Derby Day – The Community View

St Helens celebrated a 34-16 victory over rivals Wigan Warriors on Friday evening, but they weren’t the only ones in action!

Saints Community Development Foundation have hundreds of staff, which includes several volunteers, who work very hard behind the scenes to make sure that everything goes to plan on a gameday.

We thought that we would give fans an insight as to some of the events that went on around the stadium on Friday night.

Before the game had even got underway, we were busy at work making sure everything was going to plan. Ahead of the game, we announced a partnership with St Helens Community Food Provider Alliance.

We had several famous faces show their face at the van, which included the likes of Saints Centre, Konrad Hurrell and Wigan Warriors’ Willie Isa.

We would like to thank all fans who stopped by to donate some food to the van ahead of Friday night’s game.

As gametime approached, we then moved into the Totally Wicked Stadium. From 7:10pm, our Saints Cheerleaders began a big routine all around the pitch.

As you can see from the video below, there were A LOT of Cheerleaders on that pitch before the game had even kicked off.

On the Saints Community Development Foundation’s table inside the stadium as well. Among the invited guests, two employees from Smyths Toys, two guests from Ruskin Sports Complex, two guests from MerseyCare and Chris Chamberlain and his guest Sean. The SCDF get a table at every home game and welcome different partners ahead of games, before going outside and enjoying 80 minutes of rugby league.

There were also two guests from St Helens Mind on the table, Paul Burrow and Glen McCarthy. They will be our partners for our sponsored walk from the Totally Wicked Stadium to the Halliwell Jones Stadium, which will take place on Friday 7th July. You can donate here

Anyone wanting to participate is encouraged to email [email protected] to get involved in the walk!

Shortly before the game started, and once the teams had finished their warmups, the A Star Saints Angels took centre stage in the middle of the pitch and performed their routine in front of a packed Totally Wicked Stadium.

Then, at half-time in the game, the Community once again put on a show. Four games went on in the middle of the pitch:

On Pitch One (Closest to the West Stand), Blackbrook Royals took on Pilkington Recs.

On Pitch Two, Blackbrook Royals were also in action against Newton Storm.

On Pitch Three, Thatto Heath Crusaders took on Haresfinch.

On Pitch Four (Closest to the East Stand), Clock Face Miners took on Haydock.

Also during the half-time break, Cheerleaders from both Saints and Wigan had a collaborative dance on the pitch, as the two rivals came together to perform at the Totally Wicked Stadium!

Following those four half-time games, the A-Star Saints Angels then welcomed the teams back to the pitch, before they wait behind the sticks in front of the West Stand, running out to dance following Saints’ tries!

Bernard Platt (@PlattyPhoto) also captured the images on the left-hand side of the screen!