London Irish failed to prove its funding and was suspended from all English rugby

On 6 June 2023 the Rugby Football Union suspended London Irish after the club missed the deadline to pay players and staff in full and failed to provide financial assurances; it would not be allowed to play in any league the following season. On the pitch Irish had just finished fifth in the Premiership and reached the final of the Premiership Rugby Cup for the second successive season. RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney called it 'desperately sad news' and said the governing body, Premiership Rugby and the players' union had done their utmost to secure the club's long-term viability.

Off the pitch the club was understood to carry about £30m of debt, and owner Mick Crossan had been in protracted talks to sell to a US-based consortium. In April 2023 Crossan had to step in to pay overdue wages minutes before players were preparing to submit breach-of-contract notices. The club was first given until 30 May to complete the takeover, a deadline the RFU pushed back, but May's wages were only half paid. On the Friday before the suspension HMRC served a winding-up petition over an unpaid tax bill, filed at the High Court against London Irish Holdings and the ground company.

Sweeney said the RFU had requested evidence of funding over six months and 'receiving assurances on multiple occasions that we would receive proof of ownership and funds; it has not materialised' — either buyers committing working capital for 2023-24 or the club proving it could fund itself. Irish became the third Premiership club to disappear within a year, after Worcester Warriors and Wasps both went into administration in autumn 2022, leaving a league that had planned to expand to 14 teams facing a 10-team future.

Suspension from the Premiership and every league for 2023-24, on top of about £30m of debts and an HMRC winding-up petition over an unpaid tax bill

The club's rescue rested entirely on a US consortium takeover that never materialised despite months of talks.

Wages went unpaid in spring 2023 — saved at the last minute by the owner in April, then only half paid in May.

An unpaid tax bill brought an HMRC winding-up petition against the holding company and the ground company.

For six months the club gave the RFU assurances about funding but never produced the evidence the regulator asked for.

Six months of assurances are not evidence of solvency — when a business keeps promising proof of funding that never arrives, suspension by its regulator is the predictable outcome.

The suspension barred London Irish from any competition for 2023-24, following Worcester Warriors (administration, September 2022) and Wasps (October 2022) out of the Premiership inside a year. The league discussed by clubs as a 10-team competition for the next season; the RFU had withdrawn even Wasps' conditional Championship place after its new owners could not prove they could pay creditors, and warned clubs against buying their way back up the pyramid.