By Plympton Chief
August 21 2022

Rugby did get some help from HMG during the Covid lockdown as described in this article from the Tele. I've knocked the last couple of paragraphs off as they reiterate the Wasps/Worcs position. Nothing but a good thing in my opinion but the readers comments make very interesting/strange reading.

The amount of taxpayers’ money poured into Premiership Rugby clubs to stop them going bust has more than doubled initial estimates to reach £124 million, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The true scale of the financial crisis to have engulfed the professional game since the coronavirus pandemic can be laid bare in the week this newspaper disclosed Worcester Warriors had been hit with a winding up petition by HM Revenue & Customs and Wasps were also being pursued over unpaid tax.

It was originally calculated that the Government’s Covid-19 Sports Winter Survival Package would allocate £59m to Premiership clubs when the initiative was announced back in November 2020 as part of a sector-wide bailout for those starved of vital ticket revenue during various lockdowns.

Four months later, though, that figure had rocketed to £88m following detailed submissions from clubs chronicling their estimated losses. The department for digital, culture, media and sport tailored packages to meet the financial circumstances of individuals organisations, providing loans to give them the best possible chance of survival in the short term. Rugby union was comfortably the biggest beneficiary of this scheme among professional sports.

It has now emerged that has subsequently surged again by more than 40 per cent to an average of almost £10m for each of the 13 Premiership teams for what are 20-plus year loans they will soon need to begin paying back. Premiership Rugby have declined to comment.

In November 2020, as Premiership fixtures were being played out behind closed doors to obliterate vital income streams, the initial estimate of £59m was labelled as a “much-needed lifeline for our clubs” by Darren Childs, who stepped down from his post as the league’s chief executive the following April and has since been replaced by Simon Massie-Taylor.

Premiership clubs took £124m in taxpayer cash

Discussion started by thechiefstribe.com (IP Logged), 21/08/2022 12:00

thechiefstribe.com
21/08/2022 12:00

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