Club Statement from Derek Beaumont

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. 

It would appear from screen shots I have been sent that it hit the intended spot. The statement was not necessary and even if it was it most certainly did not need to contain the time. They could have at least got that element correct but they didn’t albeit by a few minutes. Indeed, the last correspondence on the matter that evening, which was a formal communication which took place at 11.56pm and addressed to the SLE shareholders who had been involved in the situation throughout the previous 36 hours.

The Wigan statement refers to a private WhatsApp message to Kris Radlinski (Wigan Warriors CEO) that was not replied to and not to a significant lengthy factual email sent to all owners, the RFL and SLE board. It also omits various emails between me and Kris Radlinski along with the emails sent to the SLE and RFL board and SLE shareholders that if disclosed would give an accurate and balanced account of the situation. 

All correspondence on the matter, which I will set out in detail factually was made via email. It is widely accepted that correspondence via email is formal and should be treated as such and WhatsApp is a more casual place for chat. The WhatsApp referred to by Wigan, which was not a serving of a formal notice, was a message in anger regarding the cancelling of legitimate fans’ tickets bought in good faith advising Kris he could refund everyone’s tickets, and we would refund all ours.

The club statement is incorrect in its numbers stated regarding the allocation as this was 4,800 not 4,600 and it gives the incorrect impression that the Super League sought separate safety advice that fully endorsed the approach of offering us unreserved seating as if that was taken prior to its offering. This was not the case.

So, lets deal with the facts:

Wigan gave us 4,800 unreserved seating as an initial allocation. Never was it communicated this would be our only allocation, nor has that ever been the case. In fact, during Round 1, we were told that if we could sell them, we could use the first block in both the West and East Stands.  We took that allocation on an unreserved basis safe in the knowledge that their stadium has a capacity of circa 25,000 and their previous two semifinals prior to ours (in 2024) that had a reported 20k crowd were 12k (in 2022) and 15k (in 2023) respectively. Therefore, there was no need to consider maximising what was available to us in the North Stand by restricted seating. Restricted seating causes issues as people cannot get their tickets together who want to be together. Indeed, we recognise this so much so that when we play Wigan at LSV we keep the South Stand unreserved despite having a sell-out when if we made it restricted, we could generate the income of an additional three hundred tickets. This is to ensure the comfort of their fans and to minimise issues when people are in other people’s seat, a common issue that can cause flare ups. Some Wigan fans, as I recall, thanked me for making that decision.  Furthermore, when Wigan had the opportunity to lift the League Leaders Shield in our stadium in 2023, and our sales weren’t as strong because our fans didn’t fancy the prospect of seeing that, we allowed them three more blocks into our East Stand providing them 30% of the stadium and a sellout.

Wigan went on general sale with no restrictions, as has always been the case and our fans who prefer to watch side on bought directly from them. This group includes elderly spectators seeking calm, those with poor eyesight, and children wearing ear protectors who prefer quieter and safer areas. Some of these individuals belong to higher tiers and were given an exclusive period to purchase tickets, which they did not utilize. Whenever we have played Wigan at the Brick, there have been no restrictions—tickets have always gone on general sale. I’ve even got video of Leigh supporters wearing their shirts throughout the stadium, except for the South Stand.  There was no requirement for a police presence from their Safety Advisory Group (SAG) and no concerns. This was because Wigan did not see any risk or issue with the fixture. At this point in time the clubs have a good working relationship which was reflected most recently with the joint video message including Wigan Athletic and have been working closely on the Progress with Unity campaign promoted by Wigan Council; this despite there being threats of legal action from the Wigan club to SLE and in particular two fellow owners who operate out of goodwill as Directors on behalf of all the clubs. Additionally, all Women’s Super League players were offered free tickets, with complimentary tickets for our own team members provided in their designated section of the West Stand. Clearly there were no issues. I should also add that in Round One this year, when we jointly worked to sell out the Brick as part of our ongoing relationship, Wigan wrote to all our local junior clubs offering free tickets in their stands in seats that they now cannot purchase and have been kicked out of.

