{"id":142063,"date":"2025-09-16T22:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T22:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/142063\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T22:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T22:00:13","slug":"worcester-warriors-face-rfu-sanctions-over-unpaid-debts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/142063\/","title":{"rendered":"Worcester Warriors face RFU sanctions over unpaid debts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s return to competitive action in the second tier of English rugby next month.<\/p>\n

A group of about 20 former Worcester players, the club\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

RFU rules state that Worcester\u2019s new owner \u2014 Junction 6 Limited, a company set up by the businessman Chris Holland, who also owns Wasps, another failed club \u2014 must settle all outstanding debts with its rugby creditors, totalling thousands of pounds. The new owner has repeatedly promised to cover these debts. <\/p>\n

\"Christopher<\/p>\n

Holland has suggested that Worcester\u2019s outstanding debts will be settled in a staged way<\/p>\n

MATTHEW LEWIS\/RFU\/GETTY<\/p>\n

In the meantime they have recruited a full squad \u2014 including Matt Kvesic, Billy Twelvetrees, Josh Bassett, Siva Naulago and led by the former Leicester Tigers coach Matt Everard \u2014 before their return to the second tier, now named Champ Rugby, on October 4 at Sixways against Coventry. Worcester folded with debts of about \u00a325million in 2022, when they were a Gallagher Prem club.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re seeing player signings coming in left, right and centre, at the same time as you\u2019re struggling with a process that is taking a long time,\u201d one source told The Times. \u201cWe want to celebrate the comeback, but for it to be done fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paying the club\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Worcester have already paid a \u201csignificant amount\u201d to players, staff, agents, clubs and others. Last week one former employee received the \u00a319,000 he was owed by Worcester, but said that it required \u201ca lot of pestering\u201d. Others have felt left in the dark about the status of their claims despite chasing the club repeatedly over the summer.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Diamond, the former director of rugby at Sixways, is among those still owed money<\/p>\n

DAVID ROGERS\/GETTY<\/p>\n

Several former Worcester employees have grown frustrated with the behaviour of the club\u2019s lawyers, who have challenged what they feel are legitimate claims for repayment. \u201cWe have been made to feel like we\u2019re trying to rip the club off,\u201d one source said. Another added: \u201cThis has been dealt with in a very business way, not in the spirit of rugby.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Rugby Players\u2019 Association (RPA) is prepared to take further action and escalate the situation with the RFU, the club and the Champ Rugby board if Worcester\u2019s repayment process drags into the new season.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

A Worcester spokesman said: \u201cThe 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 \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Worcester<\/p>\n

Duhan van der Merwe left Worcester to join Edinburgh when the English club were plunged into administration<\/p>\n

ZAC GOODWIN\/PA<\/p>\n

The RFU is treating Worcester as a special case \u2014 they are not bound by the usual regulations for \u201cphoenix entities\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cbespoke\u201d process to repay the money they owe. That decision itself has not gone down well in some quarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat 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 \u2018bespoke process\u2019 as and when it suits them?\u201d one former Worcester employee told The Times.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cvery rigorous process\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Upon their relaunch Holland promised to pay Worcester\u2019s debts \u201cswiftly\u201d but has since suggested they would be settled in a staged way. \u201cWe decided to take the pain, and it is a pain, pay the rugby creditors and return,\u201d he said in April. \u201cWe have taken full responsibility for addressing these inherited obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Padlocked<\/p>\n

Worcester are due to thrown open their stadium gates for Coventry\u2019s visit on October 4<\/p>\n

DAVID ROGERS\/GETTY<\/p>\n

Many claimants are asking for the balance of wages owed before Worcester went under in October 2022 \u2014 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 \u201chistoric claims\u201d email address. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not asking our full contracts to be honoured, or notice periods to be paid out. All we\u2019re entitled to is the money we were owed before they went under,\u201d a source told The Times.<\/p>\n

At one point in this process Worcester\u2019s lawyers attempted to claim that the former players should not be classed as \u201crugby creditors\u201d, which was thrown out. There have also been issues around tax, with former employees being offered net payments, not gross payments. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s return. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve 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?\u201d one source asked. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want Worcester to come back, to play, to win the league, so the fans get what they want, and for them to be sustainable\u2026 I don\u2019t 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.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Worcester Warriors could be hit with RFU sanctions if they do not settle their debts with a large…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-142063","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}