The course of Stade Rochelais in the Champions Cup looks like a small English championship. After knocking out Gloucester in the round of 16, then Saracens in the next round, the Maritimes face Exeter on Sunday April 30 (kick-off 4 p.m.) at the Matmut Atlantique stadium in Bordeaux, for a place in the final of the prestigious European competition. rugby union. A summit meeting between the French, defending champions, and the Chiefs, crowned in 2020… but also the last hope for English Ovalie after a gloomy season.
Dominators in the early 2000s – and without competition during the Saracens dynasty, champions in 2016, 2017 and 2019 – Premiership clubs, the English first division, are now struggling to exist on the continental scene. If Exeter is the last survivor in the Champions Cup, the situation is even worse in the Challenge Cup, the “small” European Cup, where no team has managed to slip into the last four.
Behind the sports berezina hides an economic reality. A historic Premiership club, Wasps were placed in receivership at the end of 2022 due to unpaid debts, then relegated to the second division. For the same reasons, the Worcester Warriors have been placed in liquidation and suspended for the remainder of the 2022-2023 season. Why such a collapse? “Professional rugby is not profitable, it does not guarantee a return on investmentexplains Pierre Rondeau, sports economist. The debts are usually covered by the shareholders. »
However, as a direct consequence of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic across the Channel, shareholders are less and less inclined to balance the accounts. “English clubs received less help from the state than the French during the health crisisdevelops the professor at the Sports Management School. It is often local companies that play the role of shareholder in the Top 14 [la première division hexagonale]. They stay for the image it gives them of the region. This is not the case in England, and corporate disinterest may be faster. Especially when they themselves are in a complicated economic situation. »
The Premiership no longer attracts
At the start of the season, the DailyMail drew up the extent of the damage: more than 500 million pounds (560 million euros) of debt accumulated between all the teams in the Premiership. And the carnage may not be over. In December, The Daily Telegraph revealed that two other teams in the elite division were in serious financial difficulty, namely the London Irish and the Harlequins. “It’s scary, especially since everything went very quickly for Wasps and Worcester between the first rumors in the hallway and the court decisions”worries Nicolas Sestaret, former winger for Exeter (2008-2014), and now a member of the club’s management.
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