Rumours: Lions not going under
09 Dec 2011
CAPE TOWN — Reports of the Golden Lions’ imminent financial collapse are greatly exaggerated, said the Highveld rugby franchise.
The Lions responded yesterday to rumours on the rugby grapevine a day earlier that bankruptcy looms for the defending Absa Currie Cup champions at the end of the year.
Former Sport24 publisher/editor Tank Lanning said he had received a text from an unnamed source saying, “All Lions players told only money for salaries until end December. All looking for jobs.”
But the Lions responded via their official Twitter account @LionsRugbyUnion, “We are not bankrupt. We are not going down. The players are being paid. We are playing in the 2012 SR [Super Rugby] comp. All malicious rumours.”
Funding issues have raged in the vicinity of Ellis Park since the souring in the middle of the 2011 season of a R16 million investment into the union from billionaire Robert Gumede and partner Ivor Ichikowitz, they pulled out and claimed Lions bosses were “stuck in the past” and effectively operated the franchise like amateurs. — Sport24.
