Always a Wasp

Genuine question.

I've seen the above statement made in many places but no resons as to why? Can anyone enlighten me?

It's fair to say that there hasn't been much by the way of expansion from the RFU/PRL, but my own thoughts/reasons are:

It doesn't solve the financial sustainability issue that English Professional rugby has
Saracens, Bristol and Bath might be alright in this.  Saints too perhaps.  But the others are all on shaky ground; Sale have no meaningful income stream to continue to challenge without huge supplementation.  Chiefs are already openly struggling and having to sell assets to make ends meet as well as letting players go and seeing reduced crowds and competitiveness.  Quins have struggled to make a regular profit despite owning their stadium in prime rugby heartland, challenging at the top and selling out most home games.  Falcons are hanging on by a thread.  Tigers needed a ?13m injection via their biggest shareholder to stay afloat.  Gloucs seem to be well run (and are certainly well supported) but fewer games and the same squad costs will hurt them so they either choose to compete (unsustainably) or accept they'll be financially secure but uncompetitive.

A 10-Team closed shop doesn't have the same commercial viability/attractiveness
You've already seem BT seeking a rebate for fewer games.  A two-division structure with the jeopardy of relegation and the likes of Ealing, Jersey, Wasps, Irish etc... fighting for promotion could/would create compelling viewing.  Broadcasters could pick much more interesting games with better stories behind them.

Two divisions would help grow the number of professional teams and broaden the club fanbase
20 full-time teams (as a number plucked out of thin-air) provides an opportunity to grow the fanbase for the club game - combined with a reduced salary cap (thanks to reduced games meaning fewer players needed per squad).  Massie-Taylor has spoken about the need for Prem Teams to offer a 'Premium' experience.  But I don't personally think fans want to be rattling around in a half-empty 10k seater stadium with artificial entertainment.  They want an environment/experience where they feel connected to the club and it's players.  The Wasps squad were great at coming round the pitch after a game and meeting fans, or being available on the way in/out of the stadium.  It's those sorts of experiences rather than 'Win ?5k in our lucky seat draw' or 'Win Dominos Pizza for a year in our kicking competition at half-time' type experiences that fans come (and stick around) for.

Especially at some of the smaller, more intimate stadia you get a better feel for the size, power and speed of the players on show - It's a real differentiator for the casual fan.  My kids have been coming to games since they were quite literally weeks old, so have been completely indoctrinated. 

But my route to club rugby was much more typical (I think); I played No.8 at school, then would watch internationals, Dallaglio was a 'hero' growing up.  We had Irish, Quins and Wasps all pretty much equidistant to us and would often go to Madjedski to watch Irish v Falcons (to see Jonny) or Sale (Jason Robinson/Mark Cueto) etc... and go where the internationals were playing.  We only stuck with Wasps are going to 2x World Cup Finals and making a decision to watch more Club Rugby and only took a season ticket after going to a handful of games in the 08 season where we were in the Prem Final in the LOL/Johnson send-off.

Growing Rugby will be a long-term game that can't be shortcut by artificial prizes, sweepstakes or promotions.

the idea a 10 team closed shop will be attractive and will pull in more supporters is fallacy defined.

I don't think any of the people involved in making the decisions (i.e. PRL and RFU) have suggested it will be a closed shop.  It's just fan murmurings that seem to be doing that. 

The daft thing in all of this is that it seems like PRL are talking about doubling down on the criteria enter 'Prem 1' - What we really need is a plan and scope for Clubs to be able to grow in line with their revenues.  Not a pre-req that Prem 1 Clubs should have a 10k+ seater stadium, the only reason for which is that they have a mandatory public healthy and safety certification from the Department of Sport (or whatever it's called these days).

Surely it would be significantly cheaper to go through an inspection/audit/certification process for whatever current stadia teams have without ploughing millions into trying to build a stadium that sits empty most of the time in the hope that they get promoted.

It?s difficult to understand how those that supposedly run things get things so wrong. How do we drive up income for clubs? Give them less games. How do we increase crowds and engagement in the game? Narrow the league to the same teams bashing each other each week. How do we govern the game? Take the P share off three clubs whilst allowing serial wrongdoers to keep theirs. The list goes on and we will be moving towards amateur rugby in the next few years.

