Leigh Centurions owner Derek Beaumont doesn’t ‘see any value’ in Toulouse Olympique or Catalans Dragons being in Super League

Leigh Centurions owner Derek Beaumont is well known for his vocal opinions within the sport of rugby league.

Love him or hate him, the Mancunian is one of the most active owners in the sport, regularly conversing with fans and people on social media, especially Twitter where he has gained a big following.

Aside from his outspoken nature, Beaumont has also been heavily involved in fundraising activities to raise money for incredible charities.

Having said that, the Leigh man is sure to ruffle a few feathers with his current comments about the worth of having both Toulouse Olympique and Catalans Dragons in Super League.

“I’d be interested to see what IMG sees with the French aspect. Apart from a good day out, I don’t see any value,” Beaumont told the Dockhouse Rugby Show

“There is no TV deal from them, as a business man I am successful in what I do – I commercially don’t see any value in that.”

Beaumont also spoke up about giving the French teams their own competition and then potentially playing them at the end of the season in a new ‘World Club Challenge’ format.

“IMG might walk in and say why is there two clubs in Hull? Why is there Wigan and Leigh? Why is there Fev, Wakey and Ca? We should have a Newcastle and Cumbria but that’s not how the game works.

“There is rooms for two clubs in Hull because they are well supported and the rest are well supported but it can’t be looked at purely commercially so I might be missing something on the French thing and these guys might look at it differently.

“I think they should build their own competition to Super League standard and then at the end of the season we could meet in a play-off with the NRL, French, PNG all sorts.”

It remains to be seen just what IMG will do to the sport, but it’s set to be a very interesting period of time for rugby league.