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Rugby league receives £16 million loan lifeline (Merged threads)


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11 minutes ago, Chris22 said:

As big of a rugby league fan as I am, our sport sadly cannot and should not be the Government's top priority at the moment. The £16m loan is a big boost and a welcome commitment to the sport and I am incredibly grateful for it.

It's not about prioritising the sports of RL (at least not solely), it's about safeguarding the impacts that RL clubs have in their communities.

RL clubs run a myriad of community interventions that, for example, save the local NHS trusts, a huge amount of money.

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It's an embargoed story, so the 'normal' RL press will have the story after midnight.  

With the best, thats a good bit of PR, though I would say the Bedford team, theres, like, you know, 13 blokes who can get together at the weekend to have a game together, which doesnt point to expansion of the game. Point, yeah go on!

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Not quite sure what this is intended to be. “but support will also be given to the professional level of the game” - it seems to suggest this is for the Community game only and more to come. If so, it’s more than the community game has had in a long time. This whole situation though is existential and I’m not convinced we’re going to be in remotely the same place than where we started. 

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Says it's for all levels of the game.  

With the best, thats a good bit of PR, though I would say the Bedford team, theres, like, you know, 13 blokes who can get together at the weekend to have a game together, which doesnt point to expansion of the game. Point, yeah go on!

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Let's hope we don't have to access a government website to get it, or wait for them to deliver it, if so we're still fu---d!

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I’ve no idea how many Community RL clubs there are but there can’t be more than 1000. If so, that’s £16,000 each and more than many of them would have ever seen. I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some preconditions regarding receipt of this money which is linked with a major reorganisation of the sport. 

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45 minutes ago, The 4 of Us said:

Not quite sure what this is intended to be. “but support will also be given to the professional level of the game” - it seems to suggest this is for the Community game only and more to come. If so, it’s more than the community game has had in a long time. This whole situation though is existential and I’m not convinced we’re going to be in remotely the same place than where we started. 

"The money will be available to all Super League, Championship and League 1 clubs upon application and it will be administered by the RFL in partnership with Sport England and the government."

According to the Hull Daily Mail anyway.

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/rugby-league-government-cash-injection-4094496

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Just now, Marty Funkhouser said:

"The money will be available to all Super League, Championship and League 1 clubs upon application and it will be administered by the RFL in partnership with Sport England and the government."

According to the Hull Daily Mail anyway.

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/rugby-league-government-cash-injection-4094496

Just read similar here. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/may/01/rugby-league-gets-16m-emergency-loan-from-government?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

As such if the decision is for the RFL and clubs, the community game will probably get the scraps. If lucky.  

 

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1 hour ago, The 4 of Us said:

I’ve no idea how many Community RL clubs there are but there can’t be more than 1000. If so, that’s £16,000 each and more than many of them would have ever seen. I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some preconditions regarding receipt of this money which is linked with a major reorganisation of the sport. 

Sorry to disappoint you, but this money is for the pro/semi-pro game.

 

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Given it is a loan, it will presumably be distributed on the basis of whichever projects/clubs are likely to be able to pay it back down the track, or with a view to recouping it from future broadcast revenues.

It would be interesting to see how favourable the terms are - I suspect not that favourable. Nevertheless it is good news and getting government support is no mean achievement by the RFL.

I can confirm 30+ less sales for Scotland vs Italy at Workington, after this afternoons test purchase for the Tonga match, £7.50 is extremely reasonable, however a £2.50 'delivery' fee for a walk in purchase is beyond taking the mickey, good luck with that, it's cheaper on the telly.

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Whilst it is good news that we’ve received support, from a sport point of view, it’s disappointing that it is a loan and not a grant. I certainly would’ve been surprised if they received a grant though, as it would set a dangerous precedent.

It would be interesting to see the terms of the loan and when the government expects repayment. I’m not sure how community clubs for example will even be able to pay any loan back 

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I don't expect to see community clubs getting much of this. Like many of the other emergency schemes, it's about sustaining employment and physical community assets through the next 6 months and most of that lies within the pro/semi-pro structure. That's fair enough in my view. 

A lot of references in the media releases to this being about keeping promises to the North. That's absolutely to be commended of course but I hope it isn't taken too literally: there are pockets of rugby league strength elsewhere that need protecting. For instance the Skolars have a community operation that puts many a heartland club to shame and have primary commercial control of a decent facility which has hosted international rugby league. Their catchment area also matches levels of deprivation of many heartland towns, and has seen some of the worst COVID death rates in the country. Let's not see clubs like that go under if we can help it. 

I expect the loan will also be similar to the business support ones: Low interest and over a 6-8 year period. Effectively it means spreading the acute pain of now over the next few years, it's not free extra money and I hope the RFL educates the clubs and wider rugby league community of that fact. Distributions will likely be smaller than otherwise in the future after loan repayments and clubs of all levels need to work on that basis. 

Will this save every club and every facility? Probably not. The new normal is still going to be very different and not all will survive in their current guise. But I think it has removed the very worst case scenario of complete collapse and for that I am very grateful. Early days but there also seems to be very little carping from other sports. Where we go first they hope to tread I suppose. 

Credit where it's due to Ralph Rimmer, never been the biggest fan, but at the moment of highest danger he showed up. Well done. 

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Great news and a rare well done for the RFL. Assuming pro clubs have furloughed players this shouldn’t be needed for salaries but could support the wider structure of the club which would link to the point on communities.

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