LEIGH LEOPARDS owner Derek Beaumont has revealed that he has been approached by a rugby league side in New York as he aims to broaden the sport’s appeal.
Hull KR and York Knights will be heading to Amsterdam next year in the first challenge to ever be witnessed in the Netherlands, whilst there has been clamouring for Super League sides to join NRL clubs in Las Vegas for 2025.
Now, Beaumont, who was speaking to the Leopards’ YouTube channel, has revealed his own globalist interests.
“We’ve been approached actually by Perth to do some kind of link with them,” Beaumont said on the club’s YouTube channel.
“We’ve been approached by a rugby league team over in New York that we’re discussing things with.
“It’s a good story that Hull KR are doing and I suppose everything has to start somewhere. I’m a bit of a realist, so channel your energies.”
“I liken it to, we started doing something with AB Sundecks in France and we were spending too much time and energy on something that’s far from us when we’ve nowhere near capitalised on things that are closer to us.”
Beaumont also went further, explaining that he is aiming to play Leeds Rhinos in South Africa.
“We’ve got players in PNG, what more can we do? The areas that we’ve got connections with already, and then when they’re fully exhausted then I’d probably not look for new areas.
“So that’s in no way a criticism of it, you know, I think it’s fantastic to get out there. But I’d probably more like to go to somewhere like PNG and play a game.
“I’d like to play Leeds Rhinos in South Africa, have the Leopards versus the Rhinos, and see what appetite there is from rugby union people over there to watch fast, flamboyant-paced rugby league.”
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