Sky Sports pundit attacks Super League clubs who ‘don’t contribute anything’ as London Broncos ownership addressed
Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin-Alamy
Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin has hit out at what he believes are ‘a lot’ of Super League clubs who merely exist to ‘take the TV team and survive’: before admitting David Hughes’ departure from London Broncos sounds ‘alarm bells’ for the game in the capital.
Hughes will leave the Broncos over the winter after announcing he is putting the soon-to-be Championship club up for sale. He has invested well over £20million into the club during his time in charge.
And Wilkin, speaking on Sky Sports’ The Verdict, admitted it is a ‘desperately sad’ day for the game to see Hughes leave.
He said: “He’s put tens of millions of pounds into supporting London and pushing it. It’s a desperately sad day. It may be the last time we see David Hughes attached with the club in London.
“It doesn’t look great. There’s a guy there who has put £25million of his own money into the game, he’s invested that much into the game and through the rules we’re saying your money is no longer good. I think it’s crazy.
“The IMG system was voted in, all the clubs voted it in but the unintended consequence of that is you lose a man who has devoted a large amount of his wealth to growing rugby league.”
Wilkin then turned his attention to other Super League clubs who he argued ‘don’t contribute anything’ and offer no growth to the competition.
He said: “There’s a lot of clubs in the league that don’t contribute anything. They just take the TV deal and survive. For a team like London, there’s loads of reasons they scored lowly in the IMG ratings but David Hughes selling the club, it’s alarm bells for rugby league in London. At this point in history, the game has decided they’re not in.”
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