06 June 2023 , 18:22
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London Irish tonight became the third English Premiership club to fold after English rugby chiefs ran out of patience and pulled the plug.
Eight months on from Worcester and Wasps going bust a final, extended deadline came and went with owner Mick Crossan unable to sell the Exiles and unwilling to bankroll them any longer.
It means one of rugby’s most famous names being wiped off the map and another wave of redundancies flooding the sport’s already saturated job market.
Rugby Football Union boss Bill Sweeney informed the club, in its 125th anniversary year, that it was barred from participating in any league next season. He described the situation as “desperately sad”.
A ‘hardship’ fund was immediately set up by the RFU, Premiership Rugby and the players’ association (RPA) for players and staff most in need of financial support.
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RPA boss Christian Day said: “The human impact of this failure will affect more than 100 players and staff who are now faced with uncertainty and will leave many thousands of fans without their beloved club.
“The human impact of this failure will affect more than 100 players and staff who are now faced with uncertainty and will leave many thousands of fans without their beloved club"“It is clear that much positive change is required in order to evolve our playing and working environment so as to match the demands of modern professionalism.”
Jonathan Joseph, Anthony Watson, Alex Corbisiero and Mike Catt are among the England players to have worn the Irish green, along with overseas stars like Olivier Magne, Agustin Creevy and Naka Drotske.
RFU chairman Tom Ilube said the post Covid-19 bounce-back had been weaker than expected due to the cost-of-living crisis.
Henry Arundell is one of a number of top players looking for a new club following demise of Exiles ((Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images))“And that has meant clubs with unsustainable business models have gone out of business,” he added.
“To thrive, rugby clubs need to have a wide-ranging offering and varied revenue streams. All three clubs that have failed this season have had fragile business models for many years.”
Irish had been skating on thin ice since Crossan revealed to this paper in 2020 that even before the pandemic the club was costing him £4 million a season.
Two years later he said he was ready to give the Exiles away to anyone prepared to keep it going. He got no takers.
When Worcester and Wasps then failed and only Northampton among the surviving Premiership clubs avoided a financial loss, fears grew for Irish.
Reports in March that a US-based consortium was negotiating to buy the club offered hope but nothing came of it and twice the monthly payroll failed to arrive on time.
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A plea from the players for one more week to try to retrieve money owed was granted by the RFU but this evening the sands of time finally run out.