Cardiff’s latest loss underlines the difficult financial climate in rugby

Cardiff has reported a £2.2 million loss for the 2021-2022 season, which highlights the dire financial situation in the game at the moment.

The loss has increased by £600,000 from the season before and the elevated number comes despite the club’s revenue climbing from £5.4 million to £13.2 million.

Important financial support

The club is still paying off a £5.5 million Covid-19 loan and claimed they struggled with cash flow issues in May before receiving the first instalment of the Welsh Rugby Union’s new financial support.

This comes after the governing body signed a deal with the unions for the next six years.

Cardiff chairman Alun Jones admits the financial situation went according to his prediction but is pleased to have the funding framework from the WRU.

“In the last statement… I predicted that we were ‘not yet out of the woods’. That prediction proved true,” said Jones.

“The ongoing challenges faced by Welsh rugby in its entirety, by the professional game and by us as a professional club and business are well documented.

“We have worked hard with our colleagues at the WRU and other regions to reach a funding framework for the professional game for the next six years.

“We remain eternally grateful for this support, without which our professional game would face dire consequences.”

Double effort

The chairman insists that even though there is a framework the club should be doing everything they can to make the most of it.

“While the framework underpins our professional game, we must not relax but rather re-double our efforts to keep making improvements collectively off the field, in order to promote continued improvements on the field,” he said.

The pandemic is the primary cause of the financial issue and particularly individual incidents within that period. One such was in December 2021 when 48 players and staff were stuck in South Africa for quarantine after contracting the Omicron variant.

“Whilst we were returning to normality in many aspects, the long-term affects were still being felt and short-term setbacks, such as the Omicron outbreak, would have a significant impact,” he added.

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