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31
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Debt
« on: November 02, 2022, 12:33:07 PM »
Just for clarification, where does the debt lay? All of it with the proposed new rugby entity?
35
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Article in today's Tmes
« on: October 20, 2022, 07:31:22 AM »
Gallagher Premiership: how to fix English club rugby
Owen Slot, Will Kelleher and Stuart Barnes discuss what needs to happen to get England’s top flight out of its present mess
Wednesday October 19 2022, 5.00pm, The Times
How would you restructure the league to improve its sustainability and stability? What is the perfect number of teams for the top flight?
Owen Slot Ideally, eight clubs in Prem 1 and ten in Prem 2. The eight is due to welfare, to reduce number of matches (players in Prem 2 are unlikely to have international commitments). However, reality is that reducing a 13-team league to eight would be unsustainable, because seven home fixtures is too few. That’s why they’ll probably end up with two leagues of ten teams.
Will Kelleher A two-tiered Gallagher Premiership, where the league runs both levels and organises a broadcast deal that covers all those teams, would be my preference. To start with the two divisions could have eight in each, if buyers are found for Wasps and Worcester Warriors. Add Ealing Trailfinders, Doncaster Knights and — say — Cornish Pirates. Two up, two down between them each year.
Stuart Barnes A system with promotion/relegation is paramount if the sport is to avoid stagnation. Restructuring should zero in on guaranteeing enough clubs not to bore the rugby audience with a never-changing cast of clubs yet not too many to maintain the debilitating clashing between club and country. An aspiration of 20 is a starting point.
If the Premiership proceeds with a two division plan, should those top two divisions be ring-fenced? Or should there be route into the top two tiers?
OS There has to be a route up to the top two tiers, though the danger here is the preposterous sums then spent lower down the pyramid chasing “the Exeter Chiefs dream”. This is killing club rugby. Any smart new system has to encourage aspiration and manage hopeless dreamers.
WK Not closed off for good, but managed so that teams can come into the leagues in time if they can prove a sustainable business plan, funding model, and consistent on-field quality. That would allow a club like Coventry, for example, to grow within their means, then enter when ready.
Advertisement
SB Ring-fencing is a form of capitulation to the status quo. There would have been no Exeter with such a prohibitive rule in place. Sport has to have room for dreamers, even if they might end up as nightmares. Whose is the right to stifle dreams?
Should there be any conditions on Premiership membership — such as ground size, ground ownership, cash reserves, sustainability?
OS Definitely ground size. Plus, evidence required for a potentially respectable average minimum gate (which is why re-seeding a club, like the wandering Wasps, geographically to a rugby-rich Premiership desert — say, Sevenoaks — may be smart) .
WK Definitely — but less on ground size. The 10,000 capacity number stated as important for Premiership participation by the Professional Game Board has privately been stated to be a poor suggestion. Clubs should have to open their books and state their financial health every year to an independent regulator as a condition of their membership.
SB No “P-shares”. The tools of a cartel. Ground size is important. How the sport looks on TV is important for the game’s image. But, from promotion, give a team two years to meet the target. Good academies are central to stable professionalism. Central contracting depends on it.
OS Isn’t this a red herring? There is already a kind of central-contract system, with the RFU paying the players and playing the clubs for the players. All we are talking about here is a rejigging of this deal, probably with the RFU paying more for greater control. It is the clubs’ relationship with the RFU that needs to be redrawn.
WK A central contract where England pays 100 per cent of Test player wages is not feasible as the RFU cannot afford to pay around £25 million a year for 36 players. More feasible is a dual deal, like some Welsh players have, where the club pays a percentage. It could help clubs to retain talent and spread salary cap money but cannot just carve off the best only for England at the detriment of the Premiership.
SB Central contracts could be the bridge between club and country. Develop more players for England, keep those players on the books but allow the RFU to pay them. Right now we have a combination of burdensome salaries and absenteeism regarding English internationals. Central contracts are the carefully-negotiated solution.
Should there be a limit on players’ match-time when they just appeal to play again – such as Ellis Genge at the start of this season – or would a ten-team league solve the problem of England player availability for club rugby?
