IRFU: No bailout for indebted clubs

The IRFU’s chief executive warned clubs not to expect his organisation’s financial clout to help them out of mounting debt problems.

Philip Browne, responding to a report which showed bank loans totalling €24.6m were spread across 102 clubs paying €800,000 interest each year, said they would have to solve their own financial issues.

“It is simply not possible for us to step into situations where clubs find themselves in financial difficulty,” he said. “We are not party to the decisions that clubs make in those situations and we simply couldn’t step into the breach.”