Guardian - 10 Team League

[Neils]

Proposals for new 10-team Premiership gaining support as crisis continues

    PRL and RFU say they are examining ‘structure of the league’
    Exeter’s Rob Baxter and Bristol’s Pat Lam have backed idea

Gerard Meagher
Thu 13 Oct 2022 19.38 BST
Last modified on Fri 14 Oct 2022 05.31 BST

Proposals for a 10-team Premiership are growing in support, with English rugby’s power brokers promising a review into the league’s structure amid the financial crisis gripping the domestic game.

Premiership Rugby Limited and the Rugby Football Union also reiterated their calls for clubs to open their books after Rob Andrew, who spent almost 10 years in senior positions at the RFU, blamed the current mess on a failure of governance.
Wasps are struggling to repay the £35m bond that was raised to help finance their relocation to Coventry in 2014 that was due in May.
Wasps suspended from Premiership and set to enter administration ‘within days’
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Wasps are expected to follow Worcester into administration – with relegation to follow – on Monday and their suspension will be extended to the remainder of the season if they are forced to cancel more than two fixtures, having already scrapped Saturday’s match against Exeter. That scenario would leave 11 teams completing the remainder of this season’s Premiership and, with fears that at least one other club may follow, plans for a 10-team league are thought to be gaining support.

It is believed that senior officials are warming to the idea of a top tier of 10 teams, most likely with a professional second division also of 10 teams below it, with PRL and the RFU exercising a greater degree of control than they do over the Premiership. Convincing the clubs, who in effect govern themselves, to yield power would be a challenge but there is a determination to bring about change, with the Premiership two clubs down barely a month into the season. The Exeter director of rugby, Rob Baxter, and his Bristol counterpart, Pat Lam, have publicly backed the idea.

“Premiership Rugby and the RFU are working together to examine a range of options to provide stronger foundations for the game,” read a joint statement. “This process, involving close consultation with clubs and other stakeholders, includes consideration of issues including the structure of the league and visibility of financial information. Player welfare will remain a priority at all times.”

According to the current agreement, the Premiership is supposed to go to 14 teams next season provided the winners of the Championship meet the minimum standards criteria. But with Wasps and Worcester set for relegation at the end of the season, there is an understanding that change will also involve the Championship. Discussions over the new professional game agreement – the deal between the clubs and the RFU which determines key issues such as player release, league structures and central funding – are under way before its implementation in 2024. The current crisis has accelerated those talks, however.


“It is our responsibility to set a more sustainable path for English club rugby,” said PRL’s chief executive, Simon Massie-Taylor. “This was on the agenda already, but we need to now accelerate the work we are doing with our clubs, the RFU and other stakeholders across the game. Our shared goal must be to put in place stronger foundations that underpin the long-term prosperity for the sport in this country.”



The Wasps squad, meanwhile, are anxiously awaiting an update from the club hierarchy on Monday to learn whether they will need to find new clubs in what is already a crowded market of unemployed players. The RFU will decide in the coming weeks if players such as Joe Launchbury, Jack Willis and Alfie Barbeary will be able to make short-term moves abroad and still be eligible for England selection.

The RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, added: “Two professional clubs facing financial difficulties is a clear barometer of the challenges being felt by the economy, sport and rugby union specifically. The economic environment has compounded these challenges and there is a clear need for more financial transparency from all clubs together with collective long-term investment and planning for the benefit of the professional game overall.”

[WonkyWasp]

A bit of kindness, understanding, consideration, thought and HELP from the RFU/RFL in  respect of the Clubs in question would go one helluva long way. 

[mike909]

A bit of kindness, understanding, consideration, thought and HELP from the RFU/RFL in  respect of the Clubs in question would go one helluva long way.

That and admitting they don't know what they are doing......

[Shugs]

They’re right on the verge of destroying the game. Their probably aren’t enough viable clubs to make a 10 team league. Messing about with the number in the league is to ignore the real problem - the way those clubs are run.

[Rossm]

A 10 team league is unworkable. Most clubs are financially strapped already. Losing the income from 3 home games will hit already stretched budgets impossibly hard. TV money will be reduced. P shares are worthless unless there is someone to buy them. There is no incentive for Championship clubs to attempt promotion. Pro rugby in England is doomed.

[Neils]

A 10 team league is unworkable. Most clubs are financially strapped already. Losing the income from 3 home games will hit already stretched budgets impossibly hard. TV money will be reduced. P shares are worthless unless there is someone to buy them. There is no incentive for Championship clubs to attempt promotion. Pro rugby in England is doomed.

The perpetual cheetahs and Estate Agents will not see it that way. BT should be  asking for a reduction.

[Wombles]

Two 10 team professional leagues are impossible when one premiership of 13 teams could not be sustained. The only way would be to reduce wages markedly from where they are now. Not sure teams like Sarries -who undertook financial doping to achieve their successes- will agree to this.