OS Of course there has to be a limit on match-time. But no way can we have a repeat of Owen Farrell available for Saracens versus Harlequins, who aren’t permitted to pick Marcus Smith. That was humiliatingly silly.
WK Ten teams would mean fewer overlaps, which is good for players, fans, coaches, marketing and player welfare, as long as other or new competitions do not fill the gaps which would defeat the whole point. A stricter maximum matches per season, and/or minutes played, should be part of that.
SB A smaller league is an obvious asset in terms of player-welfare management. I don’t like centralised orders but players must be limited in their seasonal match (and training) time. Flexible thinking, not hard and fast rules for varying situations/personalities is a tentative answer.
Will rugby regret its partnership with CVC?
OS Unless things change, yes. CVC are now pocketing 27 per cent of the clubs’ income. It promised to grow the pot so far that, nevertheless, overall income would grow. That point is a long way off.
WK Aside from paying off debts — not all successfully either — it does not seem on the surface that English rugby has gained much from its CVC deal. Those in favour of the company talk of their role to get stakeholders together but as of yet there is no agreement for new structures, calendars or a clear vision for the future.
SB I don’t know if the clubs regret it, but I do. CVC is in sport for its own profit. Fine, that’s the nature of the beast. If the game was nothing but a broken husk ten years from now it wouldn’t matter to any organisation where the profit motive prevails over all else. The business should be sport. With private equity, sport’s their business opportunity.
What else would you change about domestic rugby?
OS 1, Align the academies with leading rugby universities. Have 19/20-year-olds playing BUCS rugby and simultaneously getting a qualification.
2, Spread the word. For a decade, Premiership Rugby and its outstanding players have been miserably undermarketed.
Advertisement
3, Centralise the business and commercial operations for the Premiership clubs. CVC has wanted to do this and has failed.
WK Once you have a two-tiered Premiership, replace the Premiership Rugby Cup with an FA Cup-style unseeded, straight knockout competition between both leagues. The final should ideally be taken to grounds around the country like Brighton, Norwich, Cornwall. It’d provide a chance for kids and present a meaningful trophy to be won.
SB The relationship between referees and TMOs. Eddie Jones was right in his recent criticisms. The game is too stop-start and referees too dependent on others. More time with the ball in play, less listening to, “let me just check this tenth angle”. Please!
Owen Slot, Will Kelleher and Stuart Barnes discuss what needs to happen to get England’s top flight out of its present mess
Wednesday October 19 2022, 5.00pm, The Times
How would you restructure the league to improve its sustainability and stability? What is the perfect number of teams for the top flight?
Owen Slot Ideally, eight clubs in Prem 1 and ten in Prem 2. The eight is due to welfare, to reduce number of matches (players in Prem 2 are unlikely to have international commitments). However, reality is that reducing a 13-team league to eight would be unsustainable, because seven home fixtures is too few. That’s why they’ll probably end up with two leagues of ten teams.
Will Kelleher A two-tiered Gallagher Premiership, where the league runs both levels and organises a broadcast deal that covers all those teams, would be my preference. To start with the two divisions could have eight in each, if buyers are found for Wasps and Worcester Warriors. Add Ealing Trailfinders, Doncaster Knights and — say — Cornish Pirates. Two up, two down between them each year.
Stuart Barnes A system with promotion/relegation is paramount if the sport is to avoid stagnation. Restructuring should zero in on guaranteeing enough clubs not to bore the rugby audience with a never-changing cast of clubs yet not too many to maintain the debilitating clashing between club and country. An aspiration of 20 is a starting point.
If the Premiership proceeds with a two division plan, should those top two divisions be ring-fenced? Or should there be route into the top two tiers?
OS There has to be a route up to the top two tiers, though the danger here is the preposterous sums then spent lower down the pyramid chasing “the Exeter Chiefs dream”. This is killing club rugby. Any smart new system has to encourage aspiration and manage hopeless dreamers.
WK Not closed off for good, but managed so that teams can come into the leagues in time if they can prove a sustainable business plan, funding model, and consistent on-field quality. That would allow a club like Coventry, for example, to grow within their means, then enter when ready.
