The Big Interview: Neil Hudgell

BY ROSS HEPPENSTALL  

NEIL HUDGELL has been supporting Hull Kingston Rovers, his hometown club, for as long as he can remember.

He started his own legal practice in the city in 1997, joined the club’s board of directors in 2003 and was appointed chairman the following year. 

“I lived in Maybury Drive with my grandparents in a prefabricated building, more or less under the shadow of the old Craven Park, so I grew up with Rovers,” recalls Hudgell with pride.

“I was a ball boy when we won the championship in 1979 and the Challenge Cup in 1980. 

“Then I became a shirt sponsor when the club went into administration around 2000.

“By then Rovers had hit rock-bottom, so I did some work for them through my solicitors firm and was then voted onto the board in 2003.

“It was more a question of a labour of love and seeing what I could do to reignite the fires. 

“Two or three directors left the club and I was left holding the baby.”

Hudgell helped breathe life into a dying club and Rovers won promotion to Super League in 2006.

Returning to the top flight reignited their bitter rivalry with Hull FC and injected much-needed passion and romance back into the British game.

Five years ago, Hudgell led the Robins out at Wembley in their first Challenge Cup final since their 1986 defeat to Castleford.

They lost 50-0 to Leeds in 2015 and the following season the club were relegated from Super League after a dramatic Million Pound Game defeat at home to Salford.

They were promoted straight back to the top flight in 2017, however, and Hudgell is still at the helm.

The club will always have a place in his heart but it continues to burn a hole in the pocket.

The coronavirus has seen to that.

The pandemic threatens to change the face of the world and rugby league is already feeling the effects.

The 13-man code was the first sport to be supported by Government last week in the form of a £16 million emergency loan granted to the Rugby Football League.

English-based clubs in the three professional leagues can apply for a share of it in order to negotiate a path through the current crisis.

Hudgell’s hugely successful law firm, which has offices throughout the north of England, will suffer too.

The bar he co-owns with Hull FC counterpart Adam Pearson has been forced to temporarily close.

Detailing the impact on his businesses, Hudgell says: “My law firm operates on a model where you work 12 months ahead, so this two-month period will hit me in a year’s time.

“The bar is obviously closed and my property business has been hit by people not paying.

“Obviously the rugby club is a bit of a basket case held together at the moment by Government support through the furlough scheme.

“But come the end of June, that will end and we don’t yet know if it will be extended.

“Hopefully we will be able to secure a loan from the RFL but I’m mindful that it is a loan and that by taking it all you’re doing is kicking a can down the road.

“Or if someone comes along to buy the club, you’re handing them a book of debt from day one. 

“Who’s going to take that on in the current climate?”

Hudgell is not afraid to voice his opinion and is certainly good value on all matters rugby league.

He is widely respected in Hull for his success in business and for his long association with the Robins, but it has hardly been plain sailing.

For all the highs, such as winning promotion or reaching the Challenge Cup final, there have been plenty of lows.

He explains: “If I ever had advice for someone owning a sports club, the first thing would be ‘don’t own it’.

“Secondly, ‘own one a million miles from where you live’ because there is obviously a reputational side to things.

“I have maintained my support throughout my family ties to the club and that affinity will always be there.

“But at the same time I’m a solicitor in the city and I run a national law firm.

“I have got to be careful from a reputational perspective that the club doesn’t go down on my watch.

“There have been repeated instances down the years of wanting to hand it on.

“I didn’t want to own it in the first place but I’ve now had it for over 15 years.

“There have only really been tiny pockets of enjoyment. The rest of it has been a humdrum dirge of keeping the club afloat.”

That sense of weariness has returned in recent days as Hudgell fought the impact of Covid-19.

The first major task was putting players and staff on the furlough scheme and Rovers are likely to apply to the RFL for a slice of the emergency loan awarded by Government last week.

“We haven’t seen the finer details on it but depending on the repayment terms then yes, we will apply,” Hudgell says.

