LEIGH LEOPARDS face just one final hurdle in their quest to earn an elite academy license, owner Derek Beaumont has revealed.
The Leopards have been doing work behind the scenes in a bid to go before the RFL to be granted that license – something which was denied to the club back in June 2021.
Since then, head of youth Kieron Purtill has done a magnificent job in getting the club ready behind the scenes to be able to maintain the level necessary to become elite.
Now, all that stands between the Leopards and an elite academy license is a presentation that will go before the RFL next week.
“The academy license went in on Friday which was the deadline and now we have been invited to do a presentation which is the final stage of the application,” Beaumont told Leopards TV.
“That will be attended to by Kieron Purtill (head of youth and women’s head coach) who has done a fantastic job. We are extremely confident which is fair to say.
“From the last application, we have followed everything rigorously that the RFL has asked of us. It now makes sense to me why our application last time – as good as it was – wasn’t bought into because it looked like we were going from 0-100 in no time at all.
“But with the thousands of people we have put through the club and the great work Kieron has done with the under-15s, under-16s and development squads, we are in a far closer place to be running an elite academy than previously.
“We are confident next Friday that the presentation will be what the RFL wants to see.”
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