JEFF PROBYN
A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME
THE start of the Premiership season last week threw up, as usual, very few surprises. Bath reaped revenge against Northampton for daring to beat them in last season’s play-off final, while there was another loss for Newcastle to add to their winless run.
Of course, Newcastle coach Steve Diamond has again promised that they will improve and will not be winless at the end of the season again. But the famous saying, “well he would say that, wouldn’t he” springs to mind. Steve is a good coach but he has his work cut out to make the necessary changes to see Falcons climb the table.
All in all, I feel we are all waiting for something great to happen in the game and are hoping that the RFU/ Premiership deal is going to deliver the winning teams promised.
Personally I’m a bit apprehensive as it is possible that the clubs may well find they have bitten off more than they can chew. With the hybrid players taking time out of the game when told to by England head coach Steve Borthwick it could mean that clubs will have to employ bigger squads.
Then there is the still unknown deal for the Championship clubs who are still waiting to hear what they will have for this season from the RFU pot and how that could affect them.
There has been comparisons made between how the club game works in France and what is happening in England. In France, the Top 14 is an open league with no barriers to anyone joining if they win promotion from the ProD2. In England, there is still no clear pathway to the Premiership with the ring fence just replaced by a two-match play-off between the team at the bottom of the Premiership and the winner of the Championship, who must also pass a minimum standard criteria to gain promotion.
The Top 14 earns more money from its TV deal and has bigger weekly attendances than the Premiership. The ProD2 has its own TV deal and also has a much bigger weekly attendance than our Championship.
There are also strict limits in France on the number of non-French qualified players in all club games. In England there seems to be no minimum standard on the number of English qualified players in match day squads with many clubs fielding a number of ineligible players. There is even a belief that the new PGP could end up attracting more foreign players to the Premiership to fill the gaps when hybrid players are rested.
I am currently in a small winemakers village called Oupia in the south of France, close to the nearby town Olonzac, who are a well-supported rugby team. They are in the lower leagues but still attract everyone in the village each week, plus those who live in Olonzac, to watch their games.
In the south of France many towns and villages offer unquestioning support for their local teams and have done so for decades going back to the amateur days. The local community fund the stadiums and clubs building a following that many lower league teams in England can only dream of.
Unfortunately we no longer seem to have that family feel in the club games in England, which doesn’t help the game locally.
“The RFU must look at what is needed for the grassroots game to flourish”
England currently concentrating only on the Premiership is not good for the game and will see a continual fall in the number of participants. This could create a growing number of financial issues for all the game with more grassroots clubs facing the possibility of closure.
The game is not just about our professional leagues. In fact, they represent just a small minority of players but they are taking the focus away from the game as a whole and its promise of being a fairer game for all.
The professional game must start to put its own house in order and be realistic in what the game can and can’t afford. The Premiership should drop its minimum standards requirement and allow promoted teams immediate access to equal levels of funding. This would encourage any clubs who get promoted to increase seating capacity as they become more established.
Asking for that sort of investment before a promoted club becomes established is risking a financial crisis, particularly if they are relegated the following season. The RFU must start to realise the game is not just about the Premiership and look again at what is needed by the grassroots game to enable it to flourish.
After all, the professional game is only a small percentage of the game attracting only a small percentage of players and fans. What has to be remembered is that it is the grassroots players and fans that mainly fill Twickenham.
