Premiership clubs warned financial state is 'unsustainable'

British MPs have warned that the financial situation of Gallagher Premiership clubs is "clearly unsustainable" in a damning report on issues facing the professional game in England.

The demise of former top-flight clubs Wasps and Worcester earlier this season has been described as a "stain on the reputation" of the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee said RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney and his Premiership Rugby counterpart Simon Massie-Taylor held a "very complacent belief" that plans to increase revenues and improve collaboration would solve existing financial problems amid annual losses averaging around £4m (€4.5m) per club.

Sweeney and Massie-Taylor appeared in front of the select committee in November after Wasps and Worcester had entered administration - a fate which resulted in both clubs losing their Premiership status amid many job losses.

The committee concluded that poor oversight from rugby union's governing bodies contributed to Wasps and Worcester collapsing, and criticised "a lack of safeguards in place at the highest levels of the game" to help prevent such issues.

"At Wasps, a disastrous and ill-thought-through relocation to Coventry, and the debt incurred to fund this, crippled the club financially," the report read.

"At Worcester Warriors, unscrupulous owners mismanaged club finances while attempting to strip the club of its assets. One of the most striking facets of the problems at Worcester Warriors was the lack of due diligence undertaken regarding its owners, particularly Colin Goldring."

The committee's conclusions and recommendations include that when the RFU publishes its next annual report, the governing body writes to the committee with