By Duncan Wood
December 17 2002

Bristol have certainly hit the headlines in the past 7 days. It is a worrying time for all connected with the club with the Stransky story, merger rumours and various quotes from Malcolm Pearce appearing in the press.

It's been a worrying few days for supporters of the Bristol Shoguns as the club has made more headlines for its off the pitch affairs than it has for the team performances.

The first blow came when Joel Stransky won his claim against Bristol for breach of contract of employment for a coaching post.

There was no paperwork involved and it basically came down to "your word against my word". Apparently Stranksy and Bob Dwyer came across as more credible in court than Bob Dwyer which seemed to sway the judge.

Malcolm Pearce was rocked by the decision which means that Bristol have to pay Stransky £151,025 plus costs. Malcolm is said to be considering his options:

“I am going to chase the perpetrators. I will not let this rest. I am not prepared to pay Stransky. The case is far from finished"

Over the weekend, rumours of a potential merger with Newport emerged.

Then the weekend win over Swansea was then overshadowed by The Times running a piece in which they quoted Malcolm as saying:

"It has got to the stage where I can no longer endanger my livelihood, that of my family or my other business interests...It puts in jeopardy your whole life, and your family and your wellbeing."

This was quickly followed up on the official club website, www.bristolshoguns.co.uk, with a press release in which Malcolm denied that he was walking away but made an obvious appeal to others to help shoulder the financial burden.

"We need to work hand in hand with businesses and we are currently looking at all of the options. But I must emphasis that I am not walking away."

It all serves to highlight the bizarre situation that English Rugby finds itself in. The national team is currently ranked number one in the world and recently achieved a notable hat trick of Southern Hemisphere scalps with the wins over Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

However, the national team is supplied with players from the English club structure and the majority of the clubs are funded largely due to the generosity and commitment of key individuals such as Malcolm Pearce.

Bristol are far from unique in this respect. When you think of Saracens, you think of Nigel Wray. When you think of Bath, you think of Andrew Brownsword. When you think of Richmond, you think of Ashley Levett - now that's a sobering thought.

There are very few English clubs who can stand on their own two feet financially. I'm no expert but Leicester and Northampton come to mind immediately thanks to their massive fan base.

You can't blame Malcolm for being hacked off. You can't blame him for asking for some help in balancing the books.

He's been bankrolling the whole setup for 5 years now, 5 years in which nobody else has stepped forward and I think that people have started to take it for granted that he'd be around for ever. Well, this week has been a wake up call.

I really do hope that this is not the beginning of the end. I honestly don't think that it is, Malcolm wouldn't let it come to that. He has always stated that he wouldn't walk away until the club could stand on its own two feet or someone else stepped forward.

In the meantime, he deserves our appreciation and thanks and turning out in force against Rotherham and Sale would be a small token of our esteem.