LEIGH LEOPARDS owner Derek Beaumont has threatened to quit rugby league after slamming the RFL in a post-match rant following the club’s 10-6 loss to Wigan Warriors last weekend.
That defeat meant that Leigh finished fifth in the Super League table, with Beaumont taking to the hospitality boxes after the game.
The video of Beaumont giving his honest thoughts has been shared on Twitter/X this morning, with the full version now taken down on Facebook.
He said: “Unfortunately this is not an investable sport anymore to me, which is obviously very concerning. Unless there’s changes, I won’t be investing in it any further.
“I’m sorry to say that when the wife comes up to me and says, ‘I’ve had enough’, she sees the pain. I don’t care if anyone’s filming it because I’ve told the RFL clean and square.
“They are all in my box, all with the presentation party, the trophy’s already in the stadium and all the boards are sat here and waiting.
“It’s impossible to move it from here to St Helens, and then that gets dealt with by a decision from the referee who’s appointed by the people who are running the game that decide what goes on. There’s no helicopter needed, because we can’t afford one. I’ll put it out there.”
Beaumont was frustrated that he feels for his Leigh ‘family’ following the Wigan game.
“All we can talk about is the performance of a referee, yet again. I’ve got a guy down there who’s in charge of a group of players, and I see the work that goes in week in, week out from them and from all the coaching staff and the medical staff.
“I see the work they put in, I see the weights they lift, the metres they run, the wrestle they do, the contact they put into each other, I see how much it means to them and how much they care about everybody in this room.
“Then I see one person go with a signal of no-try, that’s incorrect, and rob them and you lot of watching us play at home next week. That isn’t right.
“We’ve all got kids, there’s kids in here, and I definitely wouldn’t call them kids because they’re big grown up tough men, but they’re my kids. I treat them like my family and they fight hard for me, so I feel hurt when they get abused.”
Beaumont went further, claiming that he could set up another competition, separate to Super League.
“Maybe what you will see is me step out of this charade and set up a proper Super League called Ultimate Rugby, with proper rugby players, who work with each other which is not decided by referees and is decided by the athletes.
“That’s the only alternative. We don’t need the broadcaster that stands my coach down and who says we’re not going to interview you now because we’re just going to do the presentation so we’ll speak to you after that.”
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