Rugby Union

[whart57]

The RFU have granted London Irish a seven day extension if players and staff are paid their May salaries. Confirmation in the morning after a committee meeting currently being held.

[tigerburnie]

The Times report several players have already left and only half the wages will be paid, this could be a painful day for some.

[tigerburnie]

Feels a bit late after two or three horses have bolted, but could be a way forwards having someone who knows what they are doing having a look.

[www.telegraph.co.uk]

'............The Government has stepped in to drag rugby union out of its financial crisis after a disastrous year that looks set to end with London Irish becoming the third top-flight club to unravel.

Ralph Rimmer, the former Rugby Football League chief executive, and Chris Pilling, a board member of UK Sport, have been appointed to help rugby union “reshape its strategic financial and sporting direction”.

Telegraph Sport understands the repayment of Covid loans could be examined, and perhaps renegotiated, as part of this collaboration, which has been prompted by a dire year of upheaval that could see a third club go to the wall next Tuesday when Irish face their deadline.

“The Government supports the RFU and PRL’s work to stabilise professional rugby union including attracting new capital investment,” read a statement from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. “It shares the concerns of fans about where the game goes next, and has appointed two independent advisers to work with the RFU and PRL on their plans to restructure the Professional Game Agreement.

“The issues at Worcester, Wasps and London Irish have laid bare the challenges facing the sport of rugby union. The inability of rugby clubs to raise capital investment and the financial challenges at various levels within the game have contributed to the need for urgent work to help secure rugby union’s immediate future and advise on its future direction.”

The statement also suggested that the Government would be “taking further action to further protect its investment on behalf of taxpayers” after providing “a financial lifeline to keep elite and grassroots rugby afloat during the pandemic”.

Rimmer and Pilling will work closely with CVC as well as the RFU and PRL, reporting directly to Lucy Fraser, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport. Rimmer served as the chief executive of the RFL between 2018 and 2022, a period that saw him secure a 12-year strategic partnership with IMG.

IMG are bidding to grow rugby league with some radical policies. One of these is a grading system that appears likely to govern promotion and relegation to and from the Super League from 2024, where organisations will be marked out of 20 on factors besides performance. These include fandom, finances, their stadium and their prominence within the local community. This could chime with Telegraph Sport’s revelation last month that Wasps are being considered for a franchise place in the Championship as the RFU and PRL ponder ways to strengthen the second tier below what is expected to end up as a 10-team Premiership.

Pilling has held senior roles as HSBC, Asda, Walmart and British Airways and sits on the boards of Barclays Bank and Musgrave as well as UK Sport.

“I absolutely recognise the importance of this sporting pyramid to communities across the country,” Rimmer said. “I also understand from my own experiences in rugby league the challenges and pressures which the sport currently faces and I’m confident that I can help all parties in creating not just a sustainable future but also an exciting one.”

Premiership Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor confirmed that a newly formed sporting commission for the Premiership would be announced imminently and that elements of a financial monitoring panel would be in place for next season.

“We welcome the Government acknowledging the role that they play in helping stabilise the future of the Premiership,” Massie-Taylor said.

“And we are looking forward to working with Ralph and Chris as we finalise our plans for the future of the professional game with our partners at The RFU, RPA and other key rugby stakeholders.

“In the coming days we will also announce our newly-formed Sporting Commission. And former Government adviser Sir Nigel Boardman has also commenced work on formulating new financial regulations, as part of our financial monitoring panel, with the first elements planned to be in place for the start of the new season.”

RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney, meanwhile, reiterated his commitment to solidifying the second tier of English rugby union as part of the ongoing professional game agreement negotiations.

“The RFU and PRL have been working collaboratively for some time on a joint strategy to stabilise and transform Rugby Union following the exceptional challenges created by Covid,” he said.

“Government choosing to work with us on this process is an important and much appreciated development and we are delighted to welcome Ralph and Chris to support the work we are doing to re-shape the future of the professional game.

“The restructuring of the professional game agreement into a strategic partnership provides a great opportunity for all stakeholders to set aside self-interest and collaborate to reset and secure the future long-term sustainable growth of the professional game including developing the strongest possible second tier.”