So, what went wrong?

To put it plainly, tickets for the North Stand sold out almost immediately, and when we requested additional tickets, our request was refused without a reasonable explanation.  I found this strange and when it was brought to my attention I reached out to Kris to apply some thought to making a safe environment for those purchasing on general sale into their areas by allocating us a block at our end that would be able to be segregated, if it was felt necessary, as I was concerned regarding large numbers of fans being amongst Wigan fans and anything boiling over in such a big game. I was talking from experience when Salford refused us more tickets at Salford and our fans bought from them and we ended up with situations whereby our Safety Officer had to visit their stadium and work through creating safe areas and moving fans. Kris was not forthcoming, citing his GSO as the reason and sharing an email thread he had with him around why he would not allocate more tickets.

His reason for not permitting more tickets was because when, in the semifinal in 2024, we had a small number of fans who were in the North Stand let off flares that had led to us issuing bans to those people concerned. This was dealt with professionally by us at the time and resulted in no action from the RFL compliance team. We have not had any issues with flares or crowd trouble since. I raised the point that if this was a genuine concern then it was at its highest when we faced each other in Round One at the Brick, our first game as a club since the flare incident. However, no restrictions were imposed, and tickets were on general sale. A very close nil-nil game was decided with a drop-goal in golden point extra-time and there was no trouble despite a very large crowd. We again visited the Brick later in the year and again tickets were on general sale and people bought where they wanted to in the stadium without issue. The game was played also without any issues which having encountered 28 this season in the same manner without any issues would be reliable evidence that the bans and measures we took were extremely effective. We also had a return game at LSV where Wigan sold out the South Stand and we allowed general sale into our East Stand and again in a good contest that we won there was no issues.

I was extremely surprised by Kris’s stance on the matter and raised grave concerns to the point that it was necessary to focus his mind legally on the possible ramifications of not simply moving our fans to an area that could be controlled. We therefore issued a request to our fans buying tickets on general sale to do so closest to where our fans were to try and add some common sense to the matter. Kris advised he would fully review the decision of the GSO and come back to me but when doing so remained unchanged that they could not add more allocation or move fans to ensure safety and instead, without any notice to the club or any communication, the Wigan club made the game a restricted game, whereby anyone having not purchased three tickets for the season couldn’t enter. Furthermore, they then went about contacting fans and cancelling their tickets, issuing refunds that they said could take five days. 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.

We were in a meeting with the CEO of the LSV and other staff members when this was taking place and everyone was staggered by this unprecedented stance of our neighbours. Our IT board member attempted to buy tickets online as did other team members each receiving the same message that there was an error with an item in their basket. Our IT manager called the club ticket office and explained that he had seen the Lancashire Hotpots were playing the stadium and he was a keen fan but was experiencing a problem making a purchase. He was advised that was because he didn’t have three previous ticket purchases from the club and because the away end had sold out the event was a restricted event. He explained he lived in Bolton and just wanted to come to his first game to watch the Hotpots and see what rugby was all about as his friend was always telling him he should watch a game. He was advised to get his friend to buy his family tickets! He pointed out his friend was a Saints fan and therefore wouldn’t have three purchases. I was staggered hearing this having grown our club and attendance by attracting fans who have other interests believing if I can just get them to experience a game they will be hooked. By way of the unnecessary restriction and recently attracted Wigan fans looking to make their second or third game along with any neutrals and walk-up on the day fans are prevented to come and watch a sport that their club have grave concerns for the financial state of and its ability as a result of that to go to 14 teams, yet significantly restrict the potential income to the game and those clubs through Rugby League Commercial, whose event it is, by unnecessarily imposing an unprecedented restriction. 

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. At this point in time whilst frustrated and angered like many fans I did not state anything about not playing the game; instead raising the issue with the club owners who are affected and of course (RLC Managing Director) Rhodri Jones as it is a central event and income is being restricted and costs incurred when it was stated there would now be a police presence, something that wasn’t identified as necessary in the first instance. 

