campaign to create healthy and enjoyable environments for our young people to thrive in.

Five clubs were involved in the tournament on the day with some clubs providing 2 teams:

    • Golbourne Parkside
    • Liverpool Lions
    • Pilkington Recs
    • Westhoughton
    • Wigan St Judes
@communitysaints 🀩 πŒπ„π‘π’π„π˜ πŒπ€π†πˆπ‚ A great inaugural year for the event in 2026! πŸ™Œ Looking ahead to even more in 2027! πŸ”œ #Saintsandproud ♬ original sound – Saints Community

After an exciting morning of rugby league showcasing great skill, determination and sportsmanship. The final saw Pilkington Recs face Golbourne Parkside. Despite Golbourne racing into a 2-0 lead, St Helens based side Pilks fought back to win the contest 4-2 to win the tournament!

On conclusion of the tournament as well as the team winner, we handed out a couple of individual accolades. Player of the Tournament that was awarded to Golbourne’s number one, Jack CooperΒ who through out the tournament had a number of game breaking moment’s and was a challenge for opposition. Our Second award was the ‘This is Saints Award’ a unique award for a player that showed values and behaviours that we believe to align with ours, the winner of this award was Pilkington’s Number twelve, Brad Langtree.

Head of Foundation Ben Hardman said:Β “We’re incredibly proud to have delivered the inaugural Mersey Magic U14s Rugby League Tournament on Sunday. The event was created to complement Magic WKND, ensuring one of rugby league’s biggest occasions also left a meaningful and lasting community legacy here in Liverpool.

“Working with Liverpool Lions as our hosts, we wanted to give young players the opportunity to be part of a festival of rugby league while showcasing everything the city has to offer. It was important that Magic WKND wasn’t just about the professional game, but also about inspiring the next generation and strengthening the connection between rugby league and local communities.
“The tournament also provided an opportunity to work in partnership with Liverpool City Council to promote its new Smokefree Sidelines campaign across the Merseyside region, highlighting the importance of creating healthier environments for children and families to enjoy sport.
“The standard of rugby league throughout the day, together with the enthusiasm shown by the players and the fantastic support from clubs, coaches, officials and families, made the first Mersey Magic a tremendous success.
“With Magic Weekend returning to the Hill Dickinson Stadium next year, we’re excited to build on this year’s success and continue growing Mersey Magic into an even bigger and better community event that leaves a lasting legacy for rugby league in Liverpool.”
After the announcement that Magic WKND is scheduled for May 1 and 2 in 2027 at Hill Dickinson Stadium, we hope to have more details about next years Mersey Magic available soon, initial conversation involve expanding this into a 2 day tournament that includes a girls tournament.

If you’re interested in getting your club involved in the event next year, please email [email protected].

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