Derek Beaumont breaks silence with lengthy statement as Wigan attacked and update on game given

Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont has broken his silence on the situation concerning Friday’s game at Wigan – insisting they are preparing for the game as normal: but he will now not attend.

The rugby league world was plunged into chaos on Wednesday morning when Wigan released a statement saying Beaumont had informed them Leigh were planning not to fulfil the fixture after a situation concerning away ticket allocations.

Beaumont has labelled that Wigan statement ‘unnecessary and factually incorrect’, as well as saying it was ‘misleading’.

In a statement totalling over 4,000 words and released late on Wednesday evening – which can be read in full on Leigh’s website – Beaumont said: “I refer to the unnecessary and factually incorrect statement alarmingly released earlier today by Wigan Warriors.

“It is misleading in the way it is presented and, in my opinion, constructed in such a way as to attempt to cause damage to my reputation and bait people by referring to the time at which they allege to have been served written notification.”

Beaumont then promises to ‘deal with the facts’, beginning with insisting that the allocation of 4,800 unreserved seats in the North Stand was an initial allocation, and that Leigh were promised blocks in the East and West Stands for the opening round of the season in February were they able to sell them.

Beaumont then says some Leigh fans proceeded to purchase directly from Wigan for those blocks for this Friday. He then said he reached out to Kris Radlinski asking for a block to be segregated down the side of the pitch. “Kris was not forthcoming, citing his GSO (Ground Safety Officer) as the reason and sharing an email thread he had with him around why he would not allocate more tickets,” he said.

Leigh then asked their fans, with the 4,800 North Stand sold out, to purchase tickets closest to that area to ‘try add some common sense to the matter’. Beaumont alleges those tickets were subsequently cancelled by Wigan. “They then went about contacting fans and cancelling their tickets, issuing refunds that they said could take five days,” he said.

“Some of these people are long standing fans in their elder years who whilst support Leigh do not wear replica shirts and certainly don’t look for trouble but prefer to watch a game in a quieter place with a side view.

“We raised this with Kris who said he was not aware of this action and asked for examples, with which he was provided. We did not receive a response; instead, we saw more and more people complaining about how they were being treated.

“We made contact with some of those fans and a common message was that Leigh fans are only permitted in the North Stand and that if they had attended with their ticket in any event and been deemed to be a Leigh supporter they would not be allowed into the ground so it was better that they had been identified now and be given a refund.”

Crucially, Beaumont has suggested he has the support of the RFL, RL Commercial and other club owners in this matter.

He added: “The Wigan club’s actions are in my opinion and that of RFL and RLC board members and fellow club owners against the spirit of the game and are unfounded and morally wrong.

“This is not a case where they have sold out their stadium, and we want more tickets that are not available. If they had done that it would not be an issue as it wasn’t when we had to play at Hull KR in a play off two years ago and only received 1,100 tickets.

“There were no complaints about that; the stadium was full of their fans and those are the rules. However, when there are circa 9,000 tickets available to a central event owned by RLC and blocks empty, easily segregated next to where our fans are accommodated, there was no need to cancel fans’ tickets and prevent other fans, including neutrals entry to the stadium.”

Beaumont then says his rationale behind potentially withdrawing from the match was due to safety concerns he had for Leigh supporters and staff, with possible actions being taken by supporters including what he described as ‘Bricking the Brick’.

“This is the point at which I made the decision that it is not a safe place to hold an event and as the owner of the club and the responsibility of my fans and players I advised Rhodri (Jones) that if he couldn’t satisfy me that this was not a risk then I could not partake in an event that could incite violence and risk to others. I am sorry but that isn’t something that can be risked.

“I explained to Rhodri that when law abiding citizens are treated incorrectly for no good reason, they become aggrieved. How is any reasonable person expected to accept they cannot watch a game they bought tickets to in good faith when there are thousands of empty seats, they could watch it from.

“Our fans were being wrongly treated like second class citizens and if more were to be refused entry upon arrival that had tickets in East and West there could be some serious issues created.”

Crucially, Beaumont then says he has been written to by the ‘chair of RLC’, which is Nigel Wood, promising him a ‘full review of the situation’ is going to take place.

However, Beaumont seemed to indicate the game will take place, saying: “As I stated in my email earlier this morning on the ongoing thread of this matter with the parties referred to, it has always been and always will be our intention to play the game we have worked hard all season to earn the right of.

“I would not deprive our fans and players, nor myself, the opportunity to play at Old Trafford in a Grand Final. However, what I will not do is neglect my duty of care to my players, fans and wider public by taking part in creating an event that I believe will have serious ramifications.”

And Beaumont has also said that he will now not be there, and will instead give his tickets that were due to be in the North Stand – with the Leigh owner seemingly not going in the directors box – going to other fans.

In closing, he said: “I was attending in the North Stand with my family and friends. Instead, I will be able to make at least one person happy giving them my ticket and that makes me smile.”