Cuts force London Scottish to turn semi-professional

London Scottish have become the first Championship club to announce they are turning semi-professional after the Rugby Football Union announced it was cutting funding to the second tier ahead of next season.

The RFU announced in February a cut in its annual contribution per club from £534,000 to £288,000, to be phased in over the next two seasons. London Scottish are the first to give up their professional status as a result.

In a newsletter to club members, chairman Malcolm Offord wrote: “We switch our model from a full-time professional environment with daytime training to a part-time model where our players do real jobs in the daytime and train in the evenings.”

London Scottish finished ninth in the Championship after the season was ended prematurely because of coronavirus, and will become the second semi-professional team in the division, alongside neighbours Richmond. That means Saracens, who will be playing in the Championship next season – having been automatically relegated due to salary-cap breaches – will face at least two part-time teams.

London Scottish are likely to suffer an exodus from their playing staff, with Australian centre Matt Gordon announcing yesterday he was moving to Edinburgh,

Matt Williams, who spent six seasons coaching Oxfordshire side Chinnor and therefore has experience of managing part-time players, has been named as director of rugby.

The Exiles only returned to full-time professional status for the 2012-13 season. Having spent the 1998 and 1999 seasons in the Premiership, they were relegated after falling into administration. The original amateur club rejoined at the bottom of the English rugby pyramid and worked their way up seven divisions in 10 seasons, and were promoted to the Championship for the 2011-12 season.