Advertisement
SB Ring-fencing is a form of capitulation to the status quo. There would have been no Exeter with such a prohibitive rule in place. Sport has to have room for dreamers, even if they might end up as nightmares. Whose is the right to stifle dreams?
Should there be any conditions on Premiership membership — such as ground size, ground ownership, cash reserves, sustainability?
OS Definitely ground size. Plus, evidence required for a potentially respectable average minimum gate (which is why re-seeding a club, like the wandering Wasps, geographically to a rugby-rich Premiership desert — say, Sevenoaks — may be smart) .
WK Definitely — but less on ground size. The 10,000 capacity number stated as important for Premiership participation by the Professional Game Board has privately been stated to be a poor suggestion. Clubs should have to open their books and state their financial health every year to an independent regulator as a condition of their membership.
SB No “P-shares”. The tools of a cartel. Ground size is important. How the sport looks on TV is important for the game’s image. But, from promotion, give a team two years to meet the target. Good academies are central to stable professionalism. Central contracting depends on it.
OS Isn’t this a red herring? There is already a kind of central-contract system, with the RFU paying the players and playing the clubs for the players. All we are talking about here is a rejigging of this deal, probably with the RFU paying more for greater control. It is the clubs’ relationship with the RFU that needs to be redrawn.
WK A central contract where England pays 100 per cent of Test player wages is not feasible as the RFU cannot afford to pay around £25 million a year for 36 players. More feasible is a dual deal, like some Welsh players have, where the club pays a percentage. It could help clubs to retain talent and spread salary cap money but cannot just carve off the best only for England at the detriment of the Premiership.
SB Central contracts could be the bridge between club and country. Develop more players for England, keep those players on the books but allow the RFU to pay them. Right now we have a combination of burdensome salaries and absenteeism regarding English internationals. Central contracts are the carefully-negotiated solution.
Should there be a limit on players’ match-time when they just appeal to play again – such as Ellis Genge at the start of this season – or would a ten-team league solve the problem of England player availability for club rugby?
OS Of course there has to be a limit on match-time. But no way can we have a repeat of Owen Farrell available for Saracens versus Harlequins, who aren’t permitted to pick Marcus Smith. That was humiliatingly silly.
WK Ten teams would mean fewer overlaps, which is good for players, fans, coaches, marketing and player welfare, as long as other or new competitions do not fill the gaps which would defeat the whole point. A stricter maximum matches per season, and/or minutes played, should be part of that.
SB A smaller league is an obvious asset in terms of player-welfare management. I don’t like centralised orders but players must be limited in their seasonal match (and training) time. Flexible thinking, not hard and fast rules for varying situations/personalities is a tentative answer.
Will rugby regret its partnership with CVC?
OS Unless things change, yes. CVC are now pocketing 27 per cent of the clubs’ income. It promised to grow the pot so far that, nevertheless, overall income would grow. That point is a long way off.
WK Aside from paying off debts — not all successfully either — it does not seem on the surface that English rugby has gained much from its CVC deal. Those in favour of the company talk of their role to get stakeholders together but as of yet there is no agreement for new structures, calendars or a clear vision for the future.
SB I don’t know if the clubs regret it, but I do. CVC is in sport for its own profit. Fine, that’s the nature of the beast. If the game was nothing but a broken husk ten years from now it wouldn’t matter to any organisation where the profit motive prevails over all else. The business should be sport. With private equity, sport’s their business opportunity.
What else would you change about domestic rugby?
OS 1, Align the academies with leading rugby universities. Have 19/20-year-olds playing BUCS rugby and simultaneously getting a qualification.
2, Spread the word. For a decade, Premiership Rugby and its outstanding players have been miserably undermarketed.
Advertisement
3, Centralise the business and commercial operations for the Premiership clubs. CVC has wanted to do this and has failed.
WK Once you have a two-tiered Premiership, replace the Premiership Rugby Cup with an FA Cup-style unseeded, straight knockout competition between both leagues. The final should ideally be taken to grounds around the country like Brighton, Norwich, Cornwall. It’d provide a chance for kids and present a meaningful trophy to be won.
