The club was founded in 1896 and was initially known as Horwich RMI F.C., the club's name until 1995 when it relocated to Leigh and was renamed Leigh RMI. Its name was changed again in June 2008 when the club became Leigh Genesis FC.
Founding and early years RMI was one of two football clubs founded at the workshops of the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway; it was started at the
locomotive works in Horwich. The other club was started at the
Newton Heath carriage and wagon works and later became known, and famous, as
Manchester United. RMI played in various non-professional leagues over its first 90 years of existence, primarily in the
Lancashire Combination, before moving into the newly formed
North West Counties League in 1982, and then onto the
Northern Premier League the next year. Manager
Les Rigby led RMI to the final of the
GMAC Cup in 1988 against
Weymouth, which was played on the sloping pitch of
Grundy Hill. The home advantage was credited by many, including Rigby, for spurring RMI's victory in the match.
Move to Leigh During the
1994–95 season, the club realised their ground
Grundy Hill would not be able to help the clubs' prospects of achieving success up the football pyramid, made the decision to move from
Horwich seven miles south to
Hilton Park in Leigh, home of the
rugby league club
Leigh Centurions. As part of this deal, a new company,
Grundy Hill Estates, was formed to take over the ownership of the shared ground. Once the move had been finalised and agreements had been made to share the 10,000 capacity stadium, the club officially changed their name to
Leigh RMI to reflect their new surroundings. RMI lost its first match at Hilton Park in March 1995 to
Boston United 4–0, and were relegated at the end of the 1995 season. Upon entering the Conference, RMI had a very successful first season, finishing a very respectable fifth place.
Steve Jones spearheaded the club's attack that season, scoring 19 league goals. After a few seasons at this level, and despite the fact that things seemed to be going well for the club on the pitch, Leigh RMI faced a placement in the new
Conference North division for
2004–05 due to their second from the bottom finish in the
2003–04 season. The club was spared relegation that season due to two factors: the lack of a promotable
Northern Premier League club kept the team that finished above them in the table from relegation and
Margate were demoted from the Conference for failing to meet ground standards. Leigh RMI's reprieve only lasted one season, however, as they were relegated after finishing bottom of the Conference table in
2004–05 with only 18 points from 42 games. The season after this relegation, Leigh RMI hosted
F.C. United of Manchester, the football club started in reaction to the purchase of
Manchester United by American businessman
Malcolm Glazer, for FCUM's first ever match in July 2005, a friendly that ended in 0–0 draw. Leigh RMI's ownership had previously offered to merge with FCUM prior to this friendly in 2005, but the clubs decided against such a merger. "It would seem hypocritical to some degree, in light of the Glazer events, if a team came into being by taking over another club," said Chairman of RMI Supporters' Club Peter Lowe at the time. The
2005–06 season saw the club finish second from bottom in the Conference North, and the club thereby faced relegation to the
Northern Premier League, but RMI gained yet another reprieve from relegation after
Canvey Island resigned from the
Conference National. RMI removed manager Stuart Humphreys and his assistant
Andy Roscoe on 15 October 2007 and hired
Steve Bleasdale to manage due to "the fact of the current low league position and falling gates something had to be done rapidly to improve our prospects," according to a club spokesman.
Genesis In May 2008 Leigh RMI lost their fight for survival and were relegated to the
Northern Premier League. In June 2008 the club was renamed
Leigh Genesis to signify a "new beginning" for the club ahead of its move to the
Leigh Sports Village. The rebranding was also used to signify chairman Dominic Speakman's restructuring of the ailing club with the view of taking the club forward.
Present day club Despite the demise of the semi-professional senior side, it was not the end for Leigh Genesis as they continued to field various youth teams in the North West Youth Alliance and the Bolton & Bury Junior League as well as a women's team in the North West Women's Regional League. In May 2012, the club officially announced the re-launch of the senior team for the 2012–13 season. was playing in the South Lancashire Counties Football League, a men's
Sunday League affiliated with the
Lancashire FA. Saturday football finally returned in 2019 when local side
Leigh Athletic became part of the Genesis club, retaining their two sides long running membership of the
Manchester Football League. Ironically, here they faced
Horwich RMI - an amateur club formed in 1996 by those opposed to the relocation. ==Colours and badge==