EXCLUSIVE: Premiership giants will ‘buddy up’ to save the Championship

By NEALE HARVEY
Premiership Rugby could assume control of the Championship as part of revolutionary plans to overhaul the top two tiers of English club rugby.
The Rugby Paper understands top-flight bosses are open to partnership arrangements with Championship clubs that will see the A-League scrapped and unlimited numbers of underused Premiership professionals loaned to level two sides instead.
Championship clubs who have no interest in promotion will be encouraged to ‘buddy-up’ with Premiership sides, enabling them to utilise up to 12 of that club’s first team players and any number of academy youngsters in need of senior game time.
Under the terms of the proposals, which are being driven by RFU director of professional rugby Nigel Melville and were presented to the Premiership clubs last Tuesday, Championship ‘buddy clubs’ would not be eligible for promotion to the top-flight.
Promotion and relegation would remain, however, with ambitious Championship clubs who fund their own full-time squads having to state their promotion intentions before a season starts. Such clubs would be able to field just four on-loan players.
While an implementation date has yet to be decided, TRP understands the existing Championship play-offs are likely to be scrapped next season, with Premiership clubs compensating tier two sides to the tune of £1.7m for a return to first-past-the-post.
Melville’s radical proposals are seen as a ‘last chance solution’ for a Championship competition which is in danger of collapse in the light of financial troubles afflicting London Welsh, Jersey and others.
With no more RFU money on the table for tier two sides and Premiership Rugby keen to address issues around the A-League and player game time, the buddy system is seen as a viable way of helping Championship clubs cut costs and survive.
A well-placed Premiership insider told TRP: “The Championship clubs have squads of 35 professionals and semi-pros they can’t afford and the Premiership clubs have got massive squads of 50-70 professionals, a lot of whom don’t play, so why don’t we marry the two together and find a solution to benefit everybody?
“Buddying-up will mean standard of rugby in the Championship will rocket and clubs like Rotherham and Nottingham will not have to spend all their money on players and coaches. It’ll mean they can stabilise their ships, upgrade facilities, grow crowds and still have a route to the top.”
The insider added: “The Championship has almost been an embarrassment to the RFU and they’ve totally neglected it for the last seven years.
“It’s the second tier of what professes to be the biggest Rugby Union in the world, yet virtually every club is bankrupt.
“A solution has been found and control of the Championship must fall to the Premiership.
“If we get the right people in charge and the right rules and regulations in place, it will stop clubs going out of business while still offering ambitious full-time teams like Doncaster and Cornish Pirates a chance of promotion.”
TRP understands the buddy system could be extended to include National One sides like Moseley, Coventry, Plymouth and Darlington Mowden Park.