SB The relationship between referees and TMOs. Eddie Jones was right in his recent criticisms. The game is too stop-start and referees too dependent on others. More time with the ball in play, less listening to, “let me just check this tenth angle”. Please!
36
Wasps Rugby Discussion / OK - so that we all understand in short sentences what has happened to day.
« on: October 17, 2022, 05:05:22 PM »
Please feel free to Quote or C&P, with amendments, as appropriate. All I want to do is for all of us to be in no doubt as to what has happened. PLEASE leave speculation as to the cause out of it!
1. Wasps Holding Ltd, the owner of everything rugby (except the training facility) is dead in the water. Cannot rise from the status quo as a professional rugby club?
2. ACL are the oprerating company. Today's news does not impact on their ability to run the CBS?
3. IEC Experience manage the food and beverages in the Arena? Diito (2)
4. The £35 million bond was issued in the name of Wasps Finance PLC. (Edited.)
5. The training centre is owned by Christopher Holland.
So what are the debts of the Rugby Club on the playing side?
1. Wasps Holding Ltd, the owner of everything rugby (except the training facility) is dead in the water. Cannot rise from the status quo as a professional rugby club?
2. ACL are the oprerating company. Today's news does not impact on their ability to run the CBS?
3. IEC Experience manage the food and beverages in the Arena? Diito (2)
4. The £35 million bond was issued in the name of Wasps Finance PLC. (Edited.)
5. The training centre is owned by Christopher Holland.
So what are the debts of the Rugby Club on the playing side?
38
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Times match report
« on: October 09, 2022, 11:37:18 PM »
Wasps v Northampton: Hosts let victory slip but biggest battle in their 156-year history lies ahead
Wasps 36 Northampton Saints 40
Alex Lowe, Rugby Correspondent
Sunday October 09 2022, 7.00pm, The Times
In the grand scheme of things the disappointment felt by Wasps at the manner in which they lost this game will seem like small fry. The former English and European champions have a much more important battle to win as they enter arguably the biggest week of their 156-year history, with the grim prospect of administration looming large over the club.
Wasps have until next Monday to find £2 million and fend off a winding-up petition from HM Revenue & Customs, although there is also the wider issue of a £35 million bond that was supposed to be repaid in May.
David Armstrong, the former Wasps chief executive, is advising an investment firm, Terminum Capital, which is prepared to buy the club and the stadium — but only if the business goes into administration. Under RFU regulations, which have been applied to Worcester Warriors, administration would mean Wasps being relegated as punishment.
It is claimed that Armstrong, who was at the game on Sunday, has already made representations to the RFU that an insolvent sale should not lead to Wasps being demoted to the Championship. Lawrence Dallaglio, a Wasps director, questioned whether the RFU would want to lose Wasps from the Gallagher Premiership.
“They’ll say that any club that’s in administration has to go the same way as Worcester but the reality is: do you want to lose one of the biggest brands in club rugby, in world rugby and one of the brands that’s been one of the most successful sides in the Premiership? Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Dallaglio said on BT Sport.
Advertisement
Dallaglio’s point, unsurprisingly, did not go down well with members of the Worcester community, who already believe their Premiership rivals were too happy to sit back and watch the club go to the wall. Luke Broadley, the former Worcester team manager, said Dallaglio’s argument “sums up what is wrong with the game”.
For 80 minutes the gathering gloom of the club’s uncertain future was held at bay as Wasps defied all manner of hurdles to score four tries and stand on the brink of a morale-boosting victory over Northampton Saints.
Sport, though, is a cruel mistress and in the 81st minute all their efforts were undone. Courtnall Skosan scored for Northampton with the final play of the game, finishing a sweeping attack from deep in their own half, to snatch the victory.
Wasps were spent, physically and emotionally. Two minutes earlier they held a 36-28 lead, with Jack Willis involved in two critical turnovers that appeared to have won them the game.
Sponsored
Willis deserved to be on the winning side. Wasps has always been about heart and soul rather than bricks and mortar and Willis epitomised that. The England flanker was extraordinary again, setting the emotional tone for the team with the opening try. It was his first since the England game against Italy in February 2021, in which he wrecked his knee, and Willis reacted with a roar of celebration, punching the air.
