Championship title-holders Jersey Reds “ceased trading” on Wednesday and say liquidation is “inevitable” unless funding can be found.
The Reds have competed in English rugby’s second tier for the past 11 seasons, having been promoted from the amateur levels of English rugby.
Reds split from Jersey RFC in 2022 and went on to win the league and reach the Championship Cup final in May.
The club have cited costs from Covid-19 and reduced RFU funding as causes.
Reds say they are unable to pay players and staff salaries that are due at the end of this month.
“We had been able to start the season and maintain sufficient funds to cover the summer, but regret that our conversations with potential new investors as well as existing ones have been unsuccessful,” Reds chairman Mark Morgan said in a statement.
“At one stage at the end of last season it appeared there was a viable way forward for the second tier once the new Professional Game Agreement was implemented from summer 2024, but Championship clubs have been left in the dark since that point and this led to a growing fatigue among those who may have invested, but could not be given any concrete assurance about when the new structure would come in, or how it would be funded.”
Jersey say they will also not be travelling to England to face Cornish Pirates in their Premiership Rugby Cup tie on Friday.
The islanders had started the season well – thrashing London Scottish in their opening cup game before a historic win at Bath, and then losing at home to Exeter on Saturday.
The end to a remarkable rise?
The rise of Jersey had been one of the greatest sporting stories in the Channel Island’s history.
Having been an amateur club for many years, playing in the the lower reaches of the English pyramid, they won promotion from London South West Division Three in 2005.
They signed their first two professional players in 2006 and started to rise up through the divisions – climbing from the seventh to second tier in seven years, leading to their Championship debut in 2012.
But finances became an issue in November 2016, when the club had to sell and lease back their ground at St Peter to cover a £1.5m debt.
They bought the ground back in February 2018 and appeared to be on a sounder financial footing, but the pandemic saw a cut to funding for second-tier clubs from the Rugby Football Union from more than £500,000 in 2020 to just over £150,000.
The uncertainty extends to Jersey’s playing and coaching staff – director of rugby Harvey Biljon had been celebrating his testimonial year after a decade in charge of the side.
“There are a large number of players, coaches and other members of staff who have made huge contributions to the club in recent seasons, and we regret that the massive effect this will have on all of them – it’s a very sad day,” Morgan added.
More to follow.
