'We will live within our means' - IRFU report €5.9m profit but warn of future losses

The Irish Rugby Football Union have reported a profit of €5.9m for the 2021/22 season, but CEO Kevin Potts says he expects the governing body to deal with deficits in the coming years.

The figure of €5.9m is considerably better than the €4.9m loss they had budgeted for, in part due to the earlier than expected easing of Covid-19 restrictions, but largely because of the receipt of €18m in Covid assistance from the government.

Without that government assistance, of which €2.5m was distributed to clubs, the union would have been faced with an operating loss of €9m, having had to deal with combined losses of almost €47m during the two previous seasons that were impacted by the pandemic.

As well as government assistance, the IRFU were boosted by the CVC investment in the Six Nations, with the private equity firm acquiring 14% of the competition. The IRFU have benefitted to the tune of €44.6m from the deal, spread out across a number of years.

Income of €116m for the season is a €32m increase on the previous year's accounts, and although some of that is accounted for through the government funding, and CVC money, there was an €18m increase in income directly from the international game due to gate receipts and Ireland's second-place finish in the Six Nations. Meanwhile, professional game costs fell by €7.6m to €60.5m year-on-year.

The union's cash reserves of €66m is down considerably from close to €100m pre-Covid, with that figure made up of the pre-sale of 10-year tickets, and CVC's investment in both the URC and Six Nations.

And despite the union surviving the Covid-19 pandemic with a positive set of accounts this year, chief executive Potts says they are budgeting for a deficit across each of the next three seasons.

"The key for