We hear European Rugby Cup Limited (ERCL), the Irish company that operated the Heineken Cup until the competition’s demise in 2014, is scheduled to formally enter liquidation later this month.

Responsibility for running the top-tier club competition in European rugby has since switched to a Swiss company, European Professional Club Rugby. ERCL agreed to assist this company for a one-year handover period. Its contract ended on June 30th.

The company had a mostly Irish management team and a staff of 20, before it was wound down. It is worth remembering that, sporting considerations aside, serious cash was generated by ERCL since is was established in the mid 1990s.

Its aggregate revenues totalled more than €700 million, with an income of €52 million in 2014. The wind down of the company is expected to cost €3.8 million, according to ERCL’s latest set of accounts.

When the Heineken Cup started, total attendances at competition matches were less than 100,000. By the end, they had reached 1.2 million. Over the last couple of years, €44 million annually was pumped back into the rugby associations of the European nations that own ERCL.

As one observer noted in an email to us: “The passing of what was quite a successful Irish-based company deserves to be marked from a business perspective.”

We agree.