Super Rugby side Melbourne Rebels has "set an ambitious target of quadrupling" its membership as part of the Super Rugby franchise’s plan "to become financially independent" of the Australian Rugby Union.
The ARU "has been propping up the Rebels since the 2011 expansion team’s private owners quit the club two years ago after losing millions of dollars."
Rebels CEO Peter Leahy said that "the key to the membership drive was increasing participation in rugby in Victoria and the performance of the Melbourne side in Super Rugby" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/5). ... League Championship side Nottingham Forest Owner Fawaz Al Hasawi "has promised to pay any outstanding transfer fees 'imminently'" after the club was "placed under a full embargo."
Forest "failed to meet the latest instalment to Peterborough United" for £5M ($8M) summer signing Britt Assombalonga.
Posh Chair Darragh MacAnthony called the payment a "disgrace." But Al Hasawi said on Twitter, "I can assure you any outstanding payments will be resolved imminently and our embargo situation will not change" (BBC, 2/4).