Strife-ridden Twickenham back in profit

As the latest political squabbling between the Union and its Premiership clubs dragged on yesterday and the Andrew Plan sank deeper into the political mire, Twickenham was at least able to show the City that it could produce a set of figures rather better than any the England squad managed during last year's World Cup.

The Union has succeeded in converting heavy losses into a whacking profit, even if it has been largely generated by selling 40 per cent of its catering rights.

Two years ago, when Francis Baron took over as chief executive, the organisation was losing money at the rate of £5m a year having been hit by deficits of £6.2m for the year ended June 1997 followed by a further loss of £3.6m the following year.

Baron said: 'The improving financial strength of the union will benefit all levels of the game through increased investment.'

Twickenham's gate-taking capacity having soared beyond £2m a match, revenue from England internationals last season grossed almost £12m but the biggest factor contributing to the overall profit could be found in the balance sheet under the title 'Exceptional Items', the sale of the catering rights and the creation of Twickenham Experience Limited at a profit of £11.349m.

RFU finance director Nick Eastwood said: 'We have now restored the reserves of the Union to a healthy state. Our liquidity position is also very healthy, with year- end cash balances of £23m.'

The Union also revealed that net revenue for the year to June 30 was up 23 per cent to more than £32m and that the operating profit was up almost 60 per cent to £5.6m.

None of that will be of much comfort to the top clubs as they wait for instalments on the £1.8m which the RFU had guaranteed every Premiership club for this season under the Andrew Plan, still to be implemented seven months after it had been agreed.

The fall-out continued yesterday over Rob Andrew's resignation from the Club England sub-committee in protest at the Union's prevarication over the plan.

Gloucester chairman Tom Walkinshaw has challenged Club England chairman Fran Cotton to use his influence to end the impasse on the issue of promotion and relegation but the former Lions' manager was unable to offer much hope.

The Premiership and Second Division clubs are due to meet again later this month in a final attempt to find a solution under the chairmanship of the RFU's independent 'facilitator', Sir Oliver Popplewell.

Cotton said: 'I am not optimistic. The sides are so entrenched that I can't see how they can be brought together.'

If the impasse continues, the English season could end in farce, with the RFU ordering the bottom two Premiership teams to be relegated and the clubs refusing to comply.