No U-turn on Europe promises Premiership boss Mark McCafferty
The hardening of the Anglo-French alliance calling for a ‘fairer’ Europe comes 14 months after the two biggest players in the annual tournament gave the tournament organisers, ERC Ltd., notice that they will go their separate ways next year unless a new deal is agreed.
“We have had no proposals (from ERC Ltd) other than the status quo,” Mark McCafferty, chief executive of the English clubs’ umbrella organisation PRL, told The Rugby Paper.
“As it stands, there is no European competition from the end of the coming season because the accord has been terminated. It’s over. Finished. There is no basis for a competition. To put forward the status quo as an option is not realistic given that we and the French gave notice in June 2012.
“I’d like to be able to say we are making significant progress but the reality is that nothing has moved forward since June. It’s frustration that people take so long over these things. We would have been prepared to work through the summer on it.
“For all of us, the preference is to find a European solution and agree a new format but it’s got to be on the basis of meritocracy with no free passes into it.”
The Anglo-French plan for a new Europe is based on a uniform top-six qualification zone across all three major Leagues. Unlike the Aviva Premiership and the French Top14, the Celtic and Italian teams go through virtually en masse irrespective of their position in the table.
The danger in enforcing a rigid top-six qualification on the RaboDirect Pro12 is that it could shrink the six competing nations to four. So, the English and French have agreed that the six Pro12 qualifiers must include the highest-placed Scottish and Italian teams even if they finish outside the top six.
The current European tournaments generate around £44m per season. Twenty four per cent goes to the English and French (£10.56m each), the remaining 52 per cent to the RaboDirect (£22.88m) whose twelve clubs are drawn from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.
PRL’s deal with BT Sport, worth £152m over four years, gives them the clout to increase European Cup revenue from £44m to “north of £70m”.
The bigger cake would ensure the Pro12 clubs earn around £24m as their one-third share.
McCafferty added: “We have proposals on the table for the competition format, even distribution of money and a balanced governance between Unions and clubs.
“Our clubs are very strong on this and, if anything, the French clubs feel even stronger. They are getting very little money out of the competition and many of them are financially ambitious.
“We have gone through a series of unsuccessful meetings over the last nine months. As the reality of the situation dawns, maybe that will encourage them to find an alternative position.
“Am I pessimistic? That depends on what happens in September.”
McCafferty spoke of on-going talks with South African Super XV teams and NFL American football teams.
“We have to start putting some contingency plans in place,” he said. “The South Africans have been talking to us for the last few months.
“But the preference remains to find a European solution.”
PETER JACKSON
