167 players and staff from the suspended Wasps Rugby club follow Worcester Warriors employees who sadly lost their livelihoods when the two organizations went into Administration. Each act causing massive disruption within English Premiership rugby and….. we are not even halfway through the 2022/23 season.
Worcester Warriors and Wasps have both gone into administration, with upwards of a combined 417 jobs lost. What impact does this have to rugby? and what devastation it is causing? Not only to staff and players but, to the local communities and stakeholders (including supporters like this writer, who has known little else than Wasps and Worcester as core English rugby clubs). And how could it be left to happen in this modern game?
Just some of the questions floating around right now that need questioning, for the current ‘state of the Premiership’. Read Mark Holman’s personal account, and his own stance on the fall of two rugby institutions.
Suspended Wasps Rugby and the ‘state of the Premiership’
In September, the Worcester Warriors failed to repay the HRMC in adequate time for a debt of around £6 million. The club’s owners tried everything to find a way out of this and searched [fruitlessly] for a new backer to come in to rescue the club’s financial position – with a debt of £25M. Those suspicious of the practices of the figures involved must also respect that once ‘the rot had set in’ few could have recovered the Worcester Warriors group of companies.
People like the late Cecil Duckworth; who invested so much of his money and time building the foundations of the Worcester club, are hard to find. And with time against the business continuing, the opportunities ran out, with the club placed into Administration. Though as this article is published, talks are still going on to try to bring in new owner/s, including a consortium just announced by former Director of Rugby, Steve Diamond.
#TOGETHER 6 weeks of graft for me is easy compared to 25 yrs of Cecil’s legacy pic.twitter.com/47cwY1zyjL
— Steve Diamond (@Steve_Dimes) October 27, 2022
Wasps find themselves in a similar position, with debt to HRMC of around £2.5M plus a £35M bond that they were not able to pay back. This bond was offered to investors, to re-finance the club, as it grew at their new base in Coventry. They took over Ricoh Arena, with a hotel and casino looking to bring in extra revenue from outside of rugby …. in a way ‘rolling the dice’ to sustain the club’s operations!
For Wasps it was a big gamble that was starting to work but, not being able to pay back the bond to investors and a court battle with the previous owner of the stadium [Coventry City FC] was not helping their situation. Behind the scenes, major cost-cutting was taking place, which was unknown to people outside the club. Mindful of all of that, it is a club that has been at the heart of the English game for so long.
After being based in London for so many seasons, they never owned their own ground, unlike Worcester. They took the brave decision to move everything to the midlands in 2014. This paid off in some way, with good crowds being built in the hotbed of the Midlands, where there are many other professional clubs like Leicester Tigers, Northampton, and Worcester. It was a tough call and they knew that gate revenue would not bring enough so had to look outside of this by holding other events at the stadium. A growing fan base was building at Ricoh, and with it an academy pathway, even though the amateur side of the club remained in the London base of Acton.
Sadness for stakeholders, as Wasps/Worcester options dwindle
Personally, I have some great memories myself from being invited into the boardroom and executive lounge on a few occasions on match days, to being an ambassador for a company with two high-profile ex-Wasps players involved, to being on the pitch itself at Twickenham for a Premiership Cup final along with a player – all memories that will remain with me as a rugby supporter.
With Worcester they had built a great academy with excellent facilities over the years under a visionary the late Cecil Duckworth, generating talent through their system at the club. They built slowly, gaining promotion and showed many the way in how a club can grow into a top-flight club. This club was at heart of their community, which could now be lost entirely. So it not just about players and staff.
The whole club is built on its community and this too will be lost unless backers can be found – and found now.
All players, coaches, and backroom staff have had their contracts terminated as an effect of Administration. All are now looking for employment, which is proving so difficult for many. While opportunities out there are limited and with no safety net in place, many may be out of rugby altogether. As for the fans, most will remain loyal, others may hold a grudge against the game (unfortunately) as they feel let down by the game’s decision-makers.
For many, questions arise about how this was allowed to happen? and why alarm bells had not been ringing? Did RFU and RRL (Premiership Rugby Ltd) know of this, and what did they do to help?
All players, coaches, and backroom staff have had their contracts terminated as an effect of Administration. All are now looking for employment, which is proving so difficult for many. While opportunities out there are limited and with no safety net in place, many may be out of rugby altogether. As for the fans, most will remain loyal, others may hold a grudge against the game (unfortunately) as they feel let down by the game’s decision-makers.
For many, questions arise about how this was allowed to happen? and why alarm bells had not been ringing? Did RFU and RRL (Premiership Rugby Ltd) know of this, and what did they do to help?
The talk now is of forming a commission and putting more structures in place to stop this from happening in future … try telling that to players and staff who lost their jobs! Or, more cynically, was it always a case that they knew this may happen and that 10 clubs fit better, and with it, ring-fencing the Premiership that (perhaps) has always been on the agenda.
Let’s hope that both clubs can find financial support from either a new owner or a consortium to continue but what is holding this back at present is the P Share. That factor being one of main reasons as to why David Armstrong [who was one of the individuals who was a crucial part of the relocation of Wasps from London to Coventry in 2014] could not lift the club from it’s financial struggles . The ex-Chief Executive of Wasps – having left in 2017 to join the British Horse Racing Association – he was looking to put together a package to purchase the club but, without the P shares the deal was as good as, dead in water.
P (perpetual) shares have been awarded to the 13 established top-flight clubs since 2005. This entitles them to a percentage of income and voting rights within the league. Without these then, it is extremely difficult to build a club for long-term sustainability. Added to that, with no P Shares after going into administration, it makes it is even more unlikely a buyer can be found.
In the harsh reality of corporate professional sports, the suspended Wasps Rugby club – and more so Worcester Warriors- now face imminent relegation from top-flight rugby that in all honesty is a tragedy. That is not to mention the drawn-out process of looking for new owners’ and then rebuilding their support base.
Tough times ahead indeed.
“Main photo credit”
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