Premiership Rugby has again shown it’s complete disdain for everyone in rugby by making another ludicrous decision. And it is starting to beg the question, why are the RFU tolerating this shambolic organisation. Every thing they does turns to crap, and actually their only target is to be entirely self-serving, they do not care about anyone who is not directly in their game.
And their actions over the last couple of years have demonstrated that their only interest is controlling top flight rugby, globally. The first shambles was their refusal to let London Welsh RFC entry into the top flight, even though they had rightfully qualified, and earned the right to compete in the Premiership. Their reasoning was that London Welsh did not meet the qualifying rules in relation to their grounds. At the time of their instance on this London Wasps, London Irish, Saracens and Sale Sharks did not meet these terms either. In fact since then only 2 of them have actually fixed that situation (Saracens and Sale), Irish look like they are close, and Wasps are a country mile off. How PRL, as they are abbreviated, think they could get away from enforcing one rule for some and not for the others is beyond me. It stinks of elitism, favoritism and as was proven in the Court of Law, an illegal enforcement. London Welsh successfully and rightfully appealed and won. The question that should have been asked is whether the PRL would have then pushed for permanent league with no relegation, as has been on the cards for some time but as yet they had not had the support to actually push for it.
The second of their actions has caused an even greater problem and reflects their attempt to take ownership of rugby off the Unions. At the start of this season PRL served notice that this was the final season for English clubs competing in an ERC (European Rugby Championship) run competition. They claimed that they had the support of the french clubs and made an open invitation to the other unions to join them. Their motivation for doing this was pure and simple, financial. As part of their negotiations and agreement with BT Sport they agreed that there would be a European competition. Now this competition would be under their control. At no stage did they give the Celtic nations an opportunity to be involved in the process. Now the ERC has flaws and the commercial revenue generated has been poor, and English and French clubs lose any vote because of the make up of the voting rights. In their wisdom the ERC has made some significant changes, which was enough for the French RFU to strong arm their clubs back into the ERC. The ERC has always invited the PRL to the table, to which PRL’s response was rather derisory. When the French jumped ship, back to ERC, the PRL complained that they were not invited to the meeting. And why should they have been? They have said they want no involvement so why should they have been invited. This fiasco has now led to an new format competition without any teams in England, and PRL say they are still going to stay the course for their tournament…. with who?
The problem is that PRL only have control over the Premiership and are not the voice for English rugby, and in each of those other nations, the Local RFU is responsible for the game in their country and anything that affects the game in their country negatively is never going to get passed. What is highlighted is just how much of a flacid organisation the RFU has become under Ian Ritchie, and here he is avoiding the fact that the RFU has lost completely lost control of the situation and has no idea how to fix the problem. His list does not actually address the fact that the English clubs are not involved.
The third and finally plot has struck me as disgusting and again an illegal action taken by PRL. PRL have made the decision to fine Northampton Saints for allowing George North to play for his national team outside the International window. Under PRL rules “Under Premiership rules, only players representing England can be released outside the regular international dates.” and as such Saints have been fined £60,000 for letting him do so.
Now players being available for international duty has long been a debate the IRB has struggled with particularly in France where Polynesian players have struggled to be released for internationals and World Cups. So much so that the IRB actually has a ruling on the matter that states:
“Unions and professional leagues have reaffirmed their commitment to work with the International Rugby Board to ensure that the best players are made available for their country if selected for international duty under IRB Regulation 9.”
So how is PRL fining Northampton actually conducive to working with the IRB release clause. Why is it only English players that can be released and not any International player. Whilst Northampton are bearing the brunt, it does look more like it is a swipe at the Celtic Unions who have kicked them in the balls over the European Cup. It is a clear shot across the bows to those unions saying that England are allowed to do what they want but we will actively prevent your Union from having your International players available so that you can work on improving your International squad.
And Richard Cockerill in his usual magnanimous way has commented: “Martin Castrogiovanni [Italy] and Geordan Murphy [Ireland] were not allowed to go to any training camps or play in any extra games because it is a PRL directive,” Richard Cockerill, Leicester’s director of rugby, said.” It is easy for you to say that Richard, Leicester have always struggled when they lose their players so this only works for the advantage of clubs like yours. The fact that North had the foresight to put the release in his contract is no reason to punish Northampton.
The fact that the Premiership Clubs have negotiated with the English RFU to pay them every time a player is release and that no other International country has to pay for their players to be released might have nothing to do with it. This goes back to the original debate about centrally contracted players a system that is unlikely to ever come into play but works quite effectively in restoring both the Irish and Scottish sides to some level of prominence and was sort of working is Wales, until the players actually realised how much they could earn anywhere else… That is a debate for another time.
The fact remains that the actions taken by PRL yesterday highlight another dumbfounding regulation that PRL are trying to enforce that actually goes in direct contravention to the IRB regulation. Now I understand Northampton have chosen not to appeal but surely the IRB should be stepping in here.
Whilst the PRL continues to presume the power it wields and continues to try and over reach it’s remit and grasps at opportunities to extend their influence they will continually be found wanting. What is becoming more apparent is that the other unions have cottoned on to their game, and are never going to let them achieve what they really want which is absolute power over the European game. The are a self serving cataclysm of disasters which needs to be stopped in their track and the English RFU need to stop acting like a toothless master trying to tidy up after their child has destroyed everything that hold dear.
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