Jon Wilkin lashes out at ’embarrassing’ Leigh Leopards’ owner Derek Beaumont

Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin has pulled no punches in his assessment of Leigh Leopards’ owner Derek Beaumont’s on-field actions last weekend.

Beaumont was one of many Leigh Leopards fans celebrating a 26-12 victory in the south of France against Catalans Dragons, however, many are of the opinion that his on-field celebrations undermined head coach Adrian Lam.

Jon Wilkin is one of those with the Sky Sports pundit and commentator speaking about the incident on the Rugby League Verdict, labelling Beaumont’s actions as “embarrassing”.

Asked for his thoughts, Wilkin said: “I thought I saw a very credible man and a very credible team produce a very credible performance, which was immediately made less credible by what was going on behind him.”

Beaumont had taken to the pitch and danced along behind head coach Adrian Lam, who was conducting his own post-match interview with Sky Sports, with the Leigh owner accompanied by the fan drummer.

Leigh Leopards owner told to have ‘dignity and class’ after post-match celebrations go viral

According to reports in France, the Catalans club officials saw the invitation that they send to all visiting team higher-ups snubbed whilst Jenna Brooks also confirmed that the RFL are looking into the incident.

Continuing his assessment, Wilkin said: “It was like he was auditioning for a really bad version of Love Island, the south of France edition, where rugby league club owners all get around a fire pit and talk about cracking on, rather than cracking on with the league.

“It was one boohoo track suit and a set of teeth from Turkey away from getting on the show that I’ve just described, which is never going to get made, by the way, because nobody wants to watch it.”

Going further, he added: “I thought it was embarrassing. I was embarrassed for Adrian Lam, who was visibly rattled by having his owner in such a state behind him.

“Look, Derek, go and celebrate, right? Go and celebrate. You’ve put your money in, but when you are and you’ve become the unelected spokesperson for a review that’s going on in our game, have some dignity, have some class about how you celebrate, and he showed none of that.”

On those who have defended the Leigh Leopards owner for simply celebrating a win, Jon Wilkin disagreed: “The opposite view is, look, he’s just celebrating, he’s having a laugh, he’s having fun. I didn’t think it was fun in any way, shape or form. I don’t think Adrian Lam thought it was fun. I thought he thought, ‘what’s this idiotic behaviour behind me?’

“Bringing a guy with a drum out of the crowd and banging it on live shots of the camera, it’s just horrible.”

One thing worth noting about Derek Beaumont is the immense work he has done to make Leigh a genuine Super League contender as well as the current charity endeavour he finds himself on, cycing the length of Ireland to raise funds for the Candlelighters charity. More information on that and the cause can be found here.

Congratulations @LeighLeopardsRL… it’s clear that certain people have been ‘celebrating’ well before the final hooter 🙄
❤️💛🐉 pic.twitter.com/SIGKZabmoW

— Catalan Media 🇨🇵 (@catalanmedia) June 21, 2025