The war over Europe could be settled soon with all six nations reunited under the new Anglo-French banner, the Champions' Cup.
In the most significant move since the opening shots were fired 17 months ago, the Irish, Scottish and Welsh Unions have been to London for talks with the English clubs' umbrella organization, Premier Rugby Ltd. A peace deal is in the process of being hammered out with the English and French adamant that any solution has to be on the basis that the clubs, not the Unions, will run the new Europe. Negotiations were said last night to be “at a very delicate stage”.
Simply getting to the table represents a major shift in the stance of the Celtic Unions. Implacably opposed all along to relinquishing control of their tournament, they now realise that as from next season they will have no tournament to control.
Their belated action is aimed at preventing the Celtic game being engulfed by the catastrophic financial effects of a season without Europe. The development comes just 11 days before the October 31 deadline for their teams to join the Champions' Cup.
The driving forces behind the Anglo-French project say they are “on schedule” to make an announcement. They have sounded the death knell on ERC Ltd, the Union-led body based in Dublin which has run the European Cup since its inception in 1995.
Paul Goze, president of the French Top 14, the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, says a news conference will be held “late this month or the first week of November”.
“It will give the ins and outs of the competition,” he says. “It's very clear – there will be the Rugby Champions' Cup next season or nothing. Some pretend that they do not realise this.
“The Champions' Cup is the only competition. It will be organised with the British and anyone who wants to join us. There are a lot of official discussions and informal talks. We feel there is a real interest in this competition.”
A reunited Europe with Union approval will free the Welsh regions from their unenviable position of being caught between a rock and a hard place. Peace will relieve them from having to choose between the financial ruin of no Europe or breaking away from their own Union to join the Champions' Cup.
After last week's report on the regions' concern at continuing to be short-changed in Europe, English officials have assured them that they will be considerably better off.
Under the current Heineken Cup deal, each Welsh region gets around £1.1m – a poor reflection on their success in providing the majority of Wales' double Six Nations' title team and the winning Lions' Test team.
Despite more than 50 per cent of the €44m (£37.4m) revenue generated by ERC being distributed among the Pro 12 clubs, the Welsh regions claim they are the poor relations of the Celtic teams.
The English teams, restricted to 24 percent of the pot, receive even less – £800,000 per club because PRL divide the money among all 12 of their clubs, not just the six Heineken qualifiers.
PRL claim that the Champions' Cup, as televised by BT Sport, will be worth at least €70m (£60m). They will split the revenue equally three ways among the three European Leagues which they calculate will be worth £1.7m for their clubs and £1.7m for each of the Welsh regions.
A report on the London summit will be put before an ERC board meeting in Dublin on Wednesday. Neither the French nor English club delegates will be there, adamant that they have long passed the point of no return.
“There will be no more negotiating (with ERC),” Goze said. “They lasted for 15 months and they failed anyway. It's not worth discussing.”
Goze and his English counterparts will be anxious to ensure that Toulon's threat to opt out of the Champions' Cup and remain in the Heineken does not undermine their position.
Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal made his threat as a protest against what he sees as a ‘racist' move by the French Federation awarding incentives for every French club whose matchday 23 includes 55 per cent French-qualified players. The European champions' squad at Cardiff yesterday contained nine French players, four more than against Glasgow the previous weekend.
Goze will have seen Boudjellal's ‘wobbly' as an inexplicable volte face, claiming that ‘the Rugby Champions' Cup was unanimously endorsed by the Presidents of the Top 14 clubs last week in Toulouse.
PETER JACKSON
Peace set to break out over Europe
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twoddle, thats all this is
Oh- slap my thigh! You guys just take the press releases from the PLR and trot them out as fact- huh? Here’s what gives the game away, “Simply getting to the table represents a major shift in the stance of the Celtic Unions.” Does it heck! there’s absolutely nothing new here. And coming after a fortnight of fantastic Heineken Cup action- where to be obvious, the PLR clubs hardly stood out above the herd in quality- I’m being nice here…. the Oligarchs gulped and thought a bit of moral- soothing briefing was in order.
The ERC and the Rabo clubs have never closed the door on talks on the detail of the HC/ Amlin- just on the establishment of a new competition. So they’ll talk to anyone who invites them on the basis that their may be a solution. But mark my words, there will be no participation from Irish teams in the ‘Money Grabbers Cup’. I think the same will apply or the Scots and Italians- and the Welsh too. Although the latter may show a bit of an ankle, on the basis of getting a better deal from their Union, even if they were so minded- to join- they won’t be allowed to shift by the WRFU.
The IRB will not sanction the new competition on the current principles, the RFU is circling the carnage that will ensue when that becomes evident- and will move to finally put manners on the PLR. The latter is ‘whistling past the graveyard’ here and is pathetically throwing out a holding line to feed credulous hacks and to to keep the pot boiling- to mangle my metaphors. And any compromises will be on the basis of the Unions controlling the competition. The Unions won’t sell their birth right of the most successful sub-national competition in the world.
Sorry but the point has been missed. The Celtic nations income is from cash generated by the HC and handouts from their unions. The French and English clubs are financed mainly by the HC and private investors. Hence the private investors taking the lead on this issue and trying to wrestle the power from the unions. Like it or hate it there is going to be a change next year. I for one hope it involves all the major nations but if it comes to a split between the 3 leagues and end up a test of nerve i suspect the french and english will have deeper pockets and thus outlast their celtic compatriots. Here’s hoping whatever the outcome we retain some sort of European cup with all existing nations represented.
Yeah- I bet you are sorry now! So how do you square the circle on your argument now that the other unions- including the FFR are moving on without the PLR and RFU. I’m not even going to revisit the rubbish on the English and French unions “subsidising” the Rabo teams. The PLR have been pushing that line so long, they may even believe it themselves- but any objective analysis of a deal between the “equal partner” unions- which this is, would show the hollowness of that argument up. If you want to play an international competition, you deal with the other party as equals.
Anyway- I’m also ‘sorry’! Sorry- that a great competition is compromised by a display of greed and cynicism. Sorry- that we won’t see great English AP club teams (although possibly other teams) play in it next year. And particularly sorry that the legacy of this fiasco will be an ingrained distrust by the Rabo unions of the RFU and PLR intentions in any new proposals. It’s a mess- and the PLR and BT take most responsibility for the actual process. But they are both self-interested commercial entities and expecting moral sensibilities from them is delusional. It is the RFU, the supposed guardian of the game in England that bears most blame for the disgrace.
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