Worcester Warriors have been rebranded as ‘Sixways Rugby’ and formed a partnership with fourth-tier side Stourbridge RFC; Worcester’s owners confirmed they have withdrawn from their proposal to play in the RFU Championship for 2023/24 season
Last Updated: 09/02/23 12:28pm
The name Worcester Warriors will no longer exist in English club rugby after the new owners announced a rebrand
Worcester Warriors have withdrawn their proposal to play in the Championship next season and are to change the club’s name to Sixways Rugby, new owners Atlas have confirmed.
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) issued Wasps and Worcester Warriors a “final deadline” to meet conditions that would allow them to compete in the Championship next season, which was initially set for December 12 before being pushed back to February 14.
Worcester’s new owners had yet to be approved by the RFU, while Jim O’Toole and James Sandford’s Atlas consortium confirmed on Thursday that they had withdrawn their bid to join England’s second tier.
Worcester Warriors announced they will no longer try and pursue a place in the RFU Championship next season
O’Toole told BBC Hereford & Worcester: “We’re unable and unwilling to sign what we see as an over onerous and overreaching participation agreement. There were a number of key clauses in the contract we just wouldn’t sign.
“Our investors wouldn’t accept it, we wouldn’t accept as business people and the clauses were just too onerous and gave RFU, as a sport’s governing body, control over financial decisions and development decisions that we as a business will have to take as we go forward.
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Former Worcester Warriors centre Ollie Lawrence said in September being put into administration cannot be allowed to happen to other teams in the Premiership
Former Worcester Warriors centre Ollie Lawrence said in September being put into administration cannot be allowed to …