Money for football, what about rugby?

National League clubs have been told they will receive an emergency grant to enable them to start the new season this weekend.

Last week the government scrapped plans for a partial return of spectators from 1 October.

The National League said it was hopeful a "critical financial support package" could be agreed.

National League North clubs said they did not want to begin playing without crowds, and there had been fears some would withdraw from the FA Cup to avoid triggering player contracts they could not afford to continue.

But on Tuesday clubs received an email from the league's chief executive Michael Tattersall telling them that the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) was "working at pace… to design a package of support that will give the National League the reassurance it needs".

"This will include grants to cover essential revenue lost from fans not returning on 1 October as planned."

Clubs were told "the government recognises the immediate pressure National League clubs are under in respect of starting their season and are committed to play resuming in a viable way".

The size of any grant is yet to be confirmed, but BBC Sport understands the league is hoping for around £2-3m per month.

Our opposition MP probably has never been near a rugby ground.

newlynbucca wrote: Yes! Confirmed on radio 4 this morning (by someone from Dagenham & Redbridge FC, I think) as £10,000,000 for the first 3 months. Must be 'fair shares for all'! The missing crowds at National League football are very similar to those at Championship rugby. Perhaps we should lobby our MPs, especially in places where rugby 'is at the heart of the community' as was stated as a reason why football had to be bailed out. Our MPs in Cornwall seem to fall particularly into the category of 'lobby-fodder'.

Bill Sley wrote: kempstonblue wrote: Our opposition MP probably has never been near a rugby ground. I don't know anything about your own MP, but in my experience most MPs are in it for the right reasons.  We (the general public) only see the high profile types who are portrayed as climbing the greasy pole for self serving reasons. The other 500+ seem pretty normal, hard working representatives of their constituents. We get good support from our MP (who happens also to be in opposition but don't think this is a party political thing) and I'd be surprised if yours hasn't been involved in some way with Bedford Rugby - particularly if there are community activities/outreach from the club.

I fully agree with this which accords with my own experience. The media and public seem to delight in focusing on the minority of examples of poor standards and disregard the overwhelming majority of cases where decent people try their best for their communities.

Bill Sley wrote: newlynbucca wrote: Yes! Confirmed on radio 4 this morning (by someone from Dagenham & Redbridge FC, I think) as £10,000,000 for the first 3 months. Must be 'fair shares for all'! The missing crowds at National League football are very similar to those at Championship rugby. Perhaps we should lobby our MPs, especially in places where rugby 'is at the heart of the community' as was stated as a reason why football had to be bailed out. Our MPs in Cornwall seem to fall particularly into the category of 'lobby-fodder'. To be fair, it's not quite the same.  There are indeed lots of similarities - but the key difference is that the footy were able to actually play. This (just like it would be in Championship/Nat 1 I think?) would be a double edged sword. Actually playing means actually paying the players. If many of the players are on 'pay as you play' then it would increase losses for clubs - paying even more out without income from gates.  I read up a bit on the above last weekend, and apart from a few wealthy clubs, the majority seemed to be 'very' part time. The few players that made a living out of football were no doubt taken off furlough (costing the clubs extra) and then the 'pay as you play' contracts had also to be fulfilled.  Right now, I imagine that Championship/Nat 1 players are not costing clubs full wages. If we were due to play soon, then even more stress on the club coffers until this can be balanced by gate income.

Camquin wrote: The governemnt should tell the FA to enforce a 1% fee on all transfer fees to be used to support lower league football and then not give the lower league clubs any further money.

Football (and Rugby) clubs are companies - the governments support schemes are there for all companies (even ones which were almost bust anyway) so why shouldn't they use government money.

The government is holding the EPL to ransom - presumably with the threat of closing it down - however outside the top 6-8 EPL clubs, the rest are in a similar boat to the top half of the Championship.