FILE PHOTO: Rugby Union - Premiership Rugby - Saracens v London Irish - StoneX Stadium, London, Britain - April 23, 2023 London Irish's Ben White passes the ball. Action Images/Cat Coryn
LONDON (Reuters) - The next step in deciding the precarious future of London Irish will be taken on Wednesday evening after the English Premiership club was given a 24-hour extension to pay staff their May salaries.
The club had been given a May 30 ultimatum to show evidence of a much-discussed takeover by an American consortium, or that they had the finance in place under current owner Mick Crossan to continue through the 2023-24 season.
The RFU said on Wednesday that the Union's club financial viability working group met on Tuesday to discuss a potential extension to that deadline, reported locally to be seven days, and noted that the conditions set by the RFU had not been met.
"It was agreed to defer the decision for 24 hours to establish if the club is able to honour the commitment it has made to staff that they will be paid for the month of May," the RFU said.
Local media reports said that the club's players had been called to a meeting late on Tuesday where they were offered a deal to accept half their salary in exchange for not submitting breach of contract letters, with the salary balance to be paid in due course.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Christian Radnedge)
