Away ends in Premiership Rugby have arrived, but what do fans think? April 18, 2025 One of the commandments of the “Rugby Values” brigade is the ability for home and away fans to sit next to each other, enjoy a beer and have some healthy banter. For the vast majority of rugby fans this approach is the preferred one, with the kettling of supporters pre-and post-match – as is the [...]
Championship Rugby: Coventry for sale but club has Premiership future April 15, 2025 Benefactor of Premiership hopefuls Coventry Rugby Jon Sharp sits down with CityAM to discuss why he’d sell up and walk away if the right party came along. A brief poke under the bonnet of rugby union’s financials would be enough to frighten even Formula 1’s greatest mechanic away. In so-called perfect France losses are [...]
Premiership clubs cannot get bored of Champions Cup failures, it’s the pinnacle April 8, 2025 Looking across the results from the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup at the weekend with a focus on the seven English teams, there were six results that went the way many expected and one that didn’t. Gloucester’s victory in France against Montpellier was a real surprise, but wins for Northampton Saints and Bath, [...]
Parliament warns against extending Premiership Rugby Covid-19 loans April 2, 2025 A top parliamentary committee has insisted Premiership Rugby clubs who are “financially unviable five years post-pandemic” should not have their Covid-19 loans extended. The damning report from the Public Accounts Committee – an influential group of backbench MPs who probe state spending – singled out the process in which £124m of loans funded by the [...]
Leicester Tigers make key role change as season nears finale March 24, 2025 Premiership Rugby club Leicester Tigers’ majority shareholder Tom Scott has become the club’s chairman, replacing the long-serving Peter Tom after 33 years. Scott has owned the East Midlands club’s parent company, Leicester Football Club plc, since 2023 having taken an earlier stakeholding in the 11-time Premiership champions. Scott moves into the role of chairman having [...]
Premiership Rugby ringfenced again as Ealing and Coventry fail RFU tests March 18, 2025 Championship leaders Ealing have failed the RFU’s minimum standards audit and will be denied promotion to the Premiership, which will retain its existing 10 teams next season. Third-placed Coventry have also failed the audit, which was conducted by the RFU’s Professional Rugby Board, in a development that is likely to increase tensions ahead of next [...]
Row erupts over bid to resurrect London Irish February 12, 2025 London Irish administrators and former frontrunner Daniel Loitz are at loggerheads over the breakdown of the German’s proposed deal to buy the stricken rugby club. Sources close to the deal claim that Loitz had months – including an exclusivity period – in which to finalise a purchase with the ReSolve Group, which was appointed when [...]
DCMS issue insolvency threat to rugby clubs over Covid-19 loans February 10, 2025 Rugby clubs have been warned after the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said it “wouldn’t hesitate” to use “all financial levers” available to recover loan payments owed by sports organisations from the pandemic. Those powers could see the government department aid in forcing insolvency on sports clubs to ensure the taxpayer recoups the [...]
Investec Champions Cup Barometer: Munster marching on January 27, 2025 In the lead up to the 2024-25 Investec Champions Cup round of 16, CityAM has put together a barometer in partnership with Investec to assess which teams are hot – and which are not – ahead of April’s knockouts. Team of the week: Munster, Ireland They may have been facing bottom-of-the-league Dragons in the [...]
It’s a shame Premiership Rugby stars aren’t playing this weekend January 24, 2025 Off the back of two brilliant weeks of Champions Cup rugby and just a week away from the start of the Six Nations, it is a shame that this week’s Premiership fixtures will be devoid of all England players set to feature in the looming international championship. Having seen the league drop from 13 teams [...]