I had hoped that Rhodri would have been able to resolve the situation and left him to do so. I nor my club responded to requests from media regarding what was happening with fans having tickets cancelled which was all over social media; instead we remained professional hoping the matter would be simple to sort out by allocating some seats in a segregated block with a barrier if felt necessary which it has never previously been and stewards who are cheaper than police to maintain that barrier. I was surprised when Rhodri got back to me to say he was unable to change Wigan’s decision made by the GSO, something I found remarkable that he would accept as the MD of the company that ultimately is hosting the event that is being damaged by the decision. By this time things had heated up significantly with more fans being refunded tickets. I had just left the club ticket office after purchasing some of the small number of additional 48 tickets that had been provided in the stands for my American friends who decided to fly over. Whilst I was at the window, I witnessed two men in their 70s being turned away from purchasing tickets. They were visibly upset that they were unable to attend the game. I had a conversation with them and it made me feel very sad that they were being prevented from seeing something of a highlight of many years of watching the club without success something they had been allowed to watch the year before and through no fault of their own were prevented from doing so this year; same clubs, same venue, same game. It really got to me how could anyone morally see people be made so sad unnecessarily. By this time, I had heard that there was whisperings of “bricking the Brick” and people planning protests and demonstrations. I had also been alerted to the fact fans were planning on opening the exit gates to allow locked out fans to get inside the game or rush turnstiles and reception. As I am writing this it feels like I am writing a fictional book but it’s real, very real and it’s absolutely unnecessary. 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 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.

I suggested to Rhodri that as MD of RLC that he should utilise the services of a senior GSO, most likely Old Trafford given they host the Grand Final to act as way of an arbitrator and that both clubs should be bound by the outcome of the arbitration. After all it was an RLC event and what we were seeing from Wigan is unprecedented in Rugby League and unnecessary. Rhodri stated he would speak to the Manchester United GSO and come back to me. I stated that wasn’t what I was asking; I wanted to provide evidence and facts at the same time as Wigan so a rational decision could be made to facilitate as many fans as possible to watch the game live in the best interests of the sport and SLE shareholders. The approach should be to review how it is possible to safely add more spectators into the stadium as was previously done on many occasions.

Instead, he got the GSO to confirm that Wigan had acted reasonably in their allocation and restricting sales after our end had sold out was something that is used in football and justified. I was not contacted, and my points were not put forward but clearly the Wigan club had been contacted as their facts were quoted in Rhodri’s response. Ironically the person who I was informed verbally agreed with Wigan’s allocation position, which wasn’t what was being contested, will host a stadium almost three times the size with fans from numerous rival clubs in all areas of the stadium. I would like to hear that explained to me and the difference in this circumstance. As a United fan and box holder I have witnessed partizan European crowds separated by a net and a line of stewards, yet a full block of segregation can’t be managed at this game. It is clear that the narrative towards the GSO wasn’t how can we make this safely work, which it should have been, but rather can you justify this position and the allocation. Nobody is raising issue with the allocation, that’s a rule change for big games down the line in big stadiums along with the whole review of the sport that is taking place. The chair of RLC has written to me around the disappointment on behalf of the board assuring me a full review of this situation will take place. Whilst that is welcomed to prevent such unnecessary action in the future it doesn’t change the moral compass now and allow as many people as possible to watch the game, nor does it remove the inflamed feeling of our fans rightly aggrieved at how they are being treated. The issue now is by unreasonably cancelling tickets bought in good faith and preventing sales to legitimate fans with no history of trouble there is a bigger risk to safety outside than inside and that needs dealing with.

It could be argued that there is a total disregard towards that with the actions of Wigan, not just by cancelling tickets bought in good faith by legitimate fans but then referencing a private WhatsApp message sent to Kris ahead of a formal email that went to Rhodri and the SLE directors and shareholders outlining a lot of what I have written here, if not all of it, and aligning to that a misconception that SL were on board and in agreement with the Wigan club’s actions, something they are most certainly not. This was extremely unprofessional and has been done to attempt to cause damage and with no respect towards the effect that will have on the sport and the level that was concerning before has now risen to a higher level of risk because of it. 