Wasps built on that with a try from Paolo Odogwu, who scored wide on the right after a powerful maul and a series of pick-and-goes in the left corner had narrowed the Saints defence.
Northampton reduced the arrears shortly before the interval when Dan Biggar, who was struggling with a back injury, dragged the game out of a period of tedium with a kick ahead that caused chaos in the Wasps defence. He then tapped the ball on to Alex Coles for the try.
Wasps had lost Tom Willis and Vincent Koch before kick-off and then Ben Morris, who came in to start at No 8, was withdrawn with a head injury inside the opening quarter, while Joe Launchbury and Dan Robson failed to reappear after half-time.
Advertisement
They coped with the setbacks well and found their way over the line again, with Gabriel Oghre touching down after Odogwu had spun out of a tackle like an NFL running back.
Charlie Atkinson then embarked on a brilliant run, beating five players before chipping ahead for Josh Bassett. Neither the Wasps wing nor Tommy Freeman, his opposite number, could ground the ball and Atkinson followed up to score. Wasps were 30-14 ahead going into the final quarter. The mood was buoyant, troubles temporarily forgotten.
But the clouds would soon descend. Ollie Sleightholme hit back for Saints and, with 14 minutes remaining, Jacob Umaga was sent off for taking out Skosan illegally in the air. Skosan had come down on Umaga’s ahead and the red card was shown as the Wasps player was assisted from the field while wearing an oxygen mask.
The resultant penalty try brought Saints back to within five points. Wasps extended that to eight with Willis involved in those two important turnover penalties — but they could not hold on.
Coles galloped over for his second try, Wasps failed to win the restart again and Northampton flashed down field to snatch a bonus-point win; 80 minutes of graft undone in the 81st.
“It’s a tough one,” Lee Blackett, the Wasps head coach, said. “The last few minutes was painful to watch. We are staying tight as a unit. It’s only natural, the longer it carries on, the more people will start to get worried.”
Wasps 36 Northampton Saints 40
Alex Lowe, Rugby Correspondent
Sunday October 09 2022, 7.00pm, The Times
In the grand scheme of things the disappointment felt by Wasps at the manner in which they lost this game will seem like small fry. The former English and European champions have a much more important battle to win as they enter arguably the biggest week of their 156-year history, with the grim prospect of administration looming large over the club.
Wasps have until next Monday to find £2 million and fend off a winding-up petition from HM Revenue & Customs, although there is also the wider issue of a £35 million bond that was supposed to be repaid in May.
David Armstrong, the former Wasps chief executive, is advising an investment firm, Terminum Capital, which is prepared to buy the club and the stadium — but only if the business goes into administration. Under RFU regulations, which have been applied to Worcester Warriors, administration would mean Wasps being relegated as punishment.
It is claimed that Armstrong, who was at the game on Sunday, has already made representations to the RFU that an insolvent sale should not lead to Wasps being demoted to the Championship. Lawrence Dallaglio, a Wasps director, questioned whether the RFU would want to lose Wasps from the Gallagher Premiership.
“They’ll say that any club that’s in administration has to go the same way as Worcester but the reality is: do you want to lose one of the biggest brands in club rugby, in world rugby and one of the brands that’s been one of the most successful sides in the Premiership? Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Dallaglio said on BT Sport.
Advertisement
Dallaglio’s point, unsurprisingly, did not go down well with members of the Worcester community, who already believe their Premiership rivals were too happy to sit back and watch the club go to the wall. Luke Broadley, the former Worcester team manager, said Dallaglio’s argument “sums up what is wrong with the game”.
For 80 minutes the gathering gloom of the club’s uncertain future was held at bay as Wasps defied all manner of hurdles to score four tries and stand on the brink of a morale-boosting victory over Northampton Saints.
Sport, though, is a cruel mistress and in the 81st minute all their efforts were undone. Courtnall Skosan scored for Northampton with the final play of the game, finishing a sweeping attack from deep in their own half, to snatch the victory.
Wasps were spent, physically and emotionally. Two minutes earlier they held a 36-28 lead, with Jack Willis involved in two critical turnovers that appeared to have won them the game.
