2025 has been quite the year for rugby league, for better and for worse, I’m sure many would agree. The Ashes are due to make their long-awaited return, there are league restructures on the horizon for both Super League and the Championship/League 1, and yet, the story of the season has focused on one club, and not for the right reasons, either. With it now being the time of year where clubs post their accounts for the previous year, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the sad downfall of Salford Red Devils, and why this shouldn’t just be written off as an isolated case.
Rugby league is, in the majority of cases, a loss-making sport. Scant few teams have made a profit in the past few years. In the most recent complete figures I could find, from April 2025, only Huddersfield, Leigh, and Wakefield posted profits. Furthermore, many clubs make eye-watering losses of well into the millions each year. The main, some might say sole, reason the clubs (and the sport) is kept afloat is because of wealthy backers. To use the example of the three profitable clubs names above, they have the backing of Ken Davy, Derek Beaumont, and Matt Ellis, respectively.
If you look down the list of Super League clubs, each one in turn can rely on one – or indeed several – wealthy backers to tank the otherwise exorbitant losses. All the clubs can, if fact, with one notable exception: Salford Red Devils.
In retrospect, it should have been easy to see Salford’s situation coming roaring down the tracks. It was simply inevitable. They were a club, with no major financial backer, competing at well above their pay-grade, and spending money they didn’t have to ensure they stayed there. It’s a wonder, quite frankly, this hadn’t happened sooner.
Their situation is reminiscent of the plight of Bradford Bulls in the early-to-mid 2010s, when they went to the wall and were cast out from the top flight in 2017, to rebuild themselves anew from the very bottom in League 1. Many commentators have decried the perceived lack of action the RFL have taken in relation to Salford, when you consider that they bailed Bradford out at one point by buying their Odsal stadium. However, such a comparison is unfair, in my opinion. Bradford had the asset of Odsal to sell to the RFL in the first place, Salford have no such assets, being based, as they are, at the Salford Community Stadium. The only thing Salford had to sell were their players, as we’ve seen over the previous months.
All of this leads me to think about how precarious a position the majority of clubs find themselves in. It seems like they’re just one financial change away from complete collapse. Using the Huddersfield Giants as an example once again, and without sounding disrespectful, their long-time backer Ken Davy is a man in his mid-eighties. How much longer he will be up to the challenges of club ownership is unknown, and without a clear succession plan in place, Huddersfield could go to the wall just as quickly as Salford have if he were to retire – or worse – with no comparable financial backer to replace him.
Then I think about the situation my own club, Hull KR, found themselves in back in 1997. The club is very lucky to still exist, never mind competing as it is at the moment. Famously, Hull KR were placed in administration in January of 1997, with the club being saved by the Rovers Supporters Group by extensive fundraising, and dragged itself from the mire with the assistance of administrator Edward Klemka. Nowadays, Rovers board consists of several willing backers with heavy financial muscle, a far cry from the dog days of the late 90s. I’m relaying this information in the hope that it proves to be the catalyst for The 1873, Salford’s own fan group which was formed recently to combat the mismanagement of their team. It is to be hoped that the blueprint laid out by the RSG is followed by The 1873 and a way back can be found for Salford.
The point I am trying to grasp for, amidst this rambling soliloquy, is that sport – and especially rugby league – is a money pit. Just one backer pulling out for any of the Super League clubs could spell disaster. Not just for the team, but for the league, and the sport as a whole. Looking at team’s accounts make for starling reading when a team is adjudged to be ‘doing well’ if their losses only make it to six figures instead of seven. We can’t afford as fans of rugby league to stand in judgement of Salford, because their fate could quite easily befall any team with just a small amount of misfortune. Beware of spending through the nose to climb up the mountain, because the fall back down is much, much steeper.
Written by Nathan Major (Site editor & Hull KR fan)
We at Gerrim Onside! would like to throw our support behind The 1873’s campaign to reclaim their club from incompetent ownership. Listed below are some links to find their social media activity.
Gerrim Onside! 
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