Worcester Warriors Relegated By RFU
Worcester Warriors, the financially stricken Gallagher Premiership club, has been suspended for the rest of the season and will be relegated from the top tier of English professional rugby union.
The news comes a week after the club was suspended by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) after it entered administration.
Now, the national governing body for rugby union in England has taken a step further and announced that the prolonged suspension and relegation. It claims that this is the right decision and gives the club the ‘best chance for a long-term sustainable future’.
As well as having its Premiership campaign ended, the suspension also sees the Warriors kicked out of the Premiership Rugby Cup – a competition the club won last season.
On Wednesday 28th September, days after it entered administration, Worcester Warriors players and staff begun to see their contracts terminated, following part of the club being wound up in the High Court.
HMRC had been pursuing Worcester for unpaid tax of around £6m.
The club also owe money to The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It is Worcester’s biggest creditor following a coronavirus-related £14m loan through Sport England.
The club can still appeal against the ruling but to be successful the Warriors would need to show there was no fault for the insolvency event.
An RFU statement read, “As the club no longer has staff and players on contract, and with many seeking alternative employment, the decision has been made to focus on how the club can be viable over the long term.”
“The decision also gives certainty to PRL and Premiership rugby clubs to protect the integrity of the Premiership and allow clubs and their teams to plan for the rest of the season.”
In more promising news, the statement also added that the club’s administrators, Begbies Traynor, “are in discussions with several potential investors and it is expected they will also be planning for long-term sustainability”.
Julie Palmer, of Begbies Traynor, added, “I am reassured they are continuing to work with us in a positive way to try and achieve a rescue to enable rugby to take place next season in a properly structured approach to enable the long-term viability and success of Worcester Warriors.”
A condition of any takeover deal will require the payment of all rugby creditors, including any outstanding salaries owed to staff, players and coaches.
Relegation will see Worcester Warriors drop down to the second division in the rugby union pyramid – the RFU Championship.
