Jeff Probyn: Ring-fencing would damage potential World Cup legacy

The almost universal acceptance by the media that ring-fencing the Premiership will actually take place, even if it’s just for a short period, seems at odds with what the rest of the game wants or requires. The talk of a possible moratorium on promotion and relegation only seemed to draw criticism from a number of Championship clubs because of the possible length of time – five years – that it was to be in place, rather than an outright condemnation of the concept itself.
As London Welsh have shown, promotion is not an issue but survival is; and survival will not get easier for any promoted club after a moratorium, however long. For this would enable the newly cashed-up Premiership to improve facilities and playing squads in isolation from the rest of the game.
Any such move would ensure that it would be almost impossible for a promoted team to achieve parity unless they had ultra-rich backers willing to take a punt over a number of years and procure a team from overseas.
The promoted team would have to buy their team from overseas as they would not have access to quality young English players because of the Premiership control of the academies, and with it all potential young professional players, enabling the Premiership clubs to contract the best while discarding the rest.
Even if the Premiership were to make a cast iron guarantee that they would bring in equal funding levels for all teams at the end of any moratorium, it would still not breach the advantage that isolation could bestow.
There is also the possibility that those currently prepared to back ambitious clubs in lower leagues may withdraw funding if they see ring-fencing as a ‘glass ceiling’ that can’t be breached, thereby leaving those clubs and the players in serious financial difficulty.
For those Premiership owners who say it will be good for the clubs below as well because it will give them time to build, I have to ask what they would do if the situation was reversed?
Let’s imagine a scenario where, for an example, it was discovered that Saracens had been in serious breach of the salary cap by paying players through a shell company based in Liechtenstein facilitated by the club’s South African partners, and, as a result, suffered a points penalty that saw them relegated instead of London Welsh.
To be then stuck in the Championship for five years with no hope of promotion even if they won every game by 100 points, how long would Nigel Wray continue his generous support of the club? Also, were he and his partners to leave, the club would be forced into bankruptcy and be unable to fund players’ wages.
If the Premiership is ring-fenced, there would be little reason during the period of the moratorium for the RFU to continue funding the Championship which, in a roundabout way, could help the RFU fund any increases demanded by the Premiership for player release in any new ‘Heads of Agreement’.
Currently, as the second tier of the professional game, the Championship provides a ‘home’ for all those players who leave academies without a Premiership contract and those that still need a time to develop into Premiership players (dual contract players).
The funding provided by the RFU and ambitious owners has allowed a number of Championship clubs to operate on a full-time professional basis with many, if not all the other clubs, semi-professional.
It would probably become unviable for Championship clubs to continue funding full-time players should ring-fencing go ahead and that could result in a lowering of playing standards, which in turn would make dual contracts unattractive, reducing the number of professional contracts available.
With a ring-fenced Premiership, the Championship would have no meaningful reason to remain professional as it would effectively become the new pinnacle of the leagues which, without the carrot of Premiership promotion, would probably become amateur.
The potential knock-on effect as the repercussions of a ring-fenced Premiership rippled down the leagues could easily undermine any legacy planned from the World Cup should club sponsors ‘refocus’ solely on the Premiership.
Would TV still continue to show some of the Championship matches if there was no chance of a team making the Premiership?
Since the dawn of professionalism almost 20 years ago, those at the top of the English leagues have called for ring-fencing. Fortunately, their selfish call to preserve themselves at the cost of others has been ignored and the integrity of the whole league has survived and prospered.
Just because the calls have got louder as the revenues have increased, is not a reason to sacrifice the whole league structure for the greed of the few at the top.
n There is a strange irony that the first Champions Cup final is being staged at Twickenham, the home of English rugby, on May, without an English team playing.
Despite their best efforts, our top Premiership teams were swept aside by the two teams with the biggest budgets for players in France.
The real irony is that when Toulon and Clermont go head-to-head there may well be more English players on the pitch than if a Premiership team had qualified!