The future of London Welsh, one of England’s oldest rugby clubs, has been thrown into deep uncertainty once again.
The Championship club announced on Thursday that the Phoenix Group, the Californian investment consortium they had hoped would secure their long-term financial security, had yet to put in any funding. They are also being investigated by the Rugby Players’ Association over whether or not they have paid their players.
Damian Hopley, the chief executive of the RPA, the professional players’ union, told the Guardian he believed the players had received their latest pay but it is uncertain whether or not they had been paid on time.
Gareth Hawkins, the former under-15s coach and businessman who was appointed London Welsh chairman three weeks ago after Bleddyn Phillips resigned, is hopeful that a solution can be reached before the Exiles face a third winding-up order in three months on 12 December.
“There are lots and lots of options you can do when you’re in this situation,” Hawkins said. “We want [London Welsh] to be a community-held club, rather than in the hands of one or two shareholders, which hasn’t really worked in the past.”
In recent years the club has been backed by the generosity of Kelvin Bryon, the majority shareholder, however the Guardian understands that they are not necessarily looking to a benefactor to save them and do not have one lined up.
The Guardian has been told that the Phoenix Group agreement, which was signed by Phillips, included payment milestones for September and October, which were not met. Phillips did not respond to attempts to contact him and the Phoenix Group could not be reached.
Figures close to the club fear that they will be wound up at the high court hearing next month and that the club will fold and a new company will be formed. This would not necessarily result in their ejection from the Championship, as RFU regulations stipulate they can fulfil their fixtures should certain obligations and conditions be met. Plymouth Albion were involved in a similar case last season, when they became insolvent but continued to play in National League One.
The worst-case scenario, however, would be if these obligations were not met and Welsh faced a similar fate to Richmond in 1999. They would then be forced to re-enter lower down the league structure.
On 5 September the club informed the high court that a debt to HMRC had been paid. It was reported that this was paid by one of their mini-rugby coaches however the club was unable to comment when asked if this was Hawkins. Their most recent set of accounts showed losses of almost £1.2m, with the club owing £855,764 to creditors within a year and £1,007,628 to longer-term creditors.
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