Former English Premiership Side Set To Go Out Of Business
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London Welsh will reportedly go out of business next week after telling their players to look for other jobs less than three weeks before Christmas.
The former Premiership club, now playing in the Championship were formed in 1871. They have until December 12 to pay Her Majesty’s Revenues & Customs £250,000, but The Daily Telegraph understands that it has already conceded defeat.
There is now a possibility that its match against Doncaster in the British & Irish Cup on Saturday could be the last in a long and storied history. London Welsh provided seven players for the 1971 Lions who remain the only side to have won in New Zealand.
New chairman Gareth Hawkins spoke to the the Daily Telegraph last month, in the wake of the ongoing crisis, stating that given it’s history and the fact that the Lions are touring New Zealand in the summer, London Welsh must survive.
“London Welsh are one of the most important clubs in the world.
In a Lions year when we are going to New Zealand, it would be such a crying shame if we lost London Welsh. It has got to survive.”
Whether it does survive will depend on whether the club enters administration, where a buyer can be sought, or liquidation, which involves the company being completely closed down. Liquidation would mean re-forming the club, should it be able to keep its iconic name, at the bottom tier of English rugby.
