Jeff Probyn: Academy rejects must have a Championship bolthole

As usual, the letters to The Rugby Paper bring up some interesting points that would otherwise be missed and Jeff Gage has hit on one such point. Gage asked how England rugby had managed to miss some of the outstanding young players from these shores, including Matt Symons and Piers Francis who have found fame overseas.
The answer, I am sorry to say, is very simple: as ‘late developers’ they have no route into the professional game once they have been rejected by the Premiership and so go abroad to follow their dream of professional rugby.
The current system provides academy places only for those players that reach schoolboy county level, which in turn can be dependent on the school they attend. Even if a player makes the academy, the chances of getting a contract at the end are almost nil, as only a small percentage of those picked will be offered contracts. For some there will be a second chance with a dual contract at a Championship club; for the rest, it’s a case of either go abroad or try to find a Championship club that will give them a contract.
This is one of the few aspects of the professional game that has not really changed much from the amateur days when the top clubs used to get most of their players from the school county system. In the professional game the cuts are far more brutal and the numbers who make it are fewer, simply because there are fewer top clubs.
I must admit to a certain amount of personal disappointment as the original architect of the England Counties XV because when I suggested the concept it was designed as a way that late developers could make it through to senior international.
The idea was that there was no ‘glass ceilings’. If a player made selection to play for one England side and was good enough, he could be selected in the senior England squad but that has been usurped by the ‘no players from outside the Premiership’ rule.
Over previous generations there have been a number of players, including Wade Dooley, Micky Skinner, Dewi Morris, Brian Moore and myself, who made the leap from the grassroots game into the England team. In fact it was the route chosen by most outside of the Oxbridge cabal.
With the restrictions put on the England head coach by the Premiership, the chances of finding such talented late developers ever again is unlikely, if not impossible!
This ties in nicely with the question posed by Colin Boag, “What is the viability and use of the Championship, as the increase in Premiership funding makes it even more unlikely that any club promoted will survive.”
Colin is right when he says that there are a number of clubs competing in the Championship who lack the ambition and finances to make it to the Premiership, but this is not the real purpose of the Championship.
The Championship is there to help ensure there are enough places for more than just a handful of English players to play professional rugby and help develop young players for the Premiership and England.
If the Championship was to return to amateur status, there could be no dual contracts and the young players currently ‘on loan’ to Championship clubs would be either playing meaningless matches against other academy players or sitting on the bench gaining no game time experience.
Every young player who joins an academy is seeking a professional career but the vast majority will be rejected by the Premiership. If a second professional league were not in place there would be nowhere for a number of players to go.
Without the opportunity the Championship offers, we would have a greater number of disillusioned young players leaving the sport than there already are.
It does seem ridiculous to me that the French have two leagues that finance themselves and yet our Premiership are so reliant on RFU funding they take away the option of a sustainably funded second league.
Colin was right in saying it is not in the interests of the Premiership to help make any lower league stronger as it could compromise their position at the top of the tree and as the only league from where England players can be selected.
Another thing I agree with Colin is the exclusion of the Exile teams, as much as I enjoyed playing against them. They are something of an anathema in the professional era.
In the amateur days, the Exiles were vital for Celtic players working in London to keep a sense of national identity, playing together as a team, striving for selection in their home country’s national team. It has to be asked, what other country would help fund clubs dedicated to developing players for their rivals while reducing the opportunities for their own clubs?
In the professional era, the Pro 12 is the natural home for the Exile teams with their home countries providing the necessary financial help for travel etc.
Where Colin is wrong is the Championship is not the RFU’s baby, the whole game, including the Premiership, is – and it’s the responsibility of the RFU to ensure the game survives and flourishes at all levels.