Could SL clubs have been given some sort of ultimatum? I refer you to a letter written by our late former chairman, the great Tony Chambers after we were denied a license in 2008 stating as much after the London Broncos debacle (don't ask which one)!!
Chambers hits back
Aug 2 2008 by John Lawless, Liverpool Echo
FORMER Widnes Vikings chairman Tony Chambers has written an open letter to Rugby League Express editor Martyn Sadler concerning the allocation of Super League licences.
Writing in last week’s edition, Sadler backed the RFL’s decision not to award a licence to the Vikings, primarily because the club went into administration in October.
Chambers was kind enough to let the Echo have a copy of his response:
I read your Talking Rugby League column in the 28th July edition and write to clarify some facts, and highlight the hypocrisy of the decisions taken on Super League franchises and the reasoning quoted by Richard Lewis and Nigel Wood.
As you know I was a director of Widnes for 13 years and chairman for seven of them. I resigned in 2006 after personally ‘investing’ almost £250,000 in helping to rebuild the club over those 13 years.
All of that investment was lost in the company’s default. However, contrary to your comments I would not be upset if the Widnes club had been given a franchise.
Quite the reverse, like I suspect most if not all of the many shareholders who subscribed over £700,000 over those 13 years to keep their club and dreams alive. I would have been delighted if that expenditure, time and money, had helped Steve O’Connor and his team secure the franchise that they and the club’s 135 year history surely merited.
To correct a few other facts you say ‘I can’t think of any sporting organisation in the world that would reward a club for defaulting on its debts’.
Is that not precisely what the RFL & Super League did for the then London Broncos when they were liquidated part way though a season? Not only was the new Harlequins company allowed to take a place in Super League without points deduction but Richard Lewis used a threat to ‘review his position’ to force the withdrawal of a vote proposing that if the new company was to jettison the debts of the Broncos it should not be allowed to carry forward the six points that the former club had amassed!If I look back now and consider whether I and my co-directors made any serious mistakes over the 13 years we fought to rebuild the club and the stadium it was in adhering to stated policies of the RFL and Super League.
We adopted their ‘Framing the Future‘ directive to concentrate on clearing debts and improving facilities rather than spending all on the playing squad. That cost us a place in Super League at the outset and with it a major income stream.
Secondly, perhaps naively, we accepted from day one the RFL statements that any club that went into administration or liquidation would forfeit its membership of the RFL, only to see both Workington and Keighley do just that without any penalty. Hull KR and others followed although Oldham for some reason was singled out for temporary suspension.
In hindsight our biggest mistake was not to put the club into administration in 1997. Instead we battled on, rebuilt our stadium, paid off nearly £1.5m of debts, only to be rewarded by being forced to surrender our place in SL by the admission of Catalans Dragons.
I have great admiration for Steve O’Connor and all he has done for rugby league in Widnes. I also admire his dignified response to such a mystifying decision.
I sincerely hope that his faith in the policies and integrity of the governing bodies will be better rewarded than those experienced during the 13 years I was privileged to serve such a great and historic club.
Yours sincerely,
Tony Chambers
and there's more chance of you talking sense or seeing sense than Fax being in Superleague to replace the Bulls if anyone does it should be Fev.
