Will an Australian takeover of Skolars revitalise rugby league in London?

B uying a rugby league club in a city that already boasts more than 15 professional football clubs and a handful of union sides seems optimistic. Investing in the worst team in the country’s professional leagues seems like lunacy. But, by taking a majority share of London Skolars, that’s what Australian sports management company ARC is doing.

ARC has previously specialised in boxing but, with former Australia international David Shillington and one-time England player Shaun Lunt on board, they are making a third attempt to expand their empire into rugby league. Steve Scanlan, who owns ARC, and Tony Feasey, who led the takeover talks, were part of the group that set up New York City RLFC, which collapsed during the pandemic, and also wanted to take the Jacksonville Axemen into the British system.

Both of those ventures failed, but ARC has a new plan: buy perennial League 1 strugglers London Skolars and make them the biggest rugby league club in the capital. The local businessmen who own the club expect the takeover to be concluded in time for the team’s daunting trip to the unbeaten leaders, Dewsbury, on Sunday.

Neither party has declared how much ARC is paying the current directors for the vast majority of their shares – the current owners own 408,671 shares, valued at £1 each – but one former director claimed it is a low six-figure sum. “It’s an opportunity for new investors to come in rather than the existing investors selling out and making any money,” said the Skolars secretary, Andrew Jackson. “It’s taken a very long time to get there.”

The club are understandably cautious: Toronto Wolfpack promised to invest in Skolars four years ago, only for the deal to go cold when the dollars were due. And running a