Fresh turmoil as ERC board delays payments to clubs
The European Rugby Cup (ERC) board voted unanimously to postpone any decisions, including releasing tournament appearance payments owed to clubs across the continent.
The second instalment of five seasonal appearance payments is already overdue.
The ERC board will convene again on Wednesday, February 19 and reconsider their next steps.
ERC will end up defunct if a top-flight European club competition is organised and run by another body next season.
The English clubs want the Six Nations committee to assume European knockout rugby governance, and the Welsh regions and French clubs would accept that move.
The board of ERC are now understood to be withholding money as they seek to clarify what liabilities they would suffer should the company be forced to wind up in the summer.
ERC confirmed this latest move in a statement following the Dublin meeting last night.
An abridged version of the ERC statement read: “At the ERC Board meeting of 11 September 2013, it was decided that distribution payments should be approved by the Board before any funds are released. The first payment of €15 million was made in October 2013 following Board approval.”
The ERC board comprises representatives from the six country unions and Premiership Rugby, Regional Rugby Wales and France’s Ligue Nationale de Rugby.
Neither Mark Dodson nor Ian McLauchlan, the Scottish representatives, attended the meeting. Regional Rugby Wales did not send a representative either, ignoring the pleas from the WRU to have a presence.
This latest delay could prove another blow to the fragile negotiation process aimed at brokering a future for top-flight European club rugby.
The Six Nations committee met with representatives of all unions and club bodies at Heathrow in London on Tuesday.
Premiership Rugby remain committed to their television deal with BT Sport, while ERC claim Sky hold broadcasting rights for next season.
Premiership Rugby still hold out hope for and favour a European rugby resolution ahead of setting up a new Anglo-Welsh league, sources have said.
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