Heineken Cup gives €31m boost to rugby federations

EUROPEAN Rugby Cup (ERC), the Dublin-based company that manages the Heineken Cup, handed over more than €31 million to the Irish, English, Welsh, Scottish, French and Italian rugby federations last year.

The latest accounts for the company show a pre-tax profit of €170,000 for the year to the end of June 2009 following a loss of €170,000 in the previous 12 months.

Turnover for the year increased to €37.1m from €35.6m in the previous year.

A note in the accounts said: “Maintaining turnover which derives mainly from sponsorship and television income is key to the company’s continued success. The company’s ability to continue to attract major sponsorship and television income is dependent on its ability to maintain the pre-eminent position of the European Rugby Cup competition.”

Income is distributed according to how many teams a federation provides to the Heineken Cup and the European Challenge Cup.

The ERC employed 15 full-time staff in 2009 and is run by Derek McGrath. Staff costs were up from €1.4m in 2008 to €1.5m.

The board is chaired by former France centre Jean-Pierre Lux, capped 47 times. Each of the rugby federations provides two directors to the board.

The company operates a defined contribution pension scheme for its employees at a cost of €116,104.