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Exeter CEO Tony Rowe hits back at allegations about their finances

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Exeter CEO Tony Rowe has hit back at allegations that his Chiefs are in financial trouble. The 2020 Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup winners have come under scrutiny following the exit from the club of numerous star players and it was claimed in recent weeks that the business was on “shaky foundations”.

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The allegation was made amid the fallout surrounding the demise of London Irish, the third club since last September to collapse and exit the English top flight. Rowe, though, has refuted the suggestion that Exeter could be next in line, claiming instead that the Sandy Park club is now in a solid position to kick on after three years of testing trading caused by the pandemic.

Speaking on the Exeter club website, Rowe said: “For the last three years, ever since covid hit, every club has been tested like never before. It has been a real challenge for all of us, not helped by the ongoing situation with the war in Ukraine, and sadly not every club has been able to get through the process as we have seen.

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“To lose another club last week underlines just how tough it has been and it is a trend that needs to be bucked sooner rather than later. Thankfully, the club had assets within its business structure that we were able to use to help bring much-needed funds back in to help combat the repayment on loans and address other issues around the finances.

“That effectively helped keep us afloat through some tough trading months but now as we look to the future, we are very confident that next year we will be back in full recovery mode. Sandy Park itself is incredibly busy.

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“Sandy Park Hotel is very busy and with crowds starting to come back into stadiums, both for our men’s and women’s teams, as well as the concerts we are holding here this summer, we see a bright and exciting future ahead for the club and for our business as a whole.”

Addressing the ‘shaky foundation’ that Exeter were allegedly on, Rowe added: “As I said, it has been a financially challenging time for all of us, but what I guess it has shown is just how underfunded the game of rugby itself truly is.

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“That is something not only clubs have to address moving forward, but it is also for the likes of Premiership Rugby and those who run the game in this country to really look into. We can’t afford to stand still in any shape or form. For the game to grow in the manner we all want, we have to be looking at developing every aspect of it, both on and off the field.

“Personally, I’m really looking forward to the future. The squads we are assembling for the new season are hugely exciting and clearly with an eye to the long-term future as well. We have never been a club who are looking for a short-term fix. We have always had a vision of where we want to go, how we want to get there and a realistic time frame of how long that will be.

“Our success in recent years has been built around having those solid foundations and that is what we will continue to do as we look to attack next season and beyond.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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LONG READ 'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame' 'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame'
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