Earlier today Mick Crossan the owner of London Irish Rugby Club published an open letter addressing the hard final decision he has taken to put the club into administration.
Yesterday it was suspended from the Gallagher Premiership, the third club in a year to be so and Crossan addresses below what he sees as the “lack of real support” being given to club owners that are as he says still struggling to “get back on a stable path following the pandemic.”
London Irish has a 128-year history and has played a part within the Irish community in London that far exceeded its importance on the field of play.
It has been the home of internationals including Simon Geoghegan, Hugo MacNeill, Michael Gibson and Brendan Mullin.
Its Director of Rugby in recent years has been former Ireland Head Coach Declan Kidney.
For now though that history is just that. The administration process will hopefully find a way forward but with no Premiership place, Crossan accepts that the prospect of a sale as hoped to NUE Equity will not materialise.
The success of Rugby in Ireland over recent years has blinded many to the issues that are dragging at the sport across England and Wales in particular.
French and Irish dominance in the Heineken Cup has been mirrored in the Guinness Six Nations and may be again in the Rugby World Cup this year.
Football, and in our own locale Gaelic Games as well as most other sports have bounced back strongly from the dark days of closure for public health reasons. But rugby has not. Is that because of the traditional narrower player base? Was there a sense that investment at the highest level has not filtered down as might have been hoped?
This is a sad week for London Irish and for English Rugby. We have to be mindful of the threat of contagion and wish our sometime rival well in bouncing back.
In order to be the best there has to be a strong sense of competition and jeopardy. Losing 25 percent of what was once the benchmark for a successful league cannot be ignored.
Here is the full text of the letter from London Irish Owner Mick Crossan:
I am extremely disappointed that the RFU last night elected to suspend London Irish from the Gallagher Premiership.
As a lifelong fan of London Irish, the club’s suspension is bitterly disappointing, and I understand the sadness felt by the thousands of our loyal supporters and the frustrations of our incredible coaches, medical staff, back-office team, and players. But this decision has ultimately ended any hope of an acquisition of the club and has regrettably forced us to file for administration this morning.
Over the last seven months, I have been working closely with the RFU, PRL and representatives of NUE Equity to complete a widely publicised deal to acquire the club. Negotiations have been complex from the start, further complicated by issues regarding our tenancy at Brentford’s stadium and unrealistic demands from the governing body. But throughout, I have remained confident a deal could be made that would secure the long-term future of London Irish.
As we neared the completion of the deal, I continually received promises, from both NUE Equity and Redstrike, that the acquisition would be completed imminently, and that funds would arrive within days. Right up to yesterday’s final deadline, we continued to receive verbal assurances from the group. I have trusted that these were not hollow promises and agreed to financially support the club throughout to ensure it could finish the season and give the group time to conclude the deal.
Sadly, the promises have failed to materialise, and, despite our very best efforts, it was not possible to meet the conditions set by the RFU Club Financial Viability Group yesterday afternoon. Its subsequent disappointing decision to force our suspension has proved the tipping point where we will not be able to meet our current and future financial obligations. And after assessing our options last night, we agreed that administration offered the safest path forward for the club.
Since acquiring London Irish in 2013, I have made a significant financial investment to ensure we could compete at the highest level once again. We have worked tirelessly over the last few years to develop a more sustainable business model, trying to tap into the Irish community, developing new revenue streams, investing in our fantastic academy to develop future stars, and of course bringing the club back to its spiritual home in West London after 20 years away.
However, the reality is that professional rugby in this country is going through a hugely challenging time and, as we know, many clubs are sadly still struggling to get back on a stable path following the pandemic. I have publicly stated, on numerous occasions, that I would be willing to pass on the stewardship of the club if we could find the right person or group to take it forward and secure its long-term future. After a decade of supporting the club financially, it is not feasible for me to continue absorbing the multi-million-pound losses of the club each year, indefinitely.
The comments from the RFU Chair, Tom Ilube, last night completely overlook the precarious situation other clubs are currently in. Collectively, owners of clubs are working very hard to transform their models, but the lack of real support, at times, is non-existent. And it speaks volumes that Ralph Rimmer and Chris Pilling have been appointed by the Government as independent advisers to work on the future stability of rugby union in the UK.
The professional game in this country needs to be radically transformed. And the current leadership must urgently review its practices from top to bottom if it has a desire to see professional rugby continue in England.
Administration has always been the last resort and something we hoped we could avoid. And we bitterly regret the difficulties it will present.
My focus is now on working with the appointed administrator and I hope that the club will come out of administration as quickly as possible. This development does not affect London Irish Amateur Rugby Football Club, to whom we recently granted a long lease on the Hazelwood premises and playing fields, or the operation of the Hazelwood facility whose facilities are extensively used for the benefit of all types of sporting activities and for the wider benefit of the local community.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the support you have shown the club over the years. I share your sadness and frustration at today’s news, and I very much hope the administrators can find a way forward for London Irish Rugby Club.
