Leigh lodge 'official complaint' against Wigan as Derek Beaumont cites 'despicable treatment'
Leigh owner Derek Beaumont has confirmed he has lodged a formal complaint against Wigan Warriors, citing the Leopards fans were subject to ‘despicable treatment’ during their Super League semi-final tie.
The build-up to Friday night’s clash at The Brick Community Stadium was dominated by back-and-forths between the two neighbours over ticket allocations.
Midway through the week, Wigan issued a club statement alleging that Leopards owner Beaumont had informed them they did not intend to fulfil the fixture over said ticketing qualms.
Beaumont then issued a statement of over 4,000 words in response, along with a video address to Leigh’s supporters asking them to ‘act with class’ as they made the trip across the borough for the third time this year.
The game did in fact go ahead and saw the Warriors win 18-6 to book their spot in a third consecutive Grand Final, with a crowd of just over 18,000 in attendance, including a sold out allocation of circa 4,800 Leopards fans in the North Stand.
That figure represents a dip from last season’s semi-final between the same sides as well as their clash in Round 1 of the 2025 campaign, and there were plenty of empty seats on show.
‘Clearly, the values of the Progress with Unity of our Borough were lost’
Beaumont took a swipe at Wigan immediately after the game, which he did not attend, with a post on social media which described Leigh’s supporters being treated in a ‘disrespectful way’.
And now, it has come to light that the Leopards owner has lodged an official complaint against Wigan in the aftermath of the game, via a statement from him published on the club website.
That statement reads: “Unfortunately, I have had many letters and messages, some from significant kit sponsors, containing footage of the despicable treatment bestowed upon thousands of our fans in our semi-final.
“People were queuing in poor weather conditions whilst they were physically searched, something that wasn’t consistent in other areas at the ground and wasn’t in operation at Old Trafford (for the Premier League fixture between Manchester United and Sunderland) the following day.
“Clearly, the values of the ‘Progress with Unity’ of our borough were lost in what was an extremely tough week for everyone connected to the club, leaving me wondering how the video message I had taken part in would now be valued.
“I want to assure everyone that all the letters, messages and videos that I and the club receive will be forming part of our official complaint and will also be provided as part of the full review that will be conducted by the RFL.
“I will keep our supporters informed as this proceeds and will vigorously seek the correct outcomes on behalf of our fans as hard as I fought all week.”
Beaumont’s comments also come after the chair of RL Commercial, Nigel Wood, confirmed there would be an independent review of the ‘unprecedented’ build-up to Friday night’s play-off tie.
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