Call to give support for Worcester revival
WORCESTER Warriors’ Supporters Trust chairman Marcus Mulcahy is frustrated at the lack of empathy and support shown by the rugby community towards their proposed revival.
Mulchay has fallen out of love with elite rugby, refusing to watch any Premiership rugby this season while former Worcester players Fin Smith, Ollie Lawrence and Ted Hill have been tearing it up for other clubs after his side’s liquidation.
The trust formed a year ago to provide a voice to supporters after the club went into administration and were suspended from all competitions by the RFU, having missed the deadline to show plans were in place to move forward from their financial crisis.
Since then they became a legitimate organisation in August before being able to take members in November. Around 400 members have joined the trust’s website, with 300 becoming full members which allows them access to voting rights and ability to stand at elections.
Mulcahy hopes to get to 1,000 before the end of this year which could depend on what happens regarding the RFU’s proposed Premiership 2, which fallen top flight sides Worcester, Wasps and London Irish would be parachuted into after being expelled from the Premiership.
He told The Rugby Paper: “We get peaks when we put out blog posts but the memberships are growing slowly. We’ve probably reached a limit of the people willing to shell out money to support a club that doesn’t exist at the moment. As soon as we can get concrete plans with what’s happening at Sixways, I think the numbers will dramatically increase.
“We’re reasonably pleased with where we’re at, we’d like to get a lot more as the more numbers you have the more you’re heard but we’re happy with how things are progressing in terms of our relationship with the club and community.”
Numerous Championship clubs have been outspoken saying the fallen trio from the top flight should start from the bottom of the RFU pyramid rather than being awarded an SOS call to the proposed Premiership 2.
Mulcahy empathises with the Championship clubs’ frustration but would like more support shown towards Worcester given the tumultuous 18 months they have suffered.
“I’ve been in contact with Bill Sweeney and Conor O’Shea from the RFU on a relatively regular basis,” said Mulcahy. “They’ve been very good at communicating but don’t give a lot way, other than that they’re supportive of Warriors and want to see the club come back.
I’m a little disappointed at the Championship clubs’ response to the three sides coming back. There’s a vocal few on social media that say ‘get back to the bottom, that’s where you belong’. Most supporters feel we’ve been through the mill enough and recognise playing the likes of Worcester, Wasps and London Irish is only going to be good for their gates and their bank balance. I get their argument that clubs shouldn’t be parachuted in and I wouldn’t want us to go in if it meant other clubs went by the wayside.
“I’m more disappointed there hasn’t been more vocal support as there hasn’t been a great deal of coverage unfortunately.”
Despite this, Mulcahy claims the trust has a strong relationship with Championship clubs. The trust organised a trip for Coventry’s clash with Bedford yesterday, supporting their local side Coventry and are looking to support other Midlands clubs, with a visit to Hartpury University scheduled on May 4 against Caldy.
He said: “We’re doing what we can to spread the love of rugby across the west Midlands, as there doesn’t seem to be much about at the moment with everything that’s been going on.”
The 12,067-capacity Sixways was the club’s home since 1998 and had been deserted for much of last year but local football teams Worcester Raiders and Worcester City have been playing matches there recently, which has filled the void.
Mulcahy added: “Sixways is being used quite heavily with Worcester City on an incredible run of 22 wins and they’ve won their division. They are using the ground as their pitch is always waterlogged, Worcester Raiders and Worcester City women play there regularly. The Army played the Police there recently as well and there’s still 23 staff employed at the stadium.
“If you went there nine months ago it was a ghost town but now it feels like an up and running facility. The bits are all in place to bring the rugby team back, just apart from the actual team.”