Rugby clubs relying on kindness of sponsors to keep them going

Any examination of amateur rugby in Ireland quickly veers into the societal crisis caused by Covid-19.

"The club will survive," said Shannon RFC director of rugby Geoff Moylan, whose primary job is running The Galway Clinic. "I'm in the hospital all the time at the moment. We are dealing with the HSE in terms of how we are going to move forward. There is going to be a serious impact."

As private and public health sectors merge in order to cope with the pandemic, Moylan did not need to take a moment out of his manic afternoon to talk rugby. But he did.

No club depends on gate or bar receipts anymore. Sponsorship, above all else, is what keeps the All-Ireland league motoring along.

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“Sponsors,” he stated. “The lotto and other fundraisers are what keep Shannon going.”

The main benefactor for the nine-times AIL champions is Eirtech Aviation Services, via its chief executive, Niall Cunningham.

“And he’s happy to move forward with next year,” Moylan added.

Other clubs will not be so fortunate.

Corporate packages

The senior clubs must generate up to and in some cases more than €500,000 a year to operate, with money also coming from sale of international tickets in corporate packages and renting facilities to the local community.

Clubs in Dublin can generate €80,000 a season by allowing soccer and GAA clubs to use their all-weather surfaces.

For the foreseeable future, this income and all the usual activity inside clubhouses has stopped. Day-to-day staff have been let go. There is a padlock on the gates of many grounds as multiple non-sporting activities – bridge, creche, dance classes and parties – are cancelled.

“The lotto will be impacted in every club as you cannot knock on doors or call into pubs,” said Moylan. “Funding will need to come from the IRFU because they recognise how important the club game is, even if they won’t admit it. They don’t want these ships to sink. It’s key to the overall game.”

There are 209 clubs on the island. Approximately 4 to 10 per cent of annual budgets come from IRFU support schemes, but the need for central assistance is essential as the fundraiser and sponsor element dries up.

The IRFU has responded by setting a fund of €500,000 and placing a four-month moratorium on loan repayments owed to them, from April 1st.

Biannual fundraiser dinners – usually on the eve of the big Ireland internationals – are another huge source of revenue, in some cases to the tune of €40,000 profit from each event, so the need for large gatherings to be permitted before this year’s November internationals is vital.

Italy match

Also, several clubs are staring down the barrel of at least €20,000 in losses after the IRFU refund scheme for the Italy match was “temporarily suspended.”

Understandably, the immediate focus in the Lansdowne Road headquarters is the professional game. Due to “severe financial challenges” arising from the impact of the coronavirus, all but five company credit cards have been “suspended”, stated an IRFU email to staff, as several cost-cutting measures were “implemented with immediate effect”.

Only credit cards used by IRFU chief executive Philip Browne, chief operating officer Kevin Potts, honorary treasurer Tom Grace, union president Nicky Comyn and Declan Madden, chairman of the management committee, remain active. The email added that "no bonuses or incentives will be paid for the foreseeable future" and "no goods or services" will be ordered without "prior approval" from Browne and Potts.

"When this does finish my concern, from a fundraising perspective, is people will have a lot more on their plate than worrying about the local rugby club," said Young Munster head coach Gearoid Prendergast.

Another club chairman added: “It’s a very bleak picture.”

This rings true for everyone.