Hornets saved by loan payment

Rochdale Hornets saved from winding up order

Rochdale Hornets have taken up a loan from the Rugby Football League (RFL) after the club was served a winding up order from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

A petition to wind up the club was presented by HMRC on 6 December 2007. The winding up order was due to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on 16 April but the RFL has stepped in to save the club.

Hornets have taken benefit of a loan from the RFL, repayable over three years. A club spokesman said: “This capital injection means that the club can factor payments into future budget projections, that the club's HMRC obligations can now be met and that any winding up order is now invalid.”

The club’s directors will be making up a shortfall that the loan was unable to cover, believed to be around £7,000. The club hopes to have paid its debt to HMRC by the end of this week.

Last year the club explored the possibility of selling its stake in the Denehurst Park Stadium Company to Rochdale AFC in a bid to raise income. The Stadium Company owns Spotland Stadium in partnership with Hornets and the football club. Rochdale AFC reportedly bid for Hornets’ shares in the company last summer, but the club did not respond to the offer.

Hornets believe that taking on a loan from the RFL was the better option than trying to sell their shares in the Stadium Company once more.

Hornets’ financial condition has been a source of speculation for some years, with a dwindling support making it difficult for them to survive as a professional Rugby League side.

The club recently paid back a loan to Rochdale Council, who have offered the club continued financial support through the years.

A club statement reads: “Over the last few months, Rochdale Metropolitan Council and the RFL have been hugely supportive of Rochdale Hornets and have been very impressed and pleased with the strides forward that the club has made off the pitch. Not only did they appreciate the board's continued commitment to Commercial and Community activities, they also recognise the business plan that has been applied for the last 3 seasons, whereby the club generates its own revenue rather than relying on directors' loans.

“Both parties have reviewed the club's accounts and were satisfied that it is striving to meet - and achieving - the levels of commercial activity that make the Rochdale Hornets club now more self sufficient than it has been for many years."