BRITAIN’S first champion of ITV’s show Gladiators has urged others to join a union after he and his wife were left “completely unsupported” in a fight to get paid at a local sports club.

Weininger Irwin, 60, and Janice Francis-Irwin today spoke to the Morning Star after an employment tribunal ruled they were not paid the minimum wage while working as managers for Ilford Sports Club in east London.

The parents-of-four said they were not paid £8,000 in wages and spent £4,000 on a solicitor to fight the case.

Their claims for unfair dismissal and unpaid wages were upheld but they were left disappointed after judges said that redundancy, not their whistleblowing claims of improper use of funds in the club, were the primary reason for their dismissal in August last year.

Today Janice said Weininger had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, now in remission, when they were made redundant, adding they would “absolutely” urge others in their position to join a union.

“We felt completely unsupported. We just didn’t know where to turn,” she said.

“Had we not been in this situation with Weininger’s health, our minds may have been clearer … but I’ve got to say no-one can understand the stress we were under.”

She added: “We didn’t even know we could claim. 

“At that point we felt we were servants to the community and … we felt would be letting down a lot of people.”

The tribunal also ruled that their claims for being paid less than the national minimum wage would have been upheld if they had brought it in time.

The couple added they did not understand how their upcoming remedy hearing to determine compensation would work.