By JOHN DAVIDSON
LEIGH Leopards owner Derek Beaumont has taken aim at the RFL, threatened to quit the Super League club and even set up a rival rugby competition in a speech delivered to fans after the loss to Wigan.
Leigh went down 10-6 to the Warriors last Friday in a tight match that was marred by a controversial video referee decision on an Oliver Gildart try.
Beaumont spoke to Leopards supporters at the Leigh Sports Village after the match and claimed his club were “robbed” by the officials and said that unless things change in the sport he will no longer invest in it.
The speech was filmed and uploaded to Facebook.
“I’ve got a guy down there who’s in charge of a group of players and to me, I see the work the work that goes in week-in-week-out, from all the coaching staff, the medical staff, I see the work they put…and then I see one person go with a signal like that, that’s incorrect, and rob them and you lot, who would have been watching us play at home next week, and that ain’t right,” he said.
“It hurts me. I feel hurt when the players get abused.
“I’ve seen it too many times now and I don’t care if anyone’s filming it because I’ve told the RFL clean and square, they were all at my box, all at the presentation party… and then the decision gets dealt with by the referee who were appointed by the people who are running the game.
“No helicopter needed, because they can’t afford one. So I’ll put it out there that unfortunately, this is not an investable sport anymore to me, which is obviously very concerning.
“Unless it changes I won’t be investing in it any further. I’m sorry to say that in here but my wife comes up to me and says ‘I’ve had enough’. She says the pain and the emailing all night to midnight… I haven’t got the energy for it.
“I’ve had enough. We’ve got this [the Challenge Cup], it’s been brilliant, but for me unless the game changes, unless the outcome’s decided by athletes and coaches, I can’t be involved in it anymore.
“That’s where it’s at and that’s how serious it is. Hopefully, the game changes and it will change.”
Beaumont went on to hint that he has wealthy American and South African friends who he could potentially partner with and set up a rival competition.
“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, and we don’t need the broadcaster that stands my coach down and 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.
“Is that disrespectful in the highest order?
“So that’s why I said no, you won’t be speaking to him after they’ve lifted the trophy. If you haven’t got time to speak to him before they do it, then delay that. In fact, if it’s that important, do it and he’ll do it.
“That’s why I pulled our players all in. So Saints, Catalans, who’s finished second I’m not sure but they’ve been robbed
“I said to Matty Peet that Wigan deserved to win the League Leader’s Shield… I think you saw tonight that actually the best team in the comp was us. But winning this beautiful thing here [the Challenge Cup] took a lot out of us and we probably conceded it.”
Leigh now travel to Hull KR this Friday in the semi-finals.
“We’ve got to pull ourselves together, we’ll go to Hull KR and do what we did in round three where we got our very first win and we’ll go and beat them again, just like we did at Wembley.”
The RFL have been approached for comment.
