IRFU counting the cost of Covid as accounts show €35m deficit

'The last six to eight months have been extraordinary and outside the experience of most'

The early financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Irish Rugby Football Union has been laid bare with the publication of its Annual Report for 2019/20 with the headline figures signalling a deficit of €35.7m and falling gate receipts of €5.8m for the 15-month period to the end of July 2020.

It marks a significant downturn in IRFU fortunes following the recording of a €28m surplus in 2019, its best ever figures and also highlights the precarious state of provincial finances with the inclusion of a more than €16m bad debt provision as closed gates when the PRO14 was suspended in March left Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Ulster unable to pay their share of the player salary costs paid by the Union.