The Rugby Football Union (RFU) will distribute a mixture of funding to the community game, in the form of loans and grants, for all levels of the men’s, women’s and youth game at grassroots level, providing a lifeline to communities across the country. 

Loans and grants will be provided to community clubs, designed to cover essential survival costs due to the lack of spectators and capital works. 

Rugby Union has been uniquely affected as a major sport by the coronavirus pandemic over the past year.  It has been precluded by Government regulations to resume at grassroots level since March 2020, under its standard rules as a contact sport. In October 2020, the RFU cancelled Adult Competitive Leagues (Level 3 and below for men, Level 2 and below for women) for the 2020/21 season. 

Whilst the Government granted approval for 15-a-side contact rugby union to return at grassroots level in December 2020, subject to adaptations, the consequent national lockdown announcement in January 2021 to counter the steep rise in coronavirus infection rates prompted this to be suspended.

The sport’s revenue streams are also heavily dependent on the RFU generating 85% of its income from matches and events at Twickenham Stadium, which can then be reinvested back into the grassroots game.

Funding package offered to support rugby union

• £22 million of loan funding to support the survival of community club assets. 
• £17 million of grant and £3 million of loan funding to support survival costs for community clubs. 
• £1.1 million of grant funding for professional women’s rugby including the Premier 15s and covid-19 related costs for the Red Roses’ Women’s Six Nations campaign.
• Up to £5.5 million of loan funding to support the launch of the men’s Championship season.

Community clubs were invited to make applications for funding to the RFU who will administer the process and will issue further guidance to clubs next week.

Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said: "We know that the restrictions on spectators continue to have consequences for many sports, particularly Rugby Union and its clubs from elite through to grassroots level.  

"That’s why we’re helping our major spectator sports, with money already benefiting more than 100 organisations, from women’s football, to netball, badminton and basketball, and more to follow over the coming weeks as we navigate our roadmap back to normality.

"We are continuing to work closely with the RFU on bringing the competitive, full contact community game back as soon as possible. With the real progress we are making through the vaccination programme we are increasingly confident.”

Bill Sweeney, CEO of The Rugby Football Union added: "We would like to thank DCMS, Government and Sport England for their enormous support during this very difficult time. Covid has impacted all sports and rugby has faced an incredibly challenging time with many asset owning community clubs across the country having significant overheads but with no revenues for over a year. 

"The RFU has undertaken significant restructuring to reduce its cost base. Despite this, with 85% of our income coming from hosting international matches at Twickenham, our revenues have reduced by around £140 million in the last year and we expect a loss of around £30-35 million in this financial year. With significant changes to the way we operate and a difficult restructuring we can weather this challenge however, some of our clubs are not in such a strong position. The Sports Winter Survival Package means that rugby clubs, which play a huge role in their wider communities will also survive and thrive.

"We are also incredibly grateful for the £1.1 million funding for the Women’s elite game which will help cover the increased Covid related operational costs for both the Red Roses and Allianz Premier 15s and help us reinstate some important initiatives in the club competition that will help drive the women’s game forward."

Chair of the independent Board, Sir Ian Cheshire said: "This is another significant confirmation of funding from the Sport Winter Survival Package and will support rugby union at multiple levels as it responds to and recovers from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We have worked closely with the RFU in recent months to understand the scale of the impact the pandemic has had across the sport, and know that this funding will help to safeguard thousands of clubs who are on the brink as a result of Covid-19 restrictions."