Ben Morgan: 'It’s a real concern that rugby's professional game will disappear'
Ben Morgan heads into retirement fearing for the survival of professional club rugby.
The former England star plays his final game today at Bristol for a Gloucester side hoping to beat their opponents to the last Champions Cup spot for next season.
Beyond his immediate focus is a very real concern that the sport which brought him 31 England caps and memories to last a lifetime faces financial Armageddon.
“Everyone is worried for rugby at the moment,” said the Cherry and Whites’ number eight.
“Seeing the demise of Worcester and Wasps and rumours of London Irish not being able to survive, it’s a real concern that the professional game will disappear.
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“That it will end up being some shortened league. Nobody wants to see that but unfortunately it might be the only way for the sport to keep going.”
Morgan scores for England against Australia, one of five tries in 31 caps (Getty Images)Morgan, 34, added: “The reality is that the clubs and the set-up has been run very poorly for such a long time.
“All the cracks have just been papered over with additional bits of money from TV revenue and this false idea that it’s thriving, when actually it should have been adjusted a long time ago.
“Now, unfortunately, it’s a real harsh adjustment that’s needed - and it’s needed out of desperation, to save the sport and save the remaining clubs. It’s a catastrophe.”
Morgan: "To have had 11 years at Gloucester, my home club, has been very special" (Wayne Tuckwell/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)The Bristol-born forward casts his mind back to his international career when rugby union in England enjoyed a boom time.
The 2015 World Cup on home soil helped the Rugby Football Union double its revenues to more than £407 million with record profits for rugby investment of £102m.
But England made history by becoming the first host nation not to reach the knockout stages and a golden chance for the sport’s popularity to mushroom was lost.
Morgan in action for England against Samoa in 2014 (Action Images / Henry Browne)Five years later Covid struck, the RFU announced a revenue shortfall of £120m and professional rugby investment dropped off a cliff - requiring government loans to keep the sport afloat which clubs are now struggling or unable to repay.
“Covid impacted businesses - successful, strong, cash-positive businesses - in really harsh ways and rugby clubs unfortunately aren’t particularly cash strong,” said Morgan, who has a scaffolding business of his own.
“There’s a couple who have got owners with reasonable fortunes but in reality they’re not wanting to throw tens of millions away into a rugby club because it’s not a viable business as it stands, it’s a passion.
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With Worcester and Wasps gone, London Irish are the latest Premiership club to suffer financial hardship (Icon Sport via Getty Images)“Unfortunately, there aren’t enough wealthy people that want to just throw money away for a passion.”
Gloucester lie 10th of 11 clubs in the Premiership, a point behind both Bristol and Bath, who play host to Saracens. Two of the three will miss out on Europe's premier competition next season.
The Kingsholm outfit's failure to win more than one league match in 2023 is hard to fathom given they came with 90 seconds of beating European champions La Rochelle in the Heineken Cup last month.
If they are to return to that competition next season and give Morgan a winning send-off, they must rediscover that level of performance.
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