Reflections on the National and Local Season
That was the season that was! Yes, it certainly has been an eventful if not exactly an illuminating one for the 15 a side code at both national and local level - a season blighted by the poor showing of the England XV and troubled by the recent "bust up" between the major clubs and the Rugby Football Union. How any governing body with more players on hand, more financial resources, and far greater facilities than any other Home Union can fail at the highest levels of international rugby surprises me. Never mind the supposed lack of quality players or the absence of inventive and ambitious coaches, the only explanation for the paucity of the England team's honours this season is, quite simply, incompetence at Twickenham.
And what of the fiasco which surrounds the staging of next season's Heineken Cup and the threatened boycott of the competition by the leading French and English clubs? I well recall, just weeks before the decision to make rugby union an open game, BBC Radio's Ian Robertson insisting that the code's leading players merely wanted financial recompense for all the hours which they were giving to their rugby. Some recompense! Never mind the niceties of the arguments presented by both sides, money and more money is at the heart of the Heineken conflict and the major clubs are determined to screw the RFU for bigger handfuls if they can. Meanwhile if the rich clubs achieve their aims the poorer brethren in Wales and Scotland suffer the consequences of the greed. And, possibly, there is less money available for the many excellent schemes, grants, and funding currently available to keep the grassroots clubs alive.
At local level here in the North West those in charge still pay little heed to cries from cash strapped clubs to raise the number of clubs operating in a league from twelve to fourteen. Eleven home fixtures in a 32 weeks season is crazy. How a club can make the best use of its club house and keep its head afloat financially off 11 home fixtures per season is a feat for the most inventive of club managements. "But what of the cup competitions?" I hear you say. What competitions if a junior club is knocked out of the tournaments in the opening rounds and finds itself with half a dozen blank Saturdays on its fixture list? And as far as the Lancashire County Cup is concerned who knows when you play, who you play, or where you play such is the number of postponements and matches conceded?
That was the season that was! But when it finishes you find yourself with a dry taste in the mouth, time on your hands, and an empty feeling in your stomach at weekends. Roll on season 2007/08 when we can all have another moan for a further twelve months.
Ray French
And what of the fiasco which surrounds the staging of next season's Heineken Cup and the threatened boycott of the competition by the leading French and English clubs? I well recall, just weeks before the decision to make rugby union an open game, BBC Radio's Ian Robertson insisting that the code's leading players merely wanted financial recompense for all the hours which they were giving to their rugby. Some recompense! Never mind the niceties of the arguments presented by both sides, money and more money is at the heart of the Heineken conflict and the major clubs are determined to screw the RFU for bigger handfuls if they can. Meanwhile if the rich clubs achieve their aims the poorer brethren in Wales and Scotland suffer the consequences of the greed. And, possibly, there is less money available for the many excellent schemes, grants, and funding currently available to keep the grassroots clubs alive.
At local level here in the North West those in charge still pay little heed to cries from cash strapped clubs to raise the number of clubs operating in a league from twelve to fourteen. Eleven home fixtures in a 32 weeks season is crazy. How a club can make the best use of its club house and keep its head afloat financially off 11 home fixtures per season is a feat for the most inventive of club managements. "But what of the cup competitions?" I hear you say. What competitions if a junior club is knocked out of the tournaments in the opening rounds and finds itself with half a dozen blank Saturdays on its fixture list? And as far as the Lancashire County Cup is concerned who knows when you play, who you play, or where you play such is the number of postponements and matches conceded?
That was the season that was! But when it finishes you find yourself with a dry taste in the mouth, time on your hands, and an empty feeling in your stomach at weekends. Roll on season 2007/08 when we can all have another moan for a further twelve months.
Ray French