I'd like to see what the profit/loss looks like for teams and their home games this season.  It's easy for teams to suggest they'll lose ?250-300k per game from missed or reduced games but it doesn't really tell the whole story.  It clearly hurts teams that regularly sell out or operate at a high attendance rate, but for the teams that don't costs to put on games with low attendances are either unlikely to be very profitable at all, or loss-making.

Fewer games in isolation isn't the answer.  It's got to be a package of changes.  I'd still like to see how finances would look with the following:

- Join up the top two divisions with a minimum of 20 teams across the two 
- Promotion and relegation (do you do 1 up / 1 down, 2 up / 2 down or the French system of the bottom get relegated, the top gets promoted and the second-placed top/bottom teams have a play-off?)
- Max 10 Teams in the top division to account for internationals so games are played with the best players available barring injury
- Reduction in Salary Cap; fewer games means fewer players required in squads, especially with international break periods helping with R&R

The problem is getting the teams to agree to it, because they're all shareholders with an inflated and artificial value associated to the P-Shares that give them a say.  That and Bath, Bristol and Saracens would actively like to increase the Salary Cap and have owners with deep pockets to do so.

Wonder what the legalities are of a proposed breakaway league where, say, teams relinquish their P-Shares (after all, it seems they can't ever really be exercised apart from in an unlikely buyout and event then, would likely be at a reduced value) and team up with the Championship teams, create two divisions with the parameters that enable teams to generate and run a sustainable model that could be grown in future to force the issue?

Bath, Bristol and Saracens would be accommodated elsewhere or be forced to concede and agree new terms. 

That said, not sure where they'd go - Can't imagine they'd end up in the URC (although potentially allows the URC to create two divisions), the Pro14 doesn't need a European 'Super League' and European Rugby wouldn't advocate it due to risk of diminishing the Champions and Challenge Cups.

How are they going to buy out the existing owners and then finance the four regions?

The PRL shares will be the bottleneck.  CVC has shown itself to be an ineffective Investment Partner in the PRL; it's unclear what positive impact (if any) they've had on the game but perversely they probably have the ability to 'save' the PRL and lead its restructure by buying out the remaining shares. 

I'm sure the RFU would relinquish control/oversight of The Championship - at the moment it's another cash drain on the RFU.  That would pave the way for a 2 division structure for Professional Mens Rugby in the UK with an ability to start from scratch.

Not sure how else significant change could be made or who else would buy the shares.

Lots of coverage in the papers today discussing the atmosphere and the game, but we took the kids to watch the Red Roses play France on Saturday.  Had it booked a fair while in advance when they were only anticipating opening the Lower Tier.  58k on the day in the end, hell of a turnout.

- Weather was great (which always helps)
- People in seats long before KO including a huge cheer for the Roses as they run in post warm-up
- Very little foot traffic during the game; but plenty of supporters with drinks in-hand
- A good mix in the crowd of couples, families, groups but very few groups of men
- West Car Park had dodgems and a ferris wheel which the kids loved
- A good number milling around post-game for drinks, food and the sun whilst it lasted!

Result was great and an entertaining game, crowd was loud and enthusiastic throughout.  Would happily pay more to take the kids next time, tickets were definitely too cheap (?5 for the kids and ?15 for adults in Block L2).

Was night-and-day compared to England v Scotland in this years 6N; not full of corporate types and groups of lads more interested in being on the p*ss than watching the game. 

It won't help TV cash, but would much rather see some earlier KOs to try and reduce the amount of drinking pre-game and try and shift it more to post-game so that the in-game atmosphere is better for Families.  As it stands, we're not interested in taking our kids to a men's game at Twickenham, partly due to the sheer expense but predominantly for the atmosphere. 

They had a great time on Saturday and have all asked when they go and watch the Roses again.  Well done to all involved!

On a slightly less happy note, a gentleman behind us went into cardiac arrest during the game; a scary experience for all involved especially the Family.  Perhaps luckily, the St John's Ambulance volunteers, Stewards and some members of the crowd acted extremely quickly to (hopefully) have saved his life.  It was an incredible team effort from them and a testament to all. 

As he was stretchered down, he was conscious, breathing under his own steam and gave the crowd a wave so hopefully positive signs that he's on the road to recovery.

I think the RFU have bigger problems to solve than this

It's the first interview where I've heard someone prominent from the club say that they were misled by the Leadership Team.