PRL & Relegation

[Neils]

 Premiership Rugby vow to bring back promotion AND relegation https://mol.im/a/10876025 via https://dailym.ai/android

[Shugs]

On balance this is a good thing. I’m not clear that if promotion was re-introduced and Ealing finished top but couldn’t meet criteria would it pass to the 2nd placed team?

[NellyWellyWaspy]

And, if not the 2nd, would the relegated team still be relegated if no team could be promoted?

[Neils]

From The Telegraph -



Premiership Rugby bosses have confirmed that they have no intention of permanently pulling up the drawbridge from the Championship despite Ealing’s failure to pass the minimum standards criteria.

After passing a moratorium on relegation last summer following Saracens’ promotion to the Premiership, Championship winners Ealing were denied a place in the top flight after their ground failed to meet the minimum capacity requirement.

However, Premiership Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor insists the plan remains for the league to be expanded to 14 teams after next season. Promotion and relegation would then resume at the end of the 2023-24 campaign via a play-off between the Premiership’s bottom side and the Championship winners.

“The intention was that we were moving to a 14-team league so it was disappointing that Ealing didn't pass the standards and come up,” Massie-Taylor said. “The expectation is that there'll be promotion next season then the agreement is promotion, and relegation after that. That was what was agreed by the RFU council.

“It is still the intention to have relegation going forward after this moratorium that was really important from a Covid recovery perspective. It was the right decision in order to preserve the 13 clubs that have existed within the Premiership. It's a miracle that they've survived after what has gone on over the last few years.”
Premiership relegation to return at end of 2023-24 season, league chief confirms


Massie-Taylor also says that ring-fencing has had “no material difference” on interest levels in the Premiership.

Heading into the final round of regular season fixtures, Worcester v Bath could have been billed as a blockbuster relegation shootout. Instead it is a dead rubber that the league’s bottom clubs unsuccessfully attempted to bring forward so they could start their holidays earlier.

“Audience figures are up this year generally,” Massie-Taylor said. “We've specifically looked at matches that don't necessarily have the jeopardy that they may have had if they were in that relegation zone and there isn't a material difference there.”

[Neils]

Expand the league with more games plus send teams to the Southern Hemisphere - player welfare really is foremost in their thinking!

[Wombles]

Promotion and relegation is a must, there should always be a pathway to the top for any club with the ambition and drive to get there. What we do not want to see however is another London Welsh shambles, and to be fair it is still sad to see how professionalism hurt teams such as Blackheath, Coventry, Orrell and West Hartlepool to mention but a few. People do mention the lack of support from the RFU and other entities to the grass roots game, but our club level sport is not a massive National or global entity, and we  must also accept that only very few have chance of making it as the appetite and appeal of the clubs in the lower leagues is much much less than football for example. Indeed just one division below championship games attendances are around that you would see in level 6-7 of the football pyramid (ie National league north/south, Isthmian premier). This is not good for income through exposure, sponsorship, ticket, clothing revenues and general overall revenue etc. Even the Gallagher Premiership has attendances that match lower levels of league 1 to top of league 2 with its footballing counterparts.

It is that underlying fragility that we must admit and accept when we look towards promotion and relegation. Do I like moratoriums for promotion, relegation, definitely not. But a more considered approach with the play offs to decide promotion and relegation. With - and although it seems unfair given the problems with Ealing gaining promotion due to certain criteria not being met - Due diligence to prevent another London Welsh episode, I think it’s not as easy a subject, nor cut and dried decision to have promotion and relegation as we may consider it to be.