UK government appoints advisers to aid RFU with rugby union financial crisis

The government has intervened in the growing financial crisis engulfing rugby union in England by appointing two independent advisers to assist with the “urgent work” required to help secure the sport’s immediate future.

With London Irish teetering on the brink of suspension from the Premiership, and becoming the third club kicked out of league inside eight months, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has acted by turning to Ralph Rimmer, the former chief executive of the Rugby Football League, and the current UK Sport board member Chris Pilling.

When Wasps and Worcester both fell into administration, the Rugby Football Union chief executive, Bill Sweeney, and his Premiership Rugby counterpart, Simon Massie-Taylor, were summoned to a parliamentary inquiry and skewered by MPs. Sweeney was accused of being “asleep on the job”, while he and Massie-Taylor were also blamed for “failure on an epic scale”. The subsequent report went on to label the demise of Wasps and Worcester as a “stain on the reputation” of rugby authorities.

As part of the government’s Covid-19 winter sport survival package, Premiership clubs received loans totalling £124m and it is believed they may be renegotiated as part of the intervention. The intervention comes to “further protect [the government’s] investment on behalf of taxpayers”. A DCMS statement read: “Following the recent failures of several clubs and the wider challenges stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, rugby union has a unique opportunity to reshape its future strategic financial and sporting direction.

“The Government supports the RFU and PRL’s work to stabilise professional rugby union including attracting new capital investment. It shares the concerns of fans about where the