Premiership clubs ‘teetering on edge’ face government scrutiny over loans
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Premiership rugby clubs who “have been teetering on the edge” are set to come under further scrutiny by the government over the repayments of their £124m Covid bailout loans. A report by the National Audit Office details how the Department for Culture, Media and Sport [DCMS] awarded 26% of its £474m loans to Premiership clubs, including £41.6m to Worcester, Wasps and London Irish, who have all since gone bust. According to the report, they are three of nine borrowers who in total received £46.1m and their collective demises mean that the DCMS does not expect to recover up to £29m in loans awarded.
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The terms of the loans mean that all borrowers should have made a first repayment by September 2025 and the report warns that the “DCMS may be required to respond to a greater number of difficult cases”. It is understood that some Premiership clubs have renegotiated the terms of their loans but league insiders insist that none of the 10 current clubs have missed repayments.
The report from the UK’s independent public spending watchdog reads: “Acknowledging its ongoing role as a key stakeholder, DCMS is closely monitoring the remaining Premiership clubs to identify any which may be behind on their repayments and facing financial difficulties. In doing so DCMS is monitoring the risk it faces to protect its investment on behalf of taxpayers.”.
In the summer of 2023, around the time London Irish were being wound up, the government’s two independent advisers – Ralph Rimmer, the former chief executive of the Rugby Football League, and the current UK Sport board member Chris Pilling – were appointed to address the need for “urgent work to help secure rugby union’s immediate future”.
