Beaumont displeased with crowd figure

Leigh owner Derek Beaumont says he was disappointed that the Centurions match against last weekend only drew just over 5,000 fans.

Leigh beat the Bulls in a thriller at the Leigh Sports Village.

Writing for The Leigh Observer, Beaumont said the low turnout was hard to understand.

“The crowd was 5,111, and again with Bradford not playing at home saw our crowd significantly higher than the total combination of all other Championship fixtures,” he wrote.

“Indeed it was the fourth highest gate of the whole of English rugby league which in itself one could argue I should find pleasing.

“But I have to say I was disappointed with the attendance in all honesty.

“Last year we had more than 7,000 for the same fixture so if we reduce the 1,000 that didn’t attend in support of Bradford, our own attendance must have been down by around 1,000 which is hard to understand for such a big game in a season where we have a quality side with many big names sat top of the league with a realistic shot at gaining Super League.

“We will need to look at what we can do to promote the games more to attract more fans and I would urge all our fans to bring a friend to our next game to try to keep building the attendances.”

Beaumont also wrote that he is concerned his friend Marwan Koukash, the owner of Salford, may walk away from rugby league.

“I fear the sport will end up losing such a great passionate character, who in my opinion has done so much for the game,” he said.

“I can’t help but feel for Marwan. He has come into the game, thrown loads of money at it, recruited top class coaches, paid significant transfer fees to bring in the game’s big names and even granted access for £5 before reducing it to free to entice people to come and support their team.

“Unfortunately it appears that none of this has worked and he has stated that he has failed which for a man of his stature is perhaps a bold statement.

“I don’t really see it as failure but perhaps an insurmountable task. If something isn’t possible to achieve you can hardly fail attempting it.

“What more can the man really do?”