WRU fears £100k blow from each cancelled festive and European rugby game
- Published
Steve Phillips took over from Martyn Phillips as the Welsh Rugby Union chief executive
Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) chief executive Steve Phillips says host teams of postponed games in Wales are set to lose around £100,000 profit per match.
Covid-19 forced Scarlets v Bordeaux-Begles off last weekend and Ospreys v Dragons is postponed from 26 December.
Phillips also says rulings of 28-0 defeats in Europe "seems to lack consistency and, arguably, fairness to some of our teams".
Ospreys and Scarlets were among the teams to suffer that fate.
In the European Champions Cup, Ospreys were due to travel to Racing 92 last weekend, but were deemed to have not fulfilled the fixture after an outbreak of Covid in their camp.
The previous weekend, Scarlets had to call off their trip to Bristol after the bulk of their squad quarantined in Belfast following an aborted United Rugby Championship trip to South Africa. That, again, led to a 28-0 result being recorded against them by European tournament chiefs.
However, no such ruling was made against French clubs over unfulfilled fixtures last weekend, after the French government imposed travel restrictions on those arriving from the United Kingdom.
Instead games involving French clubs were postponed, leading to Scarlets chairman Simon Muderask asking for a rethink of the Bristol-Scarlets ruling.
"We will work with our regional colleagues to understand further some of the recent Champions Cup decisions," said Phillips in a letter to WRU member clubs.
He has also pledged to negotiate more favourable terms on the £20m loan the WRU negotiated to help Wales' four professional teams - Cardiff Rugby, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets - avoid financial collapse during the earlier stages of the pandemic.
"We have been working with Welsh government in the background to resolve the refinance of the CLBILS debt. We have made considerable progress in recent months and we are optimistic of concluding that issue by the end of January 2022; we can say more on that at the appropriate time."
Phillips added: "Each of our four professional sides have been affected in different ways.
"We are working hard behind the scenes to mitigate the negative effects of the new measures and will continue to do so.
"Given the popularity of the derby matches and upcoming European matches, we estimate that each lost match will be a net reduction in profit of well over £100,000.
"There will be a further loss of revenue to suppliers, pay for staff, value for sponsors and pleasure for fans, in addition to the longer-term consequences of fans getting out of the habit of going to games.
"Whilst we entirely respect and acknowledge Welsh government's stance to protect the nation, it is very disappointing for fans to not be able to attend the planned Christmas derbies between our teams.
"We must also recognise and thank Welsh government for the Spectator Sport Survival Fund [a pot of £3m to be shared around Welsh sports clubs and venues] and other measures which they have announced to mitigate the financial concerns."
On postponing matches this coming weekend in the Welsh Premiership and community game, Phillips said: "We have met with our Indigo Group Premiership teams and collectively decided that it is in everyone's interests to postpone this weekend's matches and I would also like to thank our broadcast partners S4C for their understanding in this matter.
"The Indigo Group Premiership is expected to be back in action under current regulations next week.
"In the rest of the community game we know teams have and are considering postponing matches which now cannot be played in front of full crowds, matches which would have brought in much-needed funds.
"Each club will make its own decision. We will advise all to follow Welsh government guidelines and be here for all of our clubs to provide support if needed. If you do need to postpone fixtures at this time, please let the referees' department know at the earliest opportunity."
Phillips made no reference to any possibility of Wales' 2022 Six Nations home games against Scotland on 12 February and France and Italy in March being played behind closed doors if restrictions remain in place in Wales.