Another Union club goes bust?

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morley pie eater
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Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 2:01 pm

Another Union club goes bust?

Post by morley pie eater »

London Irish, having failed to pay wages once, appear to be teetering on the brink. BBC report below, but The Times added:

"The consortium, which involves Howard Thomas, a former chief executive of Premiership Rugby, missed numerous deadlines and broke numerous promises."

The wage bill is a cool £500,000 per month!!!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/65751962
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the pieman
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Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 5:34 pm

Re: Another Union club goes bust?

Post by the pieman »

that wage bill is staggering and no wonder we dont see many players transition from RU to league anymore

You would think there has to be a big shake up at club level in RU, as thats too many clubs gone bust in one season or so. Irrelevant of rich benefactors / sponsorship deals etc, generally crowds arent much better than RL, so they are charging a massive amount to go and watch, or someone is happy to take a loss to the arse pocket
moto748
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Re: Another Union club goes bust?

Post by moto748 »

the pieman wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 7:09 pm that wage bill is staggering and no wonder we dont see many players transition from RU to league anymore

You would think there has to be a big shake up at club level in RU, as thats too many clubs gone bust in one season or so. Irrelevant of rich benefactors / sponsorship deals etc, generally crowds arent much better than RL, so they are charging a massive amount to go and watch, or someone is happy to take a loss to the arse pocket
I did a quick Google:

https://www.bathrugby.com/season-tickets/pricing/

The Rec is tiny; I used to live near Bath. There's a waiting list to get a season ticket.
the pieman
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Re: Another Union club goes bust?

Post by the pieman »

moto748 wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 4:37 pm
the pieman wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 7:09 pm that wage bill is staggering and no wonder we dont see many players transition from RU to league anymore

You would think there has to be a big shake up at club level in RU, as thats too many clubs gone bust in one season or so. Irrelevant of rich benefactors / sponsorship deals etc, generally crowds arent much better than RL, so they are charging a massive amount to go and watch, or someone is happy to take a loss to the arse pocket
I did a quick Google:

https://www.bathrugby.com/season-tickets/pricing/

The Rec is tiny; I used to live near Bath. There's a waiting list to get a season ticket.
i made the comment without any knowledge (just a general assumption) on season ticket prices

so just had a little look on the link

Starting at around £450 up to £850, so quite a significant difference to what we pay. I guess thats a class difference (how the games are perceived), and what people are prepared to pay.

It also shows that they need to charge that price, to get close to generating revenues to match the current salary cap, and probably why there have been so many clubs go bust over the last 18 months

I know its all down to preference, and people like to watch both games, but i am quite happy with RL and certainly wouldnt be paying around 500 to watch 10 matches in a season
jobo
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Re: Another Union club goes bust?

Post by jobo »

moto748 wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 4:37 pm
the pieman wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 7:09 pm that wage bill is staggering and no wonder we dont see many players transition from RU to league anymore

You would think there has to be a big shake up at club level in RU, as thats too many clubs gone bust in one season or so. Irrelevant of rich benefactors / sponsorship deals etc, generally crowds arent much better than RL, so they are charging a massive amount to go and watch, or someone is happy to take a loss to the arse pocket
I did a quick Google:

https://www.bathrugby.com/season-tickets/pricing/

The Rec is tiny; I used to live near Bath. There's a waiting list to get a season ticket.
Going off Baths average attendance, they'd still need a hefty amount of sponsorship to support a wage bill of half a million per month, alongside all their other costs.

Still, IFL's season ticket was (is) costing him £500,000.
morley pie eater
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Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 2:01 pm

Re: Another Union club goes bust?

Post by morley pie eater »

London Irish gone! That's 3 out of 13 teams in the top division that have gone busy. Imagine if it was Warrington, Hull and Castleford! And that's probably understating it - London Irish were 5th and close to Leicester in 3rd. Wasps were a massive name.
Another problem facing union is falling participation. I read this in one of the articles:

. . . the number of adult participants in England collapsed from 259,600 in 2016 to 133,600 in 2021.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/65819546
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fozzieskem
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Re: Another Union club goes bust?

Post by fozzieskem »

Truth is paying big bucks to the pot bellied wonders isn’t sustainable on any level really,let’s be fair without their international game the whole code would have gone baps up years back dare I say it they shouldn’t have gone pro?
the pieman
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Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 5:34 pm

Re: Another Union club goes bust?

Post by the pieman »

morley pie eater wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 10:46 am London Irish gone! That's 3 out of 13 teams in the top division that have gone busy. Imagine if it was Warrington, Hull and Castleford! And that's probably understating it - London Irish were 5th and close to Leicester in 3rd. Wasps were a massive name.
Another problem facing union is falling participation. I read this in one of the articles:

. . . the number of adult participants in England collapsed from 259,600 in 2016 to 133,600 in 2021.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/65819546
bloody hell, thats a massive drop if those numbers are true, almost 50% down in 5 years

would be interesting to see the reasons why if they have them. i can only see it dropping further with some of the changes made the list 12 months in regards to tackling (i think its still in a trial phase) as there was quite a lot of noise about that being a negative for the game too

it would also be good to see a like for like comparison for RL. have gone the same way with participants, if so that could be a worrying sign for both games and long term future
Ipinwigan
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Re: Another Union club goes bust?

Post by Ipinwigan »

Not being a fan of union, I hope more teams go under when they are paying stupid money to players, much like football and lower league teams who can't afford to keep paying players and the HMRC
morley pie eater
Posts: 3219
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 2:01 pm

Re: Another Union club goes bust?

Post by morley pie eater »

the pieman wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 11:21 am
morley pie eater wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 10:46 am London Irish gone! That's 3 out of 13 teams in the top division that have gone busy. Imagine if it was Warrington, Hull and Castleford! And that's probably understating it - London Irish were 5th and close to Leicester in 3rd. Wasps were a massive name.
Another problem facing union is falling participation. I read this in one of the articles:

. . . the number of adult participants in England collapsed from 259,600 in 2016 to 133,600 in 2021.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/65819546
bloody hell, thats a massive drop if those numbers are true, almost 50% down in 5 years

would be interesting to see the reasons why if they have them. i can only see it dropping further with some of the changes made the list 12 months in regards to tackling (i think its still in a trial phase) as there was quite a lot of noise about that being a negative for the game too

it would also be good to see a like for like comparison for RL. have gone the same way with participants, if so that could be a worrying sign for both games and long term future
I did realise after I posted that it may be affected by Covid, but union journos are clearly concerned. I think I copied from the Telegraph.
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