London Irish have been a one-week extension on the deadline for their buyers to demonstrate meaningful substance or for the current owner, Mick Crossan, to demonstrate that he will be able to fund the club through next season.

Fail to meet that “final” ultimatum on June 6 will see the club suspended less than a year after Worcester Warriors and then Wasps went into administration.

[whart57]

I hope that the government and its pair of experts do recognise one big difference between the second and third tiers of rugby union and rugby league. In league most of the clubs in the lower pro divisions form part of the identity of the towns they hail from. In towns like Batley, Featherstone, Dewsbury, the RL club has much deeper roots than their union equivalents have. RL does have its new clubs, and they all prop up the lower end of the third tier. Clubs like Cornwall, West Wales etc. However whatever the changes the RL bring at the top, there is that resilience in the middle between the professional and amateur competitions.

 

The clubs that form the middle tiers of rugby union however are more fringes to the communities they hail from. Different histories and thus a different present. What works in RL may not work in RU.

[whart57]

More on London Irish ........

 

Big trouble now, HMRC have launched winding up procedures because of an unpaid tax bill. Other creditors can usually be squared, HMRC though, once they start getting 'm learned friends involved, go for the full whack.

[Joseph_Pestell]

I never believed that pro rugby union would work out in England. Or indeed Wales and Scotland. I am amazed that it has survived this long.

 

Even well-supported clubs in rugby heartlands, e.g. Gloucester, have been money pits.

 

I don't have an answer but I think it will need a far more radical reform than currently proposed by the RFU.

[tigerburnie]

Don't worry the government are sending in a task force.........................................................that is bound to end well isn't it?

[tigerburnie]

Looks like another one bites the dust, running out of opponents soon.

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby/london-irish-premiership-expulsion-takeover-administration-b1085902.html

[whart57]

Announcement at 7pm this evening apparently.

 

Apparently Brentford FC don't want to extend the lease at the Gtech stadium so even if Irish survive they need to find a ground, and according to the Guardian the Americans wanting to take over are really only interested in the Sunbury training ground as a base for a future London NFL franchise. (I wonder what the Khans, owners of Fulham FC and Jacksonville Tigers, think of that potential rival for a London franchise)

 

Ten team Premiership here we come.

Edited June 6, 2023 by whart57

[BoD]

1 hour ago, whart57 said:

Ten team Premiership here we come.

Some got what they wanted then.

But not in the way they envisaged it happening.

[tigerburnie]

We are now sadly aware of what teams are likely to be in a diminished league for next season, assuming the checks required by each club to be able to finance the coming year that the RFU implemented in April are actually sound, we should have a trouble free season.
However, as I said a couple of years ago, there's no money to spare, I hope sponsors businesses allow them to continue supporting the game, I hope fans will be able to find the funds to buy tickets and I vainly hope England do something in the World Cup that might generate interest in the game amongst new supporters of the game.
We know some major changes are being discussed, some plans have been put forwards and clubs have been able to express their wishes, will the new dawn be upon us and will we see a more financially viable game, who knows.
My biggest worry is not who is next to fold, what bothered me more was that when Andrea Pinchen , the Leicester Tigers CEO proposed keeping a reduced salary cap, there were owners speaking against it and wanting to carry on busting the game.

[rockershovel]

On 05/06/2023 at 11:27, Joseph_Pestell said:

I never believed that pro rugby union would work out in England. Or indeed Wales and Scotland. I am amazed that it has survived this long.

 

Even well-supported clubs in rugby heartlands, e.g. Gloucester, have been money pits.

 

I don't have an answer but I think it will need a far more radical reform than currently proposed by the RFU.

What he said. Rugby Union is a niche sport which simply isn't amenable to the commercial approach by which soccer has grown to such enormous size. 

 

That said, I wouldn't say that its complexity is inherently a problem. Look at the immense popularity of "football" in the US. I was always fascinated by the mental arithmetic necessary to play darts, a game much favoured by the working man. 

