England have ruled out giving Samoa a share of revenue generated from their Twickenham match, but will make a payment to the cash-strapped Pacific nation as a goodwill gesture.
Samoa's prime minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegao has announced that the country's union, of which he is also chairman, was “insolvent” due to being unable to “pay off our debts with the banks” or fund player wages.
However, World Rugby has yet to receive official notification of bankruptcy beyond the declaration made by Malielegao at a press conference.
A dark day for the rugby world as PM announces Samoa officially Bankrupt, asking public dig deep and bail them out #saveSamoa https://t.co/xHiAT6myzG
— Daniel Leo (@danleo82) November 8, 2017
Samoa wrote to Rugby Football Union chief executive Steve Brown several weeks ago stating that they are in dispute with the sport's global governing body and requesting a match fee to aid their financial difficulties.
Under current regulations, the RFU is unable to provide a share of revenue generated by the Test on November 25 – a sum in excess of £5million – and believe it is the role of World Rugby to assist struggling tier two nations.
A sum of £75,000 – the same amount issued to Fiji last year – will be paid but the RFU points out that given Samoa's stricken financial status, uncertainty shrouds who should receive the money.
Manu Samoa coach Fuimaono Titimae Tafua has named four debutants for his team to take on Scotland in Murrayfield… https://t.co/UVf6UYgUGB
— Samoa Rugby (@SamoaRugby) November 7, 2017
“We have not had formal notification of any proposed bankruptcy and if this were the case we'd obviously seek advice from world rugby about making the goodwill payment,” an RFU spokesperson said.
Malielegao outlined the impact a share of matchday revenue at Twickenham would have on Samoan rugby.
“For example, one game in England, I'm not sure how much millions is received at the gates for entrance fees, and let's say they make 30m; we get half of that which is 15m that money will help with our annual budget for the next three years,” Malielegao told the Samoa Observer.
England’s Manu Tuilagi (centre) would back sharing a portion of the players’ match fees (Tony Marshall/EMPICS)
England prop Mako Vunipola and centre Manu Tuilagi, who were born in Tonga and Samoa respectively, have urged team-mates to make a gesture of their own by giving some of their £23,000 match fee to their Pacific Island opponents.
A decision has yet to be made by Eddie Jones' squad on whether they will contribute.
World Rugby are in dispute with Samoa over governance issues and changes made to their coaching team, and there have also been accusations of corruption made against the union.
The tourists launch their autumn schedule against Scotland on Saturday knowing that all costs outside of the £600 match fee paid to players are covered by either the host union or the sport's global governing body.
The Scotland squad took to the indoor pitch at Oriam today as preparations continued ahead of our first test v Samoa on Saturday #AsOne pic.twitter.com/y9N0boScbp
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) November 7, 2017
Any suggestion that the fixtures may not be fulfilled by the inability to cover player insurance has been discounted as these are paid by World Rugby.
“World Rugby is committed to assisting the Samoa Rugby Union's high-performance programme and increased its direct and indirect union investment to £1.5 million in 2017,” a World Rugby statement said.
“Specifically for the November window, this support package includes insurance cover under Regulation 9, underwriting assembly costs for a pre-tour camp, flights to and from Europe and participation in the Americas Pacific Challenge, a preparation and development tournament.”