Former All Blacks To Unite To Save Stricken English Club: Reports

Dan Carter and Ali Williams are members of a consortium prepared to step in and save stricken English Championship club London Welsh, according to reports from the UK.

The historic London Welsh, which was founded in 1885, went into voluntary liquidation in December 2016, which meant they were able to keep playing temporarily – but they dropped from third in the league to second-from-bottom because of a 20-point penalty imposed by the RFU.

“Due to a playing budget of £1.7m and gates at games numbering as low 400, the club’s current business model is totally unsustainable,” chairman Gareth Hawkins said at the time.

The short-term protection of voluntary liquidation, which keeps creditors at bay while administrators try to secure new investment, this week also saved the exiles from a winding up order – after a judge dismissed an application by the UK’s Revenue and Customs agency over unpaid taxes of more than £90,000.

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The club paid the price for chasing the Premiership dream. Two promotions in 2011/12 and 2013/14 followed by two unsuccessful attempts to stay in the top flight ultimately cost them.

In its proud 131-year history, the club has featured numerous internationals, and no other team has supplied as many members of a Lions’ touring side as London Welsh did for the tour of New Zealand in 1971. John Dawes, who captained the tourists 45 years ago and played alongside six club-mates on the tour, is currently president of the club.

Carter and Williams are part of a Kiwi consortium that wants to take over London Welsh, and would work to attract a new generation of players to the club, sports weekly The Rugby Paper reports.

Williams, who played for Toulon for two seasons after calling time on his international career, retired at the end of the 2014/15 season and joined Racing 92’s staff as media manager for his former All Black team-mate. He has since been tempted to lace up his boots again as cover during an injury crisis at the club.

The duo are not the only current rugby players to invest in another club. Shortly before Christmas, Lyon veteran and former French international Frederic Michalak unveiled ambitious plans for French third-tier outfit Blagnac, on the outskirts of Toulouse, after buying a controlling stake in the club.