Season tickets holders for disgraced Saracens rugby club are calling for refunds after the Premiership side accepted relegation due to the salary-cap scandal.
The club has told supporters that it will not be refunding its 5,000 season tickets holders for the remaining 14 matches, despite several fans sending emails to question the point of attending any games that hold no significance.
The reigning Premiership champions have the most expensive season ticket in the top-tier of English rugby with adults dishing out between £300 and £1,130, a rise of more than 300 per cent in five years for some tickets.
Saracens failed to disclose player payments between 2016 and 2019, which led to a 35-point deduction and a £5.3m fine in November. They have now chosen to be relegated instead of opening their books to an audit, indicating that they have once again ignored the salary cap.
The salary cap focuses on the combined salaries of each player at the club within the salary cap year – July 1 to June 30. The current level of the Salary Cap is £7m, plus two excluded players whose salaries sit outside the cap, enabling clubs to recruit and retain world class talent.
Premiership Rugby chief executive Darren Childs told BBC Sport: “They accepted the decision and they need to communicate with their fans. They are the ones that have the transactional relationship with them in terms of ticket sales and other bits and pieces. I can fully understand why there are levels of disappointment from that, and rightfully so.
“Let’s not shy away from the fact that these guys got nailed for cheating for three years and they couldn’t prove that they weren’t doing it again this year. So they have got a number of questions to answer to their fans.”
Childs said refunds of past or future tickets and travel to disaffected spectators was up to the clubs, though Saracens have said its strict no refund policy would not be reviewed.
Image: Clément Bucco-Lechat
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