Worcester Warriors could be hit with RFU sanctions if they do not settle their debts with a large number of former players and staff before the club’s return to competitive action in the second tier of English rugby next month.
A group of about 20 former Worcester players, the club’s former director of rugby Steve Diamond, and several other members of staff and coaches who were employed when Warriors folded three years ago are still owed money. A smaller, separate group of older players are claiming for image-rights payments.
RFU rules state that Worcester’s new owner — Junction 6 Limited, a company set up by the businessman Chris Holland, who also owns Wasps, another failed club — must settle all outstanding debts with its rugby creditors, totalling thousands of pounds. The new owner has repeatedly promised to cover these debts.
Holland has suggested that Worcester’s outstanding debts will be settled in a staged way
MATTHEW LEWIS/RFU/GETTY
In the meantime they have recruited a full squad — including Matt Kvesic, Billy Twelvetrees, Josh Bassett, Siva Naulago and led by the former Leicester Tigers coach Matt Everard — before their return to the second tier, now named Champ Rugby, on October 4 at Sixways against Coventry. Worcester folded with debts of about £25million in 2022, when they were a Gallagher Prem club.
“You’re seeing player signings coming in left, right and centre, at the same time as you’re struggling with a process that is taking a long time,” one source told The Times. “We want to celebrate the comeback, but for it to be done fairly.”
Paying the club’s rugby creditors was an RFU stipulation for the Warriors to rejoin the league system at the second tier, rather than at the bottom of the ladder. The governing body has the power to sanction the club if their debts are not paid. This can include suspending Worcester from the Champ, but the RFU is not considering punishments yet, as it is happy that the repayment process is happening, albeit slowly. It has not set Worcester a hard deadline to settle the debts either. The players hope to hear more next week but the RFU is under pressure to resolve the situation before the season starts.
Worcester have already paid a “significant amount” to players, staff, agents, clubs and others. Last week one former employee received the £19,000 he was owed by Worcester, but said that it required “a lot of pestering”. Others have felt left in the dark about the status of their claims despite chasing the club repeatedly over the summer.
Diamond, the former director of rugby at Sixways, is among those still owed money
DAVID ROGERS/GETTY
Several former Worcester employees have grown frustrated with the behaviour of the club’s lawyers, who have challenged what they feel are legitimate claims for repayment. “We have been made to feel like we’re trying to rip the club off,” one source said. Another added: “This has been dealt with in a very business way, not in the spirit of rugby.”
The Rugby Players’ Association (RPA) is prepared to take further action and escalate the situation with the RFU, the club and the Champ Rugby board if Worcester’s repayment process drags into the new season.
The RPA is representing the player group only, and is using the dispute experts Sports Resolutions to run an independent process to do so. It is using one player as a test case and is confident that, once his claim is approved, those for the rest of the group will follow. The RFU is also confident that the claims will be settled. There is also an independent adjudication process looking into disputes, which is making the repayment process slower in some cases.
Worcester say they have the funds to settle all legitimate claims. They believe that they are going through the process methodically, having taken legal advice that has given them a strict guideline on whom they should agree to pay. The club believe that many people claiming to be rugby creditors are not actually entitled to recover debts, and therefore they need time to investigate each case, which can prove difficult when some paperwork is not available.
A Worcester spokesman said: “The club will be making a statement in full, detailing all actions taken, which have been totally in accordance with the RFU rule five provisions set out, and the RFU Tier 2 board requirements once the arbitration process is complete. All lawful rugby creditors will be paid — 65 per cent of all claimants have been settled, 20 per cent have either been offered a settlement or are in arbitration, and the remaining 15 per cent are in progress and actively being worked on.”
Duhan van der Merwe left Worcester to join Edinburgh when the English club were plunged into administration
ZAC GOODWIN/PA
The RFU is treating Worcester as a special case — they are not bound by the usual regulations for “phoenix entities” or clubs who have returned from insolvency. Despite taking over the facilities, badge, the Sixways ground and the history of the old club, they have successfully argued that they are a fresh organisation. Junction 6 bought the club in 2024, while they were not in any RFU league, and the new entity is not taking the place of the former club Worcester Warriors, who were a top-flight side when they folded in 2022.
Phoenix clubs are required to settle their debts to rugby creditors within 28 days of the RFU giving them a fresh licence. Given Worcester relaunched in April, they would have long missed that deadline, but the RFU agreed to hand them a “bespoke” process to repay the money they owe. That decision itself has not gone down well in some quarters.
“What is the point of the RFU having regulations and appointing committees to enforce them if they are going to bypass their own rules by introducing a ‘bespoke process’ as and when it suits them?” one former Worcester employee told The Times.
In April, Worcester were granted an RFU licence to play in the English leagues. They were given a conditional place in the revamped Champ Rugby by the new Tier 2 board, beating 16 other clubs by passing through a “very rigorous process” that was said to challenge them more than any other applicant to make sure they had a sustainable business plan. The club have had to keep the RFU and the Champ board informed of their progress since.
Upon their relaunch Holland promised to pay Worcester’s debts “swiftly” but has since suggested they would be settled in a staged way. “We decided to take the pain, and it is a pain, pay the rugby creditors and return,” he said in April. “We have taken full responsibility for addressing these inherited obligations.”
Worcester are due to thrown open their stadium gates for Coventry’s visit on October 4
DAVID ROGERS/GETTY
Many claimants are asking for the balance of wages owed before Worcester went under in October 2022 — in some cases that includes salary payments for July, August and September of that year, and for others it is money contractually owed to them for holiday, or time off in lieu. Many are worried they will never see the money, and are dealing with a faceless “historic claims” email address.
“We’re not asking our full contracts to be honoured, or notice periods to be paid out. All we’re entitled to is the money we were owed before they went under,” a source told The Times.
At one point in this process Worcester’s lawyers attempted to claim that the former players should not be classed as “rugby creditors”, which was thrown out. There have also been issues around tax, with former employees being offered net payments, not gross payments.
Others have been asked to produce evidence of paper contracts to support their claims, but before Worcester went bust the club had migrated to an online human resources system where payslips and other important documents were stored. That system can no longer be accessed.
Some are happy to receive their money in stages because they understand that funds may be tight before they start selling tickets to home matches at Sixways. Many are not speaking publicly about it as they do not want to be accused of being money-grabbing or trying to take away from the positivity generated by Worcester’s return.
“I’ve met every deadline they have given me, corrected some of the information they have given me, and still have no money. Why is it on me to chase them?” one source asked.
“I want Worcester to come back, to play, to win the league, so the fans get what they want, and for them to be sustainable… I don’t want them to suffer and go back under. I was owed money when the club went under, so it is not unreasonable to ask for it now they are back.”