LEIGH LEOPARDS owner Derek Beaumont has admitted that he saw ‘red’ when Super League clubs backtracked on a proposal to make the top flight a 14-team league ahead of the 2021 season.
The 2020 and 2021 Super League seasons had been dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic – something which Beaumont feels did not warrant a ‘normal’ promotion and relegation season.
In 2021, after taking the place of the Toronto Wolfpack, the then-named Leigh Centurions ended up being relegated, but it could have been so different.
Speaking on Super League’s YouTube Channel, Beaumont reveals he wanted Super League to go to 14 teams.
“I didn’t think it was a bonafide season from which to promote and relegate,” he said.
“But I didn’t want to see Featherstone Rovers or Toulouse told they couldn’t come up. So it set us back and the irony was what really fuelled me and more so than any of the other things I’ve spoken to you about about being knocked down.
“I wasn’t going to be part of not promoting someone to save my own skin because that wasn’t right. So we came up with a proposal to change to 14 teams, which a lot of people think it should be.”
Beaumont reveals how the later rejection of a 14-team Super League fuelled his desire to make Leigh into a fighting force.
“We all agreed that that (a 14-team league) was what we should put forward to the board. Then, these other clubs got a win or two and we didn’t and then when it got put to the vote they voted against their own proposal, and that made me see red.
“I stormed out of this particular room that we were in. I said, ‘that’s me finished, rest assured. I will be back in 2023, one million percent, with a team that sees one of you go at my expense.
“And when you want to go to 14, my answer will be no.”
Of course, the Leopards enjoyed a historic season in the top flight, lifting the Challenge Cup and finishing fifth in the league.
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