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#Post#: 57--------------------------------------------------
Championship
DIR By: Duncang
Date: November 28, 2017, 8:19 am
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PlagentThrowback posted this on rolling Maul:
And in today's Times from Owen Slot:
Everyone I spoke to on this subject yesterday warned: let’s not
get ahead of ourselves here. However, on two points we can be
clear: 1) the idea to scrap promotion and relegation between the
Premiership and the Championship has not gone away, and 2) the
topic will be disinterred at the professional game board.
For the medium-term future, though, it would appear that
opposition to a ring-fencing of the Premiership is fading.
Indeed, the reasons that would fuel this argument look
increasingly weak.
Before the traditionalists start perspiring: ring-fencing is not
about to happen tomorrow. More to the point, if the fence does
go up, and I suspect it is probably more a case of when, it will
not be hermetically sealed. There will be doors that open,
occasionally, in and out.
Yes, doing an Exeter is the romantic dream, the reality is that
no one is in a position to do an Exeter
As a theory, now, it makes sense. In its present form, the
Greene King IPA Championship does not work. The league as a
competition is a foregone conclusion. Bristol have a player
salary budget of about £5 million which is five times almost all
of the rest. The salary of Stephen Luatua, Bristol’s star
back-row forward, is, on its own, roughly twice as much as
Richmond spend on their entire squad.
The imbalance is preposterous. Not surprisingly, then, Bristol
are unbeaten; the only question is when they are officially
uncatchable. Really, they were uncatchable from the start.
There are no play-offs, now. So, even if we do accept that first
place is gone, there is no end-of-season drama, no big-game
finale. Second place in the Championship wins £60,000. This is a
season about a small cheque.
The real drama is at the other end. The real game is fear of
relegation and, since Rotherham look destined for the drop, just
wait a few weeks until other clubs are more confident of their
survival because, at that point, they will start cutting
contracts and putting out of work the players they could never
afford in the first place.
No, the finance doesn’t work there either. Bedford and Richmond
aside, everyone operates at a loss.
So the Championship doesn’t work. At this point, of course, we
have to trawl through the Exeter precedent. If you ring-fence
the Premiership, then you remove the possibility of rising from
the depths, of “doing an Exeter”. Yes, doing an Exeter is the
romantic dream, the reality is that no one is in a position to
do an Exeter. No one is close.
London Welsh went up and committed suicide in the process. The
only thing that kept Bedford alive in 2000 was coming down. Of
the 12 Championship clubs, Bristol want to go up and will,
Yorkshire Carnegie want to in theory but are not even close; if
any of the other ten said they wanted a taste of the
Premiership, they would be either lying or mad.
It was different in Exeter’s day anyway. When they were
promoted, the Premiership salary cap was £4 million. That is a
considerable jump from the average £1 million spend of most
Championship clubs; now that the Premiership cap, with marquee
players and other exemptions, can stretch to £8.5 million, it is
a leap too far. That is why the only clubs that go up are the
ones that have just come down.
Yorkshire Carnegie, supposedly the next in line, are going
nowhere fast. Quite the opposite, they have actually reduced
their total salary bill this year. Why spend money on players
when you’ll never catch Bristol? That’s why they are sixth in
the Championship.
Their plan is to complete two years of refurbishment on their
stadium. Then they will redirect their funds into the playing
staff. An optimistic estimation is that they may have a squad
approaching Premiership survival standards in four years’ time.
So let’s open the door in the fence in four years’ time. Once
every four or five years, have a look and if there is another
Exeter, organise a play-off system. It’s not hard, it’s just
sensible.
How would it affect the Premiership? Yes, it would remove the
drama of the relegation battle, but in three of the past four
years, that drama has barely existed.
Of the 12 Championship clubs, Bristol want to go up and will,
Yorkshire Carnegie want to in theory but are not even close
In exchange, security at the foot of the Premiership would allow
those clubs to take some risks with their up-and-coming players.
As it is, their priority is survival, so they prioritise
survival rugby and they recruit tried-and-tested old hands from
abroad in order to play it.
The problem in all this is that there are 13 clubs of
near-enough Premiership quality and room for 12 of them. Two
years ago, the Premiership considered and rejected expanding to
14 (the 13 plus Yorkshire Carnegie). Now the question is back on
the table: do they go to 13 (which means two more weekends and
everyone getting one weekend off each half of the season)? Or
does it come down to the survival of the fittest?
Bristol are going up and will stay. London Irish and Worcester
Warriors would be at risk. It just so happens that both clubs
are up for sale.
All of this is part of a bigger conversation that the PGB will
be having tomorrow. The agenda is the new structured season.
Ring-fencing in itself is not an item on the agenda, but it is
very much part of the new structured season discussion.
For the fence to be erected it would require approval from the
PGB, then council and finally rubber stamping from the RFU
board. It is some way off, but it is back on the table and it
has a growing support.
Thought provoking!
#Post#: 58--------------------------------------------------
Re: Championship
DIR By: Tony Clabby
Date: November 29, 2017, 3:26 am
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Difficult to argue with any of that summary
#Post#: 59--------------------------------------------------
Re: Championship
DIR By: supporter
Date: November 29, 2017, 5:13 am
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Who’s going to invest millions into a championship where there’s
no promotion
#Post#: 60--------------------------------------------------
Re: Championship
DIR By: Rugbyman
Date: November 29, 2017, 2:44 pm
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Surely the Championship is not all about promotion I think
Bedford are a fantastic example of this.. Friday night rugby
under "FLOOD LIGHTS" they totally imbrace the local community
and have regular crowds of 2K plus.
Richmond who have the smallest budget in the championship are
another great example.. Train on a Tuesday and Thursday night
and maintain amateur traditional values and lets not forget they
have won 5 games to date..
These 2 clubs are great examples of a championship club
performing well within their needs and have no aspirations of
promotion!
#Post#: 61--------------------------------------------------
Re: Championship
DIR By: Chris.Garbutt
Date: November 29, 2017, 4:21 pm
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Some good points made there!
We all know the very real dangers of promotion it nearly killed
us and it put London Welsh out of business. I love the idea of
promotion but it also makes sense to only promote a team if they
can prove they have the infrastructure over a number of years,
i.e Exeter, think of how long they built for. They were top 4
when we last got promoted and stuck around that area for many
years, built a solid team, ground with facilities to create
extra avenues of income. Who else has that bar Bristol ? Maybe
Donny at a push though they would need another stand. Difficult
one.
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