Wasps are world's richest amateurs

The amateur section of English champions London Wasps became arguably the richest rugby club in the world today when they won more than £3million in damages at the High Court over the sale of their former ground at Sudbury.

The money will not be going to the professional side of the club, who now play at High Wycombe and are preparing to face Toulouse in the final of the Heineken Cup on 23 May.

The club were awarded the damages from surveyors who negligently valued their former north London ground at less than a third of its true worth when it became a major asset of Loftus Road plc, the umbrella company set up when Wasps linked up with Queens Park Rangers.

Surveyors, the Lambert Smith Hampton Group Ltd, valued the Sudbury ground in Wembley, home to Wasps since 1867, at £832,500 in March 1996. Just over three years later, the 14-acre ground was sold for housing development at a gross price of almost £12m.

At the High Court, LSH admitted it had negligently undervalued the ground by failing to carry out an open market valuation or to make proper planning inquiries of the London Borough of Brent.

The surveyors disputed the amount of the club's loss, but judge Mr Justice Langley today ordered LSH to pay Wasps £2,417,500 in damages, not including interest. With interest, this will top £3m.