BACK in late 2022, Leigh created a storm when a rebrand from the ‘Centurions’ to the ‘Leopards’ was adorned in a swanky press conference.
With it, a new kit and ten new signings firmly put Leigh in the media eye after a brilliant promotion year in the Championship.
At the forefront was owner Derek Beaumont, who is widely recognised as one of the greatest and most outspoken characters in the sport at present.
Now, he has explained the decision to go with the Leopards.
“It is a big step, but if you stay stationary you go backwards. People think it was just on a whim but it wasn’t,” Beaumont said on Talksport.
“A lot of research and work has gone into it. It did birth from just wearing a hoody and someone mentioning it getting a lot of media coverage a guy in his 50s in Leopard print.
“I like to wind people up, so we said let’s have a look at that.”
Beaumont also revealed that he spoke to the older generation about a potential rebrand after being apprehensive about how that market would respond.
“Speaking to the people we thought would be really bothered by it the older generation weren’t really bothered. They weren’t always Centurions,” Beaumont continued.
“From a commercial point of view, there is a lot of eyes on the sport with IMG and if they’re going to pick 12 clubs we look too similar to our neighbours Wigan.
“You see everywhere, everyone that is wearing leopard print are getting asked, are you a Leigh fan?
“People are not wearing leopard print because they’re not wanting to be seen as a Leigh thing.
“The good thing with it is you can use a lot of colours with it and you can utilise different colours. Red is our colour so is still in there.”
Leigh’s return to Super League will be capped tonight with a home game against the Salford Red Devils.