Sponsored
Willis deserved to be on the winning side. Wasps has always been about heart and soul rather than bricks and mortar and Willis epitomised that. The England flanker was extraordinary again, setting the emotional tone for the team with the opening try. It was his first since the England game against Italy in February 2021, in which he wrecked his knee, and Willis reacted with a roar of celebration, punching the air.
Wasps built on that with a try from Paolo Odogwu, who scored wide on the right after a powerful maul and a series of pick-and-goes in the left corner had narrowed the Saints defence.
Northampton reduced the arrears shortly before the interval when Dan Biggar, who was struggling with a back injury, dragged the game out of a period of tedium with a kick ahead that caused chaos in the Wasps defence. He then tapped the ball on to Alex Coles for the try.
Wasps had lost Tom Willis and Vincent Koch before kick-off and then Ben Morris, who came in to start at No 8, was withdrawn with a head injury inside the opening quarter, while Joe Launchbury and Dan Robson failed to reappear after half-time.
Advertisement
They coped with the setbacks well and found their way over the line again, with Gabriel Oghre touching down after Odogwu had spun out of a tackle like an NFL running back.
Charlie Atkinson then embarked on a brilliant run, beating five players before chipping ahead for Josh Bassett. Neither the Wasps wing nor Tommy Freeman, his opposite number, could ground the ball and Atkinson followed up to score. Wasps were 30-14 ahead going into the final quarter. The mood was buoyant, troubles temporarily forgotten.
But the clouds would soon descend. Ollie Sleightholme hit back for Saints and, with 14 minutes remaining, Jacob Umaga was sent off for taking out Skosan illegally in the air. Skosan had come down on Umaga’s ahead and the red card was shown as the Wasps player was assisted from the field while wearing an oxygen mask.
The resultant penalty try brought Saints back to within five points. Wasps extended that to eight with Willis involved in those two important turnover penalties — but they could not hold on.
Coles galloped over for his second try, Wasps failed to win the restart again and Northampton flashed down field to snatch a bonus-point win; 80 minutes of graft undone in the 81st.
“It’s a tough one,” Lee Blackett, the Wasps head coach, said. “The last few minutes was painful to watch. We are staying tight as a unit. It’s only natural, the longer it carries on, the more people will start to get worried.”
39
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Alfie
« on: October 05, 2022, 09:15:30 PM »
Apparently out for the season after surgery, according to Lee Blackett in the CT.
40
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Quins v Saints
« on: October 02, 2022, 03:36:19 PM »
Intersting score at the Stoop.
41
Wasps Rugby Discussion / LBND in the Times this morning
« on: September 25, 2022, 09:29:05 AM »
Premiership must get biggest stars in front of fans or battle to balance books will never be won
Lawrence Dallaglio
Sunday September 25 2022, 12.01am, The Sunday Times
A week that was looking so gloomy for Premiership Rugby (PR) has culminated in some thrilling matches over the past two days. I was at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday where Leicester pulled off a superb comeback to beat Northampton Saints (how good to see that the scrum can still be such a potent weapon). In fact you could have taken any sports fan to any of the five Gallagher Premiership fixtures this weekend and they would have come away thinking rugby is a great spectacle.
None of this will provide much cheer to fans of Worcester Warriors, who could see their club suspended from the Premiership on Monday, or indeed supporters of my own club, Wasps, who are also battling to resolve their financial troubles.
I can’t comment on Worcester but I will say that I expect Wasps to find a way out of their predicament. The situation is a bit different from that of the Warriors, given there are other enterprises — all equally badly affected by the loss of revenue brought on by Covid — that are folded into the same business as the Wasps rugby club. It’s complicated because of the debt structure with which the club were bought but there is no reason it can’t be a viable business. If the move to Coventry hadn’t taken place in 2014 then the administrators might have been called in a few years ago.
What last week has underlined is the need for the people who run the game to work more closely together. We have always known that club finances are precarious and that unless you have a very wealthy benefactor able to cover millions of pounds of losses — as Bath do with Bruce Craig and Saracens did with Nigel Wray — the battle of balancing the books is a constant one. If we were starting again, I’m sure we would look at a ten-club Premiership with bigger squads. But we are, as they say, where we are.
