"We will bail out clubs on brink of collapse, the government tells RFU"

[Heathen]

Martyn Ziegler, Alex Lowe
Wednesday November 04 2020, 12.00pm, The Times

The government is planning to announce its rescue package for sport before the end of November but has told the RFU that it will provide emergency support to any club or organisation that is in imminent danger of collapse as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The final stages of a rescue fund for all sports apart from professional football are being worked through and ministers are expected to confirm the details within the next three weeks. It is expected to include some grants but the majority of support will be via long-term, low-interest loans.

It is understood that the RFU and other sporting bodies have been told that any club or sports body under immediate threat can apply for financial support now, with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) ready to consider such requests on a case-by-case basis.

The DCMS last week re-stated its insistence that the Premier League must prop up the English Football League (EFL) after the EFL chairman Rick Parry called on the government to provide financial assistance to the 72 clubs.

Darren Childs, the Premiership Rugby (PRL) chief executive, told The Times last month that there were clubs at risk of going bust before Christmas without financial support from the government.

That danger appears to have been alleviated by the DCMS offer of emergency support as it weighs up the size of the rescue package that will be offered to rugby at both the elite and community level.

Peter Tom, the chairman of Leicester Tigers, said that PRL’s 13 member clubs would require £100 million from the government.

With no supporters permitted into matches and stadium facilities unable to be hired out for conferences and parties, Premiership clubs are losing up to £1 million per month.

Central funding from the RFU, which is linked to the union’s financial position, is expected to fall by 60 per cent next year. Premiership clubs have been taking advantage of the government’s extended furlough scheme during the off season.

The RFU, which has had to make 140 staff redundant and implement a major cost-cutting programme, also submitted a funding request to the government as it braces for £60 million losses over the next 12 months.

Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, predicted that it could take at least five years for the game to recover from the pandemic.

There is a danger that the Greene King IPA Championship, the second tier of English rugby, will have to cancel the entire 2020-21 season. The clubs, some of whom are semi-professional, are hoping to start in January but that would depend on the size of the financial package offered by the government.

Under the present circumstances, with no income from ticket sales, bar takings or venue hires, clubs cannot afford for the season to begin. That leaves Saracens, a team packed with England internationals but relegated to the Championship last season due to salary cap breaches, in limbo.

If the Championship clubs are to fall under the elite sport guidelines that allow the Premiership and international rugby to operate then they would require significant government funding.

The RFU does have a financial support package available to any grassroots clubs in trouble. Rugby is the only community sport that has been unable to restart because its close-contact nature means there is a high risk of spreading Covid-19. The 2020-21 season for all clubs below the Championship was scrapped on Friday.

The community game is expected to lose £89 million in revenue this season and there are serious concerns that a generation of players and volunteers, who are the lifeblood of the grassroots game, could be lost.

“Without support we are in danger of clubs at the heart of communities across England, as well as players and volunteers, disappearing forever,” Sweeney said.

The Times reported on Tuesday that clubs initially against adapting the laws, by restricting the number of scrums and contact elements, had approved the measures to try to get some rugby played.

The Premier 15s women’s professional league have been playing under adapted laws without tests, but they follow heavily monitored protocols, including daily temperature checks, that would be unworkable for community clubs.

[Skippy]

I wouldn’t give any funding to the EAs. If they could afford monumental breaches of the salary cap, then there is absolutely no need to push any taxpayers money their way. And if money is genuinely tight, then tough. They should have been more careful with their money.

[Neils]

I wouldn’t give any funding to the EAs. If they could afford monumental breaches of the salary cap, then there is absolutely no need to push any taxpayers money their way. And if money is genuinely tight, then tough. They should have been more careful with their money.

What's the betting they would make a better case that anyone plus being London based they will have a much better case/bent contacts (allegedly).

[hookender]

I wouldn’t give any funding to the EAs. If they could afford monumental breaches of the salary cap, then there is absolutely no need to push any taxpayers money their way. And if money is genuinely tight, then tough. They should have been more careful with their money.

I wouldn’t go that far. All clubs have lost money and as long as they are prepared to show their full detailed accounts- oh no hang on a minute...

[Bloke in North Dorset]

I wouldn’t give any funding to the EAs. If they could afford monumental breaches of the salary cap, then there is absolutely no need to push any taxpayers money their way. And if money is genuinely tight, then tough. They should have been more careful with their money.

The point is that they've been prevented by government from carrying out their lawful business and so have every right to be compensated.

That said, they should be compensated as a Championship club and that should be based on Championship salaries and championship gate receipts. As they have no track record in the Championship I'd propose looking at the, say, top 3 clubs over the past few years and basing it on that.

[hookender]

I wouldn’t give any funding to the EAs. If they could afford monumental breaches of the salary cap, then there is absolutely no need to push any taxpayers money their way. And if money is genuinely tight, then tough. They should have been more careful with their money.

The point is that they've been prevented by government from carrying out their lawful business and so have every right to be compensated.

That said, they should be compensated as a Championship club and that should be based on Championship salaries and championship gate receipts. As they have no track record in the Championship I'd propose looking at the, say, top 3 clubs over the past few years and basing it on that.

Unfortunately their lawful business has been disrupted whilst still in Premiership.

In some way relegation could also work in their favour financially if championship is cancelled as could claim compensation with no game expenditure (COVID tests , travel, hotels). If all clubs (except maybe Exeter) are losing money normally on games Saracens could perversely lose ‘less’ than others.

As wasps holdings are split via various companies would they have been able to claim various grants etc for hospitality,function room hire ,shop?