That post has antagonised many and brought the game into disrepute and caused undue stress to my media team and my personal phone in a day where I am on serious deadlines for various business activities. 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. These can easily be negated by providing a block, some segregation and stewarding. It is unthinkable that this safety measure isn’t now being enforced by someone who is responsible for the safety inside and outside of the stadium. Despite the efforts of RLC and SLE the position has remained unchanged and unjustified. To use a private off thread WhatsApp comment of a suggestion in the public domain in such a way bewilders me from a club that normally is one I associate as highly professional. In my opinion there was never anything to be gained other than malice and an inflammation of an already volatile situation.

I dare say many will now not want to go to the game given the toxicity of what has taken place but in the absence of a change of position those threats still exist and people who are able to gain entry will be attending in the wrong frame of mind. This should have been a celebration of the success of the Borough as it was the previous year and in the fantastic occasion in Round One. It’s all quite easy to see through. It’s fine being friendly neighbours when Wigan are the bus station and Leigh are the bus stop but now that the bus stop is getting close to the bus station and competing with them and fans are wanting to turn up in numbers that unity, we have been working on, gets dropped instantly and we see unprecedented actions that are wholly unnecessary. I took part in a joined-up video of strong messaging regarding values I hold and share with others. It was a very powerful message delivered jointly with our fellow sporting clubs in the Borough. Perhaps that has been forgotten as those messages don’t appear to be being upheld when one is prejudicing neutral people on the off chance they could be a Leigh supporter if indeed they themselves are not being prejudiced when all they want to do is as they always have done and have the quiet enjoyment to the rights of the ticket they bought in good faith that they have bought previously. To be part of that message and then act in this way in my opinion is double standards. This isn’t about safety in the stadium. There are no genuine risks present. There are numerous precedents of allocating teams more than the North Stand; take St Helens on a Good Friday derby with 7,000 and I am advised on one occasion 8,000, a club with at the time at the very least an equal rivalry. Rugby League champions its family values, its coming together for each other at times of need. It shares big events together like the Challenge Cup final and the grand final and in particular Magic Weekend, something football could never do yet restrictions used by GSO’s for football are being applied here. 

I sincerely hope my genuine concerns can be satisfied so the game we are still preparing as normal for can proceed as planned at which point I will make a statement to ask for calm from our fans and to attend and show class by not singing the flute song and demonstrating only vociferous support in a clean and friendly manner. That’s easy to achieve but the positions are currently entrenched. The public can make their own mind up now the full facts are made known to them. 

In these circumstances something must give to dampen the flames. At the very least those who have had tickets cancelled that bought them in good faith should have them reinstated especially when they are our higher tier members. They are the most aggrieved and our fans are aggrieved at how they have been treated. Resolving that aspect and assurances around the presence outside the ground and at the exit gates to minimise the issues I have genuine concerns about are simple to do and a must. As I communicated to the RLC board It is Wigan’s unnecessary actions, not mine that put the game at risk. Treat those mistreated properly allowing them their tickets back even if it is in another area where our players’ family complimentary tickets are and give the assurances that fans will not be challenged who have tickets and turned away then my concerns are resolved and the risks removed. Whilst that still isn’t morally right to have circa 9,000 empty seats with people desperate to be there and deprive the game income it needs, it puts things in a better, less aggravated place whilst still unnecessarily preventing many fans access. Whatever happens will be for the right reasons, I am a big believer in that. I wasn’t attending the game, nor was my club being represented in the capacity of the board room, based upon the activities surrounding the actions of the Wigan club which I deemed would not make it right to attend. I had explained this to both their chairman and CEO and was not intending making that public knowledge, but it may actually offer some explanation as to why we are receiving unprecedented and unnecessary treatment because I stand up to their actions within the owners and shareholders group. There is nothing else in my mind that can offer an explanation to such bizarre behaviour, an opinion shared by others within that circle. 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. I wonder if I can find one of the gents I was talking to at the window. Perhaps they would like to get in touch with the ticket office if they read this to make that happen.