London Irish guilty of breach of contract

The High Court in London yesterday ruled in favour of four former London Irish players, among them the former Ireland captain Niall Hogan, who had taken a case for breach of contract against the club after their contracts had been terminated at the end of the 1997-98 season. The other players concerned were Sean Burns, Ray Hennessy and Michael Corcoran.

The High Court's ruling, which is seen as something of a test case, is liable to have serious repercussions for the professional club game in England. The players were awarded an unspecified amount in damages, believed to be a year's salary, as well as total costs, estimated to be around £100,000, which London Irish will have to pay.

Hogan, the former Terenure College scrum-half who won the last of his 13 caps for Ireland against Italy in 1997, told The Irish Times last night that he was "absolutely delighted" with the verdict. "None of us wanted to leave the club on these terms," he said. The players successfully contended that each of them were halfway through two-year contracts which were terminated by the club at the end of the '97-'98 season.

Although still only 28-years-old, Hogan, now working on a surgical training scheme in Beaumont Hospital, effectively has not played since and played what he maintains was his last game in the Hospitals' Cup final last Friday, when Beaumont beat the Mater, with Hogan at full back.

Similarly Hennessy, a university lecturer in physical education at St Mary's College in Strawberry Hill, London, has ceased playing while Burns, a teacher, and Corcoran, a buyer for a food company, are playing junior rugby with Canberley and Esher in England.

It is believed that four or five other London Irish players have actions pending against the club. The Sunbury-based club, who now rent Harlequins' ground at the Stoop for first-team matches, sought to trim their wage bill for the season before last, as have other English Premiership clubs. Having continually overstretched themselves in the four and a half years of professionalism, and having lost one of the world's oldest clubs, Richmond, the estimated combined debts of the Premiership clubs are in the £20£30 million bracket.

This latest development is a continuation of a troubled season for London Irish, whose coach Dick Best has transformed the team's fortunes on the pitch but is now being touted as Clive Woodward's successor as English coach when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Furthermore, the move to the Stoop has not been a noted success.

The club's chiefs had maintained that they had to vacate Sunbury after their failure to obtain planning permission as the existing 6,000 capacity at the ground was insufficient.

Last Saturday's crowd for the visit of Roma in the European Shield was a derisory 2,883, and despite a promising start to the season, London Irish have failed to attract a crowd of 5,000 to the Stoop, where the capacity is put at 8,000.

The London Irish chairman Geoff Read, the club's rugby manager Kieran McCarthy, the club's chief executive Geoff Huckstep, and the club's press officer Paddy Lennon, could not be reached last night.

Following the six-day long hearing, the parties concerned had waited for three weeks for yesterday's ruling. The case is now thought likely to set a precedent that will alert a number of other players whose contracts were also terminated prematurely at English clubs.