Rugby league hopeful of financial lifeline from Government

Ralph Rimmer says the Rugby Football League has been praised by the Government for the “quality” of a document it has submitted asking for financial assistance during the coronavirus outbreak.
Ralph Rimmer: More talks this week.  Picture: Bruce RollinsonRalph Rimmer: More talks this week.  Picture: Bruce Rollinson
Ralph Rimmer: More talks this week. Picture: Bruce Rollinson

The RFL chief executive has been in regular contact with the Government as the sport seeks to secure monetary help in assisting all its fearful clubs during the ongoing pandemic.

Rimmer has earned praise from around the game – in Super League and the lower leagues – for his approach in tackling the issues that could threaten the sport’s very existence at professional level.

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Although he would not be drawn on what figure has been requested in the rescue package, or when an answer would arrive, he said: “We submitted a document to Government (on Friday) that highlights a way forward.

“The Government have been really good in messaging with us, both on and off the record.

“The’ve been really clear, they absolutely understand our importance to the communities in which we are embedded and have been really supportive throughout.

“(The document) highlights different milestones of importance to the sport along the way.

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“They know there’s an urgency around the first element of that.

“I’ve had a verbal response – nothing committal of course – on the quality of what we have submitted and it seems to have been very positively received.”

Rugby league is on lockdown until April 3 at the earliest but no-one expects any return to action until May at the very earliest, probably later.

“The way things are heading it’s hard to see any major changes to the current situation for a month or so,” Rimmer confirmed.

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On Friday, the Government pledged to pay up to 80 per cent of wages for workers across the United Kingdom at risk of being laid off due to the coronavirus.

“I’ve listened to the Chancellor’s response and all credit to them,” said the chief executive, who spoke to journalists on a conference call shortly after that announcement.

“These are clearly uncharted waters, they clearly recognise the size of the task and I think they are having a real crack at supporting all the communities within the country, so that’s great.

“As far as the interpretation of what they have just announced, we need to drill down into the detail.”

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The Coral Challenge Cup final has been brought forward this year and will take place on July 18 at Wembley rather than late-August.

Clearly, that would seem to be the first major showpiece under threat if the Covid-19 virus escalates as expected but Rimmer says “everything is feasible” and the sport will not make any panicked decisions.

“We have worked out several scenarios and distributed them to our stakeholders to consider,” he said, with Super League’s Grand Final set for October 10.

“We don’t know what the length of lockdown is so clearly that’s a complication.

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“Where that becomes more complicated is we have different competitions to find a completion to, and the considerations in all of this are to take each competition to a climax with integrity involved, player welfare issues, and of course trying to keep everybody solvent.

“We’ve also got major event venues booked on dates that are booked, which are difficult to move.

“We are dealing with clubs from other countries, which again makes the situation slightly more complicated.

“I’m speaking with (NRL chief executive) Todd Greenberg in Australia on a regular basis to see where they are, and clearly the condition of their competition has an impact on us as well (with England due to host Australia in a three-Test series this autumn).

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“There are many parts to this equation and I think the only way this becomes solvable is by sitting down and understanding we are in a place that we never, ever expected to be in and, hopefully, never will be again.”

Rimmer accepts the length of the lockdown is going to be key to how the 2020 campaign finally looks.

But the former Huddersfield Giants chief executive added: “We have a massively resilient sport that has demonstrated its resilience over the past 125 years.

“And, no doubt, one way or another, we’re going to re-emerge from all of this and celebrate the fact that it’s our 125th year with some fantastic rugby league going on around us.

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“I don’t know exactly what solution will fit in the end (but) we’ve done lots of scenario planning in order that we find a good solution.”

Rimmer spent three successive days last week speaking to Super League, Championship and League 1 clubs and then the Community Board.

The work continues this week to try and find solutions and he added: “If we’re going to find a way through this as a rugby league family then everybody at the table has to give something.

“That’s the only way we can make some sense of a solution. I’ve tried to impress that on everybody I’ve sat down with and so far it has been relatively well received.”

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Super League have discussed playing some games behind closed doors to help alleviate pressure and he added: “It would be naive of us to knock anything off the table at this moment.

“That may well be a solution. We’ve spoken regularly to Sky and BBC, so they would be involved in any decision such as that.

“But if we did go forward in a way such as that then clearly the clubs involved would lose gate receipts which are an important part of their business model.

“Hence the request to our partners for support. If we were to come up with a solution such as that, there would need to be some support to ensure that we nursed the sport through that period, where they would be recompensed to such a degree that they could go forward.”

Reality of epidemic hitting home – read the Gareth Ellis column, Page 5

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