In these circumstances it is baffling that we see so little of the Premiership’s best assets — its leading England players — on show week in, week out. When I was playing it was the norm for England internationals to come up against one another regularly at club level. I used to love this period in the season: come flying out of the traps and lay down a few markers so that when you meet up with your opponents at Pennyhill Park in November it’s you who’s got the bragging rights.
This issue was brought into sharp focus last weekend when Harlequins’ Marcus Smith had to sit out a mouthwatering clash with his rival for the England No 10 jersey, Owen Farrell, of Saracens. I know player welfare was cited for him being held back and I understand that concern. But we need more joined-up thinking, more discretion to ensure that a potentially great advertisement for the game isn’t scuppered again by rigid bureaucracy.
The Premiership needs to put its stars in front of the fans more regularly and it needs to have them connect with those fans. We know that supporters not only want to see them but want to know them and to like them.
Are the clubs doing enough to make that happen? Possibly. Does PR have a marketing plan to back that up? I’d like to see it. Has the RFU done its bit when the players are on England duty? Not enough for my liking. This is nuts because everyone knows that rugby always has to operate in football’s shadow.
There are other issues working against the big promotional push that professional rugby needs. I know of incidents where players have been approached to appear in initiatives to promote the sport as a whole and their agents have responded by quoting astronomical sums for appearance money.
They don’t seem to understand that if you grow the game, more money comes in and everyone gets richer.
Lawrence Dallaglio
Sunday September 25 2022, 12.01am, The Sunday Times
A week that was looking so gloomy for Premiership Rugby (PR) has culminated in some thrilling matches over the past two days. I was at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday where Leicester pulled off a superb comeback to beat Northampton Saints (how good to see that the scrum can still be such a potent weapon). In fact you could have taken any sports fan to any of the five Gallagher Premiership fixtures this weekend and they would have come away thinking rugby is a great spectacle.
None of this will provide much cheer to fans of Worcester Warriors, who could see their club suspended from the Premiership on Monday, or indeed supporters of my own club, Wasps, who are also battling to resolve their financial troubles.
I can’t comment on Worcester but I will say that I expect Wasps to find a way out of their predicament. The situation is a bit different from that of the Warriors, given there are other enterprises — all equally badly affected by the loss of revenue brought on by Covid — that are folded into the same business as the Wasps rugby club. It’s complicated because of the debt structure with which the club were bought but there is no reason it can’t be a viable business. If the move to Coventry hadn’t taken place in 2014 then the administrators might have been called in a few years ago.
What last week has underlined is the need for the people who run the game to work more closely together. We have always known that club finances are precarious and that unless you have a very wealthy benefactor able to cover millions of pounds of losses — as Bath do with Bruce Craig and Saracens did with Nigel Wray — the battle of balancing the books is a constant one. If we were starting again, I’m sure we would look at a ten-club Premiership with bigger squads. But we are, as they say, where we are.
In these circumstances it is baffling that we see so little of the Premiership’s best assets — its leading England players — on show week in, week out. When I was playing it was the norm for England internationals to come up against one another regularly at club level. I used to love this period in the season: come flying out of the traps and lay down a few markers so that when you meet up with your opponents at Pennyhill Park in November it’s you who’s got the bragging rights.
This issue was brought into sharp focus last weekend when Harlequins’ Marcus Smith had to sit out a mouthwatering clash with his rival for the England No 10 jersey, Owen Farrell, of Saracens. I know player welfare was cited for him being held back and I understand that concern. But we need more joined-up thinking, more discretion to ensure that a potentially great advertisement for the game isn’t scuppered again by rigid bureaucracy.
The Premiership needs to put its stars in front of the fans more regularly and it needs to have them connect with those fans. We know that supporters not only want to see them but want to know them and to like them.
Are the clubs doing enough to make that happen? Possibly. Does PR have a marketing plan to back that up? I’d like to see it. Has the RFU done its bit when the players are on England duty? Not enough for my liking. This is nuts because everyone knows that rugby always has to operate in football’s shadow.
There are other issues working against the big promotional push that professional rugby needs. I know of incidents where players have been approached to appear in initiatives to promote the sport as a whole and their agents have responded by quoting astronomical sums for appearance money.
