Jeff Probyn: Ritchie review could finally grasp that contract nettle

The end of a spectacular Olympics where our athletes won 65 medals including 29 gold (and we’ve still got the Paralympics to go), has focused the minds of  most people in our sport on the question of how to reproduce that success and grab as many as possible of the newly enthused sports spectators that it has produced.
Trying to identify those responsible for the UK success in the various sports has become harder because of the usual jumping on the bandwagon by all close enough to try and reap a little reflected glory.
By identifying Peter Keen (the former elite performance director of UK Sports) to work alongside Ian McGeechan in reviewing how the RFU deliver elite rugby, Ian Ritchie, the chief executive of the RFU, has managed a major coup for English rugby.
As the man directly responsible for the overall elite performance of all UK sports competing in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, Keen oversaw the changes to the systems in how elite athletes were prepared for competition with amazing results.
With a background in cycling – our most successful gold medal winning sport that, like rugby, requires stamina and explosive power – makes him an ideal candidate to partner Ian McGeechan, one of our most successful coaches at the elite level and with a wealth of knowledge of rugby structures.
That review should have far-reaching consequences for many areas of rugby in England and could redefine how players are prepared for international rugby.
There could be a recommendation to take the development of young players out of the hands of the clubs and move to sports colleges as a first step in moving to central contracts – something that many see as essential if player management is to become a true possibility for the Union.
That idea already has a proven track record with the England Sevens squad who are contracted to the Union and are consistently the most successful of the Northern Hemisphere countries in the world Sevens series.
Once contracts have been signed between the players and the clubs, it becomes virtually impossible for the needs of the clubs, or the England team, to be truly satisfied and, given that all England’s current U18’s squad are already signed to various clubs, it is an uphill and expensive battle for the Union to gain the release that the England team management really want and need.
The review will inevitably focus on the elite performance department of the Union and could make what has been an unpalatable decision for all England managers since the department’s creation in 2001 – to place control of the England EPS and the England team management under the elite performance director.
As UK elite performance director (the only elite performance director allowed to work with the athletes in the build-up to the Olympics to avoid duplication and funding cuts), Keen’s control of his system, that included all the performance directors from all the Olympic disciplines, was instrumental to the improvement in Team GB‘s Olympic dream and ultimate successes, which would suggest that he should be in favour of a more central control.
If that was a recommendation of the review, it would make central contracts a must for the RFU as they prepare for 2015 but could also bring a major conflict with the Premiership clubs who currently own the players.
It may be that by having two independent heavyweights reviewing and reporting directly to him, Richie hopes to have a strong enough foundation to force through a number of changes that some will fight tooth and nail to avoid.
In seeking this review before any changes have been made, Ritchie has not left himself or the Union open to accusations that the Union have sought to attempt to regain power from the clubs through the back door. Neither has he left himself open to the kind of unfounded allegations that were levelled against John Steele and which ultimately led to Steele’s replacement.
If McGeechan and Keen can complete their review within a reasonable time scale, it should be possible for the RFU to become a beneficiary of any government funding designed to build on the legacy from the Olympics.
Such government funding is the only way that an Olympic legacy can be sustained and that funding could help local community rugby clubs finance improvements in their infrastructure and provide trained support staff such as coaches.
That would increase the numbers of young and old that clubs could cater for and provide suitable venues for those who may want to take up the sport, while also preparing clubs for the expected surge in numbers following the 2015 RWC in England.
Ritchie, working with new chairman of the management board, Bill Beaumont, has an opportunity to change the face of English rugby, finally bringing the international game into the professional era and this review could be the catalyst.
If, by taking a long term view and putting in place a system that is designed to produce elite international rugby players, rather than the current academy system that produces professional rugby players that seem to cater for the clubs requirements rather that the country’s, we should all be able to look forward to 2015 and beyond.