“We had three concerts lined up for Craven Park this year and they have now all been cancelled, which is a loss of £500,000.

“When the season resumes, we’re probably going to have to play behind closed doors so we will be losing money further still.

“No-one is able to quantify the extent to which not only how far rugby league will suffer but how far those businesses of the benefactors who support rugby league will suffer as well.

“That’s the bit in the jigsaw that people don’t quite connect.

“Down the years, people have said without seven or eight key individuals at certain clubs those clubs don’t exist. And that’s right.

“That ability of those key individuals to continue to provide that support is being compromised right now and will be into the future. 

“Like I say, to what extent, nobody truly knows so it would be lunacy to commit to a sport which has a number of issues to negotiate to ensure it is on a stable path for 2021 and beyond.

“The next few months are crucial and we have to use the Government money wisely to buy some time to achieve that stability.

“Alongside that we need to make some big, brave decisions that make the game self-sustaining.”

Hudgell is referring to a growing belief among Super League clubs that the top-flight competition needs to realign with the RFL in order to save costs.

Hudgell, Wakefield’s Michael Carter and St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus have all spoken publicly in recent days about the need to make savings amid concerns over a duplication of roles with the RFL.

In 2018, Wigan chairman Ian Lenagan played a key role in the breakaway from the RFL, which as the sport’s governing body is still in control of such issues as refereeing, disciplinary and policing the salary cap.

But with the Covid-19 crisis wreaking havoc through rugby league, several clubs, including Hull KR, believe it is time for yet another structural overhaul.

Rugby league being rugby league, though, self-interest is never far away and each club has their own agenda.

Hudgell, for example, would like to see a 20% reduction in the salary cap from next season but does not expect there would be much support for such a proposal.

Politically, Hudgell is closely aligned to Pearson at Hull FC while Leeds, Wakefield, Castleford and Huddersfield are viewed as the West Yorkshire conglomerate.

Then there is St Helens, whose owner McManus has drastically reversed his view about the need for a separate Super League entity, who stand alone.

That is in stark contrast to Wigan and Warrington, who are allies and thought to be the two clubs who remain fully supportive of Elstone and the Super League executive.

Salford muddle by thanks to a fans-led consortium while overseas clubs Toronto and Catalans are out of sight and, to some, out of mind.

Hudgell says: “You can imagine how difficult it can be to pull everyone together; it’s such a disparate band and it makes doing business very difficult. 

“I was only saying to a fellow owner the other day about how disenfranchised we were by the whole thing because we go to rugby league to watch the game itself and the only thing  we don’t talk about is rugby league!

“I kind of understand why people leave the game and never come back.

“It just seems we lurch from one scrap or war to the next one.

“However, this is really a great opportunity within the game to now realign and all work in tandem in the same direction.

“I don’t doubt that self-interest will prevail at some point and there will be bumps in the road.

“I have never been for criticising self-interest because we all have it and at the heart of what we do is promoting our own clubs.

“Rugby league, at its heart, is very tribal, and community-centric.

“We are very proud of our clubs and the roles in our communities and we should never apologise for that. It’s sport and you have got to be grown up in sport.”

A storm brewed two years ago when Elstone came to power after Nigel Wood finally cleared off from the RFL.

Elstone has presided over some progress – rule changes have sped the game up and television viewing figures have been strong.

Yet calls are being heard for Super League to get back into bed with the RFL, a view supported by Hudgell.

He says: “Back in 2018, we went into the separation of executive power with our eyes wide open.

“The previous way of operating didn’t work – there were too many conflicts of interest and there wasn’t enough transparency between the governing body and the Super League clubs.

“To create a separate executive at that point in time was the right thing to do.

“Two years on, the world has fundamentally changed, particularly over the last three months, and the reality is that we can’t sustain the economics of two executives who, in a lot of respects, do the same things.

