Hooligans or Gentlemen?

With the final tomorrow, Major League Rugby's 4th successful season is coming to a close. But the disqualification of two teams before the playoffs spells trouble for the league during the offseason.

The Seattle Seawolves (10-7) face off against Rugby New York (11-5) on Saturday for the 4th Major League Rugby championship. Seattle, which has won two titles, looks strong going into the game but New York will enjoy home field advantage.

Both Seattle and New York have earned the right to play at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, at 12 p.m. EDT. But there could easily have been two other contenders for the title. And by some counts, there should have been.

On June 1, 2022, Adam Gilchrist, the owner of the Los Angeles Giltinis and the Austin Gilgronis, was notified by Major League Rugby (MLR) that Austin would be disqualified from the playoffs, due to an alleged failure to cooperate with a salary cap investigation. In response to the abrupt decision, Gilchrist threatened to remove both of his teams from the league entirely. Austin and L.A. both finished near the top of the table, and had qualified for the playoffs. They were both contenders for the title that L.A. claimed last year.

Gilchrist changed his mind the next day, and revoked his threat to withdraw. He would instead challenge the league’s decision. Then on June 7, the league struck again, notifying Gilchrist that it was also disqualifying L.A.. Again, no prior warning was issued; the league’s board of directors simply sent an email the day before to L.A.’s management, less than 20 minutes before its members met to discuss L.A.’s fate. And this time, no specific details about the disqualification were given, except that L.A. had apparently engaged in “conduct considered detrimental to the league.” MLR announced this decision on Twitter just as it had the one against Austin, and has offered no further comment or details. Seattle’s road to and through the playoffs suddenly looked a lot easier.

On June 9, Austin and L.A. filed a lawsuit against MLR and its commissioner George Killebrew, accusing them not only of disqualifying his teams on questionable grounds but of scheming to prevent an impending sale of Austin to a third party. Gilchrist had been in talks with a prospective buyer, and according to court documents and a statement that he provided that day, he believes that MLR, its commissioner and the team owners plotted to ensure the deal fell through.

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Scrum between New Orleans Gold and Old Glory DC, Leesburg VA, June 12, 2021. (Credit: Malcolm Beith)

Austin and MLR had agreed that Austin would either pay its annual capital call or provide a signed term sheet with the prospective buyer by mid-May, which the latter had also agreed to. But on the day of the deadline, the prospective buyer backed out. According to the legal filing, the buyer “withdrew because of the unlawful interference by other MLR owners and/or the MLR officers who… suggested he remove himself from the negotiations to get [Austin] at a major discount…. MLR advised the prospective buyer that if [Austin] did not meet the payment, [it] would go into default, and the MLR would take ownership rights… and sell to the buyer at a discounted sale price.”

Austin and L.A. allege that Killebrew, MLR and “the other MLR teams” have “engaged in a concerted and underhanded campaign of harassment, abuse of process and interference to oust two of the top MLR teams from the 2022 Rugby playoffs and the championship game, and to terminate the teams’ MLR license rights in order to sell the licenses to third parties.”

Several MLR owners contacted for comment about the Austin/LA disqualification did not respond; one said he could not comment. Austin and L.A. did not respond; neither did MLR or Killebrew, but the commissioner told The Guardian: “I can’t say anything on the record, for obvious reasons. One day when we get to tell the story, it’ll be a good one. But right now, we can’t really say much… I hate that, by the way, because fans deserve more. They deserve clarity and they need to know if they’re going to follow this league… We’ve been monitoring social media and everything and there were a couple of grumblers but for the most part, people kind of just moved on and now here we are in the finals with two other teams.”

Gilchrist, an Australian investor who co-founded the Zippy Shell self-storage company and is the mastermind behind the successful F45 fitness center franchise, is known throughout the league and among fans for his passion but also his ego, which on occasion has led to what critics see as poor decisions. The Gilgroni and the Giltini are both alcoholic drinks named after him, and L.A. plays its matches at the 80,000-seat L.A. Coliseum — but in front of only a few thousand fans. So some of the recent antics may come as no surprise. But the allegations made in court are another matter.

Gilchrist has also challenged MLR to not only prove the salary cap allegation but to investigate every team in the league for salary rule-breaking. In his court statement, he stated that he thinks there are violators. “The Board consists of MLR team owners all of which are competitors of [Austin],” he declared, adding that they all “have an interest in the outcome of the playoffs. Thus, it is to their benefit if [Austin] is disqualified.”

Gilchrist lamented the fact that his players would “forever lose out an on [sic] opportunity they worked very hard for, and they would face many months without any competitive play.”

MLR, Killebrew and its “members” tried to “destroy” Austin and L.A., the lawsuit claims. The disqualified teams are seeking $1 million in damages in court. Tomorrow, on the field, Seattle and Rugby New York will seek a championship title.

(Next Friday: “About This Column.” Please email tips/comments/suggestions/criticisms to mbeithpublic@gmail.com)

A rugby fan watches the LA Giltinis play against the Austin Gilgronis at the L.A. Coliseum on July 10, 2021. (Credit: Malcolm Beith)