Fitzy in English team buyout scheme

By WYNNE GRAY

Former All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick is tipped to head a multi-million-dollar bid to buy a lower-division English rugby club and move it to London.

Former Lion Nathan head Douglas Myers is said to be one of the four major investors.

The project was outlined last week to the management board of the England Rugby Union.

In the past six months, investors have approached several first-division clubs about selling and shifting as a new venture called London Tribe to Queens Park Rangers' headquarters at Loftus Rd. Two clubs believed to be talking with the consortium are Lancashire's Orrell and Wakefield in Yorkshire.

The Times says the quartet bankrolling the scheme are Wayne Huizenga, American owner of the Blockbuster video chain and the Miami Dolphins NFL franchise, Johann Rupert, a South African financier, Duncan Simpson-Craib, a Scottish entrepreneur living in South Africa, and Mr Myers.

"I am behind this because I would very much like to strengthen world rugby," Mr Myers was reported as saying. "Without question, the best worldwide stage for rugby is England."

Fitzpatrick, who shifted to Britain this year, said the concept "would bring greater competition, which will help the development of English players".

He is suggested as chairman, and former Springbok skipper Bobby Skinstad as team captain.

Skinstad told BBC Sport: "We hope to benefit global rugby. We've had interest from broadcasters in South Africa and New Zealand already."

The Times revealed that almost £100,000 ($284,000) had already been invested in the project, with the group wanting to tap into the expatriate community in London, where hundreds of thousands of South Africans and 50,000 each from New Zealand and Australia live.