Revolutionary Plans: Will They Ever Learn?
So, according to leaked documents from Twickenham, the RFU are to introduce revolutionary plans in 2009 to change the map of English club rugby union at the premier league level. Twelve Guinness Premiership clubs are, supposedly, to be replaced by ten Super clubs, including teams to be based in Coventry, Plymouth, Leeds,and Manchester, while famous institutions Leicester, Gloucester, Northampton, Harlequins, and others could be given the chop unless mergers take place. The new competition, from which there would be no promotion or relegation, would be jointly owned by the RFU itself and the ten competing clubs. The chosen clubs could expect to receive at least £2 million per year via the RFU,TV rights, and central sponsorship deals. A reality? Well,if such a scheme is, as planned, up and running by 2009 I promise to run around our Moss Lane pitch in a Hula skirt!
Does the RFU never learn any lessons from the RFL? When Twickenham plunged into the murky world of professionalism and declared a completely open game as far as cash rewards for players were concerned they ignored the advice offered from the Rugby Football League who had had over a century of experience with professionalism. And the 15 a side code has paid dearly, especially at the lower levels of the game, for that refusal. Does the RFU not recollect the howls of anguish when the "powers that be" at BSkyB and Super League RL suggested a similar scheme for rugby league's elite division? Do they not recall the outcries, court actions, and questions in Parliament raised when the RFL dared to suggest that famous, traditional clubs like Featherstone, Castleford, and Wakefield Trinity merge into one club and that, across the Pennines, traditional rivals Warrington and Widnes, should link up as one Cheshire club? Fans in England are loyal, parochial, and tribal to their clubs and always will be so.
Talk too from the RFU of setting up major rugby union clubs in new territory and moving the limelight away from clubs and traditional areas which have fostered the code for well over a century. Again do they never look at Rugby League's aborted attempts to place major clubs in London, the Midlands, and Wales, by merely airlifting in a collection of ageing stars and without recourse to grassroots development? The roaring success and huge increase at amateur and professional levels in the 13 a side code in London and Wales today, and the impact now being made by the Harlequins RL, the London Skolars, and the Celtic Crusaders in Bridgend stems from the grassroots development engineered by both volunteers and Development Officers over a considerable number of years.
If the RFU want to change the map of English rugby union they could take a look at why lesser clubs have to play in Leagues which include just 12 clubs and be expected to keep themselves financially afloat on 11 Home matches per season. And why almost half of the clubs could be promoted or relegated from the league in any one season! They should look at why leagues are not regionalised even more and why relatively junior clubs are forced to allocate £500 to £700 pounds for coach travel on a lengthy away trip.
Whether, a reality, fancy, or even just "a shot across the bows" to bring some of the Guinness Premiership clubs in line with current RFU thinking, it is time Twickenham looked at the lower leagues if there is any tinkering to be done. As for ordering my Hula skirt from the Fancy Dress shop, I'll leave it until the last minute.
Ray French
Does the RFU never learn any lessons from the RFL? When Twickenham plunged into the murky world of professionalism and declared a completely open game as far as cash rewards for players were concerned they ignored the advice offered from the Rugby Football League who had had over a century of experience with professionalism. And the 15 a side code has paid dearly, especially at the lower levels of the game, for that refusal. Does the RFU not recollect the howls of anguish when the "powers that be" at BSkyB and Super League RL suggested a similar scheme for rugby league's elite division? Do they not recall the outcries, court actions, and questions in Parliament raised when the RFL dared to suggest that famous, traditional clubs like Featherstone, Castleford, and Wakefield Trinity merge into one club and that, across the Pennines, traditional rivals Warrington and Widnes, should link up as one Cheshire club? Fans in England are loyal, parochial, and tribal to their clubs and always will be so.
Talk too from the RFU of setting up major rugby union clubs in new territory and moving the limelight away from clubs and traditional areas which have fostered the code for well over a century. Again do they never look at Rugby League's aborted attempts to place major clubs in London, the Midlands, and Wales, by merely airlifting in a collection of ageing stars and without recourse to grassroots development? The roaring success and huge increase at amateur and professional levels in the 13 a side code in London and Wales today, and the impact now being made by the Harlequins RL, the London Skolars, and the Celtic Crusaders in Bridgend stems from the grassroots development engineered by both volunteers and Development Officers over a considerable number of years.
If the RFU want to change the map of English rugby union they could take a look at why lesser clubs have to play in Leagues which include just 12 clubs and be expected to keep themselves financially afloat on 11 Home matches per season. And why almost half of the clubs could be promoted or relegated from the league in any one season! They should look at why leagues are not regionalised even more and why relatively junior clubs are forced to allocate £500 to £700 pounds for coach travel on a lengthy away trip.
Whether, a reality, fancy, or even just "a shot across the bows" to bring some of the Guinness Premiership clubs in line with current RFU thinking, it is time Twickenham looked at the lower leagues if there is any tinkering to be done. As for ordering my Hula skirt from the Fancy Dress shop, I'll leave it until the last minute.
Ray French