They don’t seem to understand that if you grow the game, more money comes in and everyone gets richer.
42
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Immanuel Feyi-Waboso
« on: September 21, 2022, 01:43:07 PM »
Is this guy the one will put bums on seats?
I watched the highlights and he does have that WOW factor.
What the view of more our knowledgeable pundits?
I watched the highlights and he does have that WOW factor.
What the view of more our knowledgeable pundits?
43
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Where are we now?
« on: September 20, 2022, 11:52:21 AM »
Wasps director Lawrence Dallaglio has revealed that the club's financial future will be "much brighter" in the next few days as their season gets under way at Gloucester on Sunday.
This was the report in the Telegraph on September 7th.
The word 'imminent' was has also been quoted.
It is now the 20th.
What duration does word 'imminent' infer? How long is a piece of string seeems to be appropriate at the moment.
This was the report in the Telegraph on September 7th.
The word 'imminent' was has also been quoted.
It is now the 20th.
What duration does word 'imminent' infer? How long is a piece of string seeems to be appropriate at the moment.
44
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Toxic reign of these unworthy owners cannot end soon enough
« on: September 20, 2022, 08:16:47 AM »
Today's Time :
Toxic reign of these unworthy owners cannot end soon enough
Here was a scene that shamed English rugby. That is no comment on those who worked through the night, most with reduced pay and many without anything at all, to stage this match; nor the players, who fought and scrapped as well as they could; nor Steve Diamond, Worcester Warriors’ director of rugby, and his staff, who have moved mountains to play; nor Exeter Chiefs, who had a job to do in tough circumstances.
However, anyone involved in the game in this country — from the RFU, right the way down — who watched yesterday’s match should hang their heads.
How on earth it has come to this, how we have drifted into this abyss, how it has been allowed to happen in front of everyone’s eyes, beggars belief.
Worcester came in with no chance against Exeter. How could they?
Players and staff should be lauded for playing on despite everything. They were heralded before the game by the 4,999 fans allowed inside, the unpaid staff forming a guard of honour before the match. Later, in the 65th minute, the one occupied stand stood to applaud those who have not yet received 35 per cent of their August salaries. One pair of fans held up a homemade sign for the owners: “Wanted: a village for idiots.” Worcester were beaten 36-21. Defeat was all that was ever going to happen.
The players are talented professionals, a credit to themselves, the club and the sport, cracking on admirably while mentally exhausted, racked with uncertainty about their livelihoods.
They do not deserve to be in charge of this club, these people — many of whom, from those in the ticket office to stewards and bar tenders, volunteered to get the game on, or others from the Worcester Warriors Foundation rattling buckets to help top up staff pay.
Their endless broken promises have left this place rebellious, angry, on its knees. The end of their involvement in Worcester, and rugby, cannot come soon enough.
Whittingham did send out a statement to BT Sport — though not, incidentally, to his director of rugby, who had not seen it when asked about it — trying to calm the mood before kick-off.
In it he said that the club were “in the final stages” of agreeing terms with a new buyer who is “absolutely committed to rugby at Sixways” and will “inject funds early next week”. That all may be true, but no one here was convinced — they have heard this for weeks now, having been told for days an announcement was imminent. Indeed, the supporters’ club were informed — wrongly — that heads of terms had been signed on Friday, and said as much on local radio. They have had enough.
It is just as well the owners were not here, as it might have incited a mob. They have not turned up at Sixways for months, and, incredibly, want to stay on with a minority stake. It is hard to imagine fans, staff and players buying into a club that the owners are still involved in.
“We’re past the point of anger,” Dave Kling, a supporter, said. “I cannot see the owners ever setting foot in the city again. I gather they know that. Their names in the local area are now toxic, sullied. Maybe they don’t deserve that, but that’s the reality. I can’t see how they carry on. We need new owners we can trust.”
Advertisement
This is meant to be the top flight of English rugby, in a professional league that calls itself the best in the world. But stripping away all the defiance, you were left with only sourness and shame at this amateurish scene.
Toxic reign of these unworthy owners cannot end soon enough
Here was a scene that