AAt first glance, there are growing reasons for optimism in English rugby. An exciting and entertaining Grand Final will be played at Twickenham on Saturday, with both teams boasting quality homegrown players. The national team are showing real energy and they will hope to show their quality when they take on the All Blacks next month. Both sides also insist relations between rugby league and Premier League clubs are not as tense as they have been for years.
But if you dig a little deeper, the reality is less glamorous. Only 10 of the aforementioned Premier League clubs still exist, and fewer and fewer are in poor financial shape. Adult male participation at the club level continues to decline. More and more parents are wondering whether there are less fraught school sports for little Jonny or Mary. And, as the latest calls for help from the Championship this week suggest, there could soon be a gaping void where the dynamic and ambitious second-tier clubs should be.
This tends to be a less sexy topic than discussing the potential impact of Northampton’s Finn Smith or Bath’s Ollie Lawrence on the weekend. But both England squad members are, in their way, prime examples of the circuitous path many professional players must take. When Worcester folded in 2022, both men were left in dire straits. Perhaps they would have finished top of the table anyway, but the point is: there’s more to developing good young English players than just a 10-team Premier League.
The long-running debate has reached a critical stage. In the latest news, Championship clubs have made it abundantly clear that they can no longer accept the relative crumbs on offer from the top flight under the terms of the proposed new Professional Game Partnership (PGP). They bluntly warned that more clubs could go bankrupt, which “would also further isolate the Premier League to the detriment of the game in England.” They spoke of the RFU’s “arbitrary decision” leaving Championship clubs in a “precarious position”, He also believes that proposals for a play-off tie between the bottom and champions of the Premier League are inherently unfeasible due to ongoing funding imbalances.
This last point gets to the heart of the matter. With the Newcastle Falcons winless and bottom of the table, there is less danger for TV bosses to love. It is understood that the Premier League finally had to accept the latest two-year TV broadcast contract with TNT Sports, which was reduced by 26 million pounds per year. One of the reasons was that promotion and relegation would not be considered. Sources said the 10 Premier League clubs could end up receiving around £1.9m a year each once CVC Capital Partners’ 27% commercial pie is divided. Compared to France’s soaring figures, the value of France’s top 14 broadcast deals is expected to grow by 13.3%.
It reflects the story of two very different philosophies. In France, the big game this weekend is the ProD2 playoff final in Toulouse, against Vannes and Grenoble. If Vannes wins, it will be the first time a club from France’s northwest region has finished in the top 14.
In the UK the situation is very different. Take Cornwall Pirates, for example, who finished second in the English Championship this season. Their heroic long-term supporter Sir Dicky Evans’ health declined and in 2022 a “sunset plan” was announced with notice that funding would cease in 2025. However, as it stands now, employees’ salaries are no longer guaranteed after January. This season only Doncaster Knights meet the minimum standards and facilities currently required for any team to reach the Premier League.
If these strict rules are retained and financial parity is not introduced for promoted clubs, it will be almost impossible for “outsiders” to join the team. Championship officials believe promotion and relegation are “an essential feature” of the game in this country and that the Premier League’s walls would increase the risk of losing interest in the game. “PGP is about to enter its next eight years and the game is changing rapidly both globally and nationally, so this is a critical time,” they wrote in a statement on Monday. “If changes are not made now, it will be too late. ”
In response, the RFU said it “would be disappointed if Championship clubs chose to withdraw from the process” ahead of a key RFU council meeting on Friday. But in the end, it comes down to priorities. Does it want ambitious clubs below the Premier League? The Championship said future RFU funding for the entire 12-team league would be £4 million, with the majority being “value in kind” aid. Every club can hardly buy the torso of Bath’s main midfielder Finn Russell. Is the RFU really saying that everything below the Premier League has nothing to do with the health of the game? Is the club’s path to the top flight no longer an option? Paying £33m a year to 10 “elite” clubs who may or may not be financially stable or competitive? Saturday’s final will be interesting, but not all is roses in the English rugby garden.
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