{"id":799149,"date":"2026-10-11T13:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/799149\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T13:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:02:09","slug":"leigh-leopards-owner-explains-london-broncos-nrl-objections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/799149\/","title":{"rendered":"Leigh Leopards owner explains London Broncos, NRL objections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leigh Leopards<\/a> owner Derek Beaumont has shared an explosive and lengthy post on social media explaining why he will object to London Broncos being added to Super League as the 15th team.<\/p>\n

NRL supremo Peter V\u2019landys has set a deadline of this Thursday for Super League to agree to a partnership with the Australian governing body, with the deal contingent on London being added to the competition and it expanding to 15 teams.<\/p>\n

That particular part of the process is yet to be agreed, however \u2013 with more meetings scheduled for this week. But it is clear Beaumont is already strongly opposed to the idea.<\/p>\n

He has gone public on his views in a remarkable post on his X account.<\/p>\n

Beaumont objects to London elevation<\/p>\n

Speaking in-depth and with detail about why he feels London being added as the 15th team is wrong, Beaumont explained that the rules of the competition at the start of the season did not allow for the prospect of a new expansion side.<\/p>\n

Referring to V\u2019landys\u2019 deadline as a \u2018gun to the head\u2019 approach and a \u2018ransom\u2019, he insisted he will not be voting in favour of it without a proper process and considered detail provided to clubs.<\/p>\n

Beaumont said: \u201cGiving a deadline on something you want that the other side cannot commit to is a gun to the head approach akin to a ransom. I will make clear here the position of me and therefore @LeighLeopardsRL, something I have also previously told PVL.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not right to just put London in SL (Super League). The rules at the start of the year were that IMG grading determines SL. Therefore if clubs were to agree to expand then it would need to be Barrow or there is risk of legal consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the expansion is not at full funding and Barrow didn\u2019t want to enter then it\u2019s not simply next team down it would need to be an application process as per the precedent set the previous year to increase to 14 teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore I will not vote to add London to SL without due process and most certainly not because someone insists upon it without substance and hadn\u2019t previously done so. When PVL met with clubs via teams he inferred that SL would like 15 teams. I asked him where had he obtained that information.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stated only from London. Well off (sic) course they would like 15 teams \u2013 so would Salford and Widnes and Doncaster to name but a few if they were the 15th team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no insistence in that meeting that London were a part of it however having wet (sic) the appetite in the pitch it then became a condition and furthermore that the guaranteed funding to clubs would have to be reduced to include them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beaumont explains London problems<\/p>\n

Beaumont also clarified on several fronts why he thinks London are not a good fit for Super League at present, and said he does not have \u2018unequivocal trust\u2019 in V\u2019landys.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cThen there is the reasoning for London well he quoted in the meeting 750k Australians are in London. In our post meeting we all felt it was a mistake and the number closer to 75k yet he is still making that claim in the press.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, I need to be sure we are working with accuracy and I am not. London is not in London, it is in Wimbledon and despite being in SL for long periods it has never achieved a fanbase nor has it captured whatever the number actually is in the UK that despite a blow away season winning all bar one game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beaumont also insisted that adding a 15th team to Super League creates more problems than solutions when it comes to fixture scheduling, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncluding London means they don\u2019t play in Magic and are granted a 2 point by (sic). It also means that not all teams play each other and therefore an unfair skewed league all be it different it is akin to loops.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe calendar proposed I will not support even if London was correctly entered by a fair and robust process. Now the important part. I have wasted a lot of your time reading this far because that\u2019s just opinion on a sticking point to an offer that does not deserve such a description.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unbalanced and is a purchase through broadcast with any risk underpinned with equity that terminates after five years when PVL will walk away with an app that has acquired all UK eyes on what I must confess is a better product of the game as it stands that people will have become accustomed to and won\u2019t cancel and we will be left with no IP and starting again.<\/p>\n

\u201cLastly the craziest part is we are being asked to support this with no business plan or presentation being told that these crucial elements will be decided within the first 6-12 months of the deal when they will have already been handed control.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately many will vote in favour because they see the sugar shot of a short term increase in funding that in reality is the most expensive loan with the worst conditions attached that the sport could ever obtain!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont has shared an explosive and lengthy post on social media explaining why he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":799150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-799149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}