Money man Kelvin Bryon pulls plug on London Welsh hopes

London Welsh are facing fresh turmoil after the club's majority shareholder, Kelvin Bryon, revealed he is pulling out at the end of the season.
Bryon, who saved the Exiles from liquidation in 2009 and almost single-handedly funded the club's push into the , has become disillusioned with rugby after a season in which Welsh were docked points and fined for fielding an ineligible player.
He feels the were wrong to deduct five points for fielding scrum-half Tyson Keats in 10 Premiership matches, believing the club had no control over the actions of former rugby manager, Mike Scott.
And he cites the disparity in funding between the Exiles and other teams in the Premiership, an “unfair” English Qualified Player scheme and last summer's protracted battle to be promoted as further reasons for his personal disenchantment.
An impassioned Bryon told The Rugby Paper: “I'm pulling out, that's absolutely definite, and I've had enough of the RFU and PRL.
“I've had 20 years with London Welsh, one of the great rugby brands, but everything's been done to get us back out of the division.
“I've done a hell of a lot for rugby but there's hardly a  Welshman  in  the  side,  so what's the point? I think the EQP system is a restraint of trade but the RFU don't seem to worry that clubs like are South African owned.
“How could we have prospered when our funding is totally inadequate? If we'd had the £3.5m like everyone else we'd be flying, but we had to pick up players no one else wanted. I think they're breaking competition law in the way clubs are funded.
“Then we get fined £15,000. It wasn't bad administration, Mike Scott committed a criminal act, but we've had little support and to have (PRL chief executive) Mark McCafferty on that tribunal after PRL did everything to stop us going up beggared belief.
“The bottom line is the RFU and PRL don't want us there and if that's the situation, London Welsh will have to find a level they can play at.
“I won't be involved in rugby after the end of this season anywhere in the UK. I've had 20 years of helping this great club claw its way back up from the bottom of Division Five (South), but I'm quite dispirited and feel so sorry for the boys on the field.
“They've put their bodies on the line, punched above their weight and then suddenly five points are taken away, so it leaves a very sour taste.
“I've just had the worst six to nine months of my life.”
Bryon's departure will leave question marks over London Welsh's future. Could the Exiles sink through the divisions? “Absolutely,” Bryon said. “It's happened before and could happen again, but hopefully we'll stay at the Kassam and try to move forward.
“If they get new investors on board, maybe they can take it back to the Premiership. But what is the point when the funding is so inadequate?”
NEALE HARVEY

One Comment

  1. I think it is disgraceful the way the RFU treated LW throughout this whole episode beginning with their attempt to prevent LW being promoted last year. As matters have transpired It really does seem naive to believe anything other than the RFU set out to keep LW out of the Premiership and then jumped on a convienent opportunity to knock them back down.

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