Following the end of the first world war, beginning in 1921, a severe economic depression set in. Into this general greyness a St. Patrick's school was about to inject a splash of colour which brightened up the life of the parishioners. St. Patrick's took up the game of rugby league with considerable enthusiasm. Success however was not immediate but with the appointment of Mr. John McGuire, to a teaching post at St. Patrick's, all that was about to change. The "Pats" were on the march, a march that would bring crowd scenes never witnessed in schoolboy sport before. It was eventually to bring the name of St. Patrick's Wigan, to national attention and lead them to making an appearance on the silver screen of the movies.

1926

In the year of the General Strike, St. Patrick's won the most prestigous trophy in schoolboy rugby league, the Daily Dispatch Shield, organised by the "Daily Dispatch", a national newspaper. They beat St. Bede's Widnes, in the final, at Central Park, in front of a record crowd of 16,000 people. The whole sequence of events from 1922-1926 established a lasting reputation for St. Patrick's as a production centre for good players, which still applies to this day. The team.

Standing: B.Gallagher, Dumican, Walsh, Lythgoe, James Bennet , Pey, Kearns, Brown, Richardson.

Sitting: Moran, T.Gallagher, Wade(capt), Gibson, Boylan, McQuaid.