“Everybody is having to share the pain and in terms of Robert and his team, this isn’t just about Super League dismantling its executive.

“This is about two executives coming together so I think it would be an unsafe assumption to think that all the culling would be from the Super League executive. 

“I don’t think that detail has been worked through and I don’t think that discussion has even begun.

“At the minute, it’s a high-level debate which is circulating around a number of the club owners.

“It’s really also based on remaining viable as individual clubs but also as an entity.

“It’s the same with the RFL, so the clear mood music is in the direction of a form of unified administration of the sport.”

Crucially, the Government dealt directly with the RFL in issuing the emergency loan, underlining the renewed power of the governing body, and Hudgell feels that approach is needed in talks over the television contract with the Sky.

The current deal expires next year and, with Super League in danger of being in breach of contract if no games are able to be played in the coming months, there has been talk of attempting to re-negotiate with Sky now to secure a new long-term deal which would safeguard the game’s future.

Hudgell reasons: “There have been conversations going on about it being imperative that there is a joined-up approach.

“The first part of that was the Government approach in securing the financial assistance to the game last week.

“A part of that was a tacit understanding that the game would continue to get its house in order and manage its costs.

“That move back towards some form of unification is illustrative of that.

“The second dialogue which requires a joined-up approach is the relationship with Sky.

“Rugby league has a bundle of rights that needs to be sold which includes Super League, Challenge Cup and the international game.

“There is potential for confusion with two people knocking on the same doors and there is equally the opportunity for those third-parties to take advantage of having to deal with two different entities.

“Those two big conversations have led a number of key people within the game back towards some form of unification.

“What I would say is that it wouldn’t be going back towards old ways because, for me, old ways didn’t work.

“There was too much secrecy and a lack of transparency; a glaring example of that was the Bradford debacle. 

“It went on for a few years and through multiple ownerships.

“There was always tension between Super League and the rest of the game over broadcast monies.

“I certainly think as part of any unification that those discussions need to be sorted out before any agreement is reached.

“There is a fair bit of setting the groundwork, setting the rules, and setting the whole framework for the two to come together.

“There is no point reuniting without learning the lessons of the past and why the separation came about in the first place – a fundamental lack of trust and transparency in governance particularly.

“Super League needs a presence on the RFL board. I don’t understand why we don’t have that now because the RFL have a representative on the Super League board.

“I’m not convinced a realignment will be a difficult exercise. 

“I think there is actually growing momentum to have an honest dialogue between the interested parties because there is a common interest here.

“I suspect the model going forward will be a hybrid structure with one governing body but with greater transparency and Super League has a greater say in terms of the running of the game.”

The season will not resume until July at the earliest and there are fears it could be cancelled altogether, with no games played again until the start of 2021.

Scrapping promotion and relegation this year seems almost a certainty regardless of whether the action restarts.

Hudgell says the rest of this year must be used to effectively press the reset button on the game.

He adds: “As a club owner who puts his own money into the club, it would be lunacy to commit to a sport which has a number of issues to negotiate to ensure it is on a stable path for 2021 and beyond.

“The next few months are crucial and we have to use the Government money wisely to buy some time to achieve that stability.

“Alongside that we need to make some big, brave decisions that make the game self-sustaining.

“That’s the real challenge between now and probably the end of this year, so going into next year we look very different in terms of salary cap and commercial spend.

“Who knows how many people are going to buy memberships next year or if companies are going to sponsor the club?

“That uncertainty really informs my thoughts and my conclusion is that this is an opportunity for the game to reset itself now.”

Another row is unfolding between players and clubs after a letter from the GMB Union called on players to “stand up and be counted” in the wake of the £16million emergency loan being granted.

The loan cannot be used on player wages and Hudgell says: “Let me say this; I don’t think the Government funding was put in place to prop up players’ wages.

“This is a loan and has to be repaid. As a sport, we need to be cutting our cloth accordingly, both now and moving forward into 2021.”