RUGBY LEAGUE fans have been voting in this week’s League Express newspaper about what the RFL and Super League clubs should have done about Salford Red Devils’ financial difficulties.
Salford’s formal request of an advance against the club’s existing distribution entitlements was agreed to the tune of £500,000 last week, but on the condition of central involvement in and scrutiny of a more sustainable long-term trading position for the club.
The Super League meeting that had been scheduled to discuss the issue was cancelled because it is the responsibility of Rugby League Commercial, and not the Super League clubs, to determine the basis of distribution entitlements.
With Salford’s immediate future thus confirmed, the aim will be to forge a much stronger financial outlook.
Rugby league fans themselves were divided on the issue, with League Express running a poll online about the direction that the RFL and Super League clubs should have gone in.
39.24 per cent of people that voted agreed that the money should have been forwarded – as it was – to Salford in order for the club to avoid insolvency.
A further 25.71 per cent believed that it would be better to give the club a proportion of the money that they needed and forced the Red Devils to sell some of its players to generate the remainder.
Incredibly, 17.33 per cent decided to go down the brutal route of forcing Salford into liquidation and invite Toulouse Olympique (as the 13th graded club) into Super League next season.
A further 14.67 per cent of voters argued that the RFL and Super League clubs should have refused to offer financial help and instead encouraged the club to seek help from private investors.
The most brutal route was taken by just 3.05 per cent of voters, forcing Salford into liquidation and carrying on with 11 clubs in Super League for 2025.
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