 

[tigerburnie]

Soccer is no more profitable than rugby, the debts these clubs is staggering, Derby County almost went the way of Wasps and co a year or two ago and they are not alone, I'm sure I read Leicester City has debts of around £200 million.

[whart57]

Apparently the RFU themselves have a £40m income shortfall as well.

[whart57]

And now London Irish have put themselves into administration. Key here is whether the property company that owns the Sunbury training ground is also going into administration or whether it's just the playing side. As in so many cases the ownership of assets is more complex and murky than it needs to be.

[St Enodoc]

Everything old is new again.

 

After the Super Rugby Pacific quarter-finals, there are again three New Zealand and only one Australian team in the semis. Hint: it's not the Waratahs.

[tigerburnie]

Six Nations and Rugby Championship organisers announce plans for global tournament - BBC Sport

 

So is this a brave new world or just a re-hash of what went before, the devil will be in the detail I guess.

[whart57]

This is quite parasitical isn't it? This tournament would be contested by the best professionals, yet the clubs that provide regular employment of those professionals are going to the wall - except in France and possibly Ireland - and the structures for finding and nurturing the talent of the next generation are in a bad way too, except in France and New Zealand.

[tigerburnie]

Back in the dim and distant past I played for a club called Wigston, Martin Johnson and the Deacon brothers all played for them later, when the game went pro and leagues began, the club took the decision to join local rivals Westleigh and form the Leicester Lions RFC. They began in local Leicestershire leagues and got promoted to the National 2 North league, one Billy Twelvetrees played for them before going to Leicester and England, where they remained until be level transferred to National 2 South, travelling to Guernsey and Cornwall amongst other places. Last season they won promotion from the new National 2 West league, somewhat trail blazers.

The new season sees them coming up against some very old famous names from the world of English rugby :-

Birmingham Moseley
Bishop’s Stortford
Blackheath,
Chinnor
Cinderford
Darlington Mowden Park
Leicester Lions
Plymouth Albion
Rams
Richmond
Rosslyn Park
Sale FC
Sedgley Park
Taunton Titans

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

Back in the dim and distant past I played for a club called Wigston, Martin Johnson and the Deacon brothers all played for them later, when the game went pro and leagues began, the club took the decision to join local rivals Westleigh and form the Leicester Lions RFC. They began in local Leicestershire leagues and got promoted to the National 2 North league, one Billy Twelvetrees played for them before going to Leicester and England, where they remained until be level transferred to National 2 South, travelling to Guernsey and Cornwall amongst other places. Last season they won promotion from the new National 2 West league, somewhat trail blazers.

The new season sees them coming up against some very old famous names from the world of English rugby :-

Birmingham Moseley
Bishop’s Stortford
Blackheath,
Chinnor
Cinderford
Darlington Mowden Park
Leicester Lions
Plymouth Albion
Rams
Richmond
Rosslyn Park
Sale FC
Sedgley Park
Taunton Titans

Never played against them although in my one season (1974-75) with Derby RFC Colts I remember playing Oadby Wyggs.

 

Some of the great names from the past in that list too.

[St Enodoc]

Australia v Argentina last night - no spoiler.

 

After last week's d!cking in Pretoria, this was a far closer game although I have to say that neither side played exceptionally well and both gave away too many penalties. On balance, the result went the right way, particularly after the egregious forward pass, even by SH standards, that led to one of the two first-half tries.

[tigerburnie]

Jones is far past his use by date he is pre historic, talking of winning a World Cup is embarrassing really. He couldn't do it with an excellent side at home 20 years ago, failed miserably when working in old London town, he's got no chance in gay Paris

[tigerburnie]

Looking in from the outside, Welsh rugby looks like it could disappear up it's own orifice, not quite civil war, but add the exodus of players and now coaches and then add in the banning of singing songs, where will it all end?

[St Enodoc]

I have nothing to say about last night's Bledisloe Cup match.

[tigerburnie]

5 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I have nothing to say about last night's Bledisloe Cup match.

Not seen the match, but it seems Mr Jones is being found wanting again going on what is being said by those who did see it.