Saracens to be relegated at end of 2019/20 season, Premiership Rugby confirms
The club, bottom of the table with minus seven points, will continue to compete in the top flight until the end of the current campaign
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Saracens will be relegated from the top flight of English rugby at the end of the 2019/20 season, Premiership Rugby has announced.
The club were deducted 35 points and fined £5.3million in November, having broken the cap for the past three seasons.
Darren Childs, chief executive of Premiership Rugby, said: “Premiership Rugby is prepared to take strong action to enforce the regulations governing fair competition between our clubs.
“At the conclusion of dialogue with Saracens about their compliance with the Salary Cap Regulations, it has been decided that Saracens will be relegated at the end of this season.
“At the same as enforcing the existing regulations, we want to ensure a level playing field for all clubs in the future, which is why we have asked Lord Myners to carry out an independently-led review of the Salary Cap.”
The club, bottom of the table with minus seven points, will continue to compete in the Premiership until the end of the season.
Neil Golding, who replaced Nigel Wray as Saracens chairman earlier this month, said: “As the new chairman of Saracens I acknowledge the club has made errors in the past and we unreservedly apologise for those mistakes.
“I and the rest of the board are committed to overseeing stringent new governance measures to ensure regulatory compliance going forward.”
The charges relate to a failure to disclose player payments in each of the 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.
The Premiership champions have won four of the last five titles.
Premiership Rugby introduced its salary cap in 1999 to ensure the financial viability of all clubs and the competition.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments