Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
London Welsh are down but as it turns out, not quite out. In a surprise decision on Tuesday the High Court has adjourned a hearing that could have seen that club shut down immediately until January 23. The ruling gives the club an extra month to meet with creditors and attempt to find a solution to keep the professional rugby arm of the 122-year-old club afloat in the Greene King IPA Championship. Reports from Richmond indicate that a new financial plan is being drawn up that will allow the majority of the playing squad to remain at Old Deer Park until the end of the season, which would be very good news for Canadian international Aaron Carpenter who is currently on the mend from a broken arm suffered against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium last month.
The club announced a week ago that it would enter voluntary liquidation after conceding that its financial situation was unsustainable. Reports that a US-based investment group would be taking over in September proved hasty, and eventually the proposal was revealed to be a fraud prompting club chairman Bleddyn Phillips to tender his resignation. If Welsh are able to come to an agreement with creditors and pay a bond to the RFU, they will be allowed to continue to play out the season in a semi-professional capacity though they still face a 20-point deduction in the league standings and have already been disqualified from the British & Irish Cup.
In the best case scenario the implications would not only see upheaval in the standings – London Welsh would instantly drop below 12th place Richmond – but also call into question the long-term viability of a fully professional second division in England. London Welsh had been in the Premiership as recently as 2015 and are one of the most storied clubs in the UK. That such an established club has fallen into disarray so quickly must concern the RFU. Richmond earned promotion from National One last season and are currently the only semi-professional outfit in the Championship. If a second club follows suit, which now seems inevitable, there may well be more not-so-distant future.
The RFU Championship has been a home for a large number of Americas players over the past 20 years but opportunities look to be dwindling with salaries already well below the Premiership and other professional European divisions. The turmoil reinforces the need for a fully professional American competition to fill in the gaps that look set to appear beyond the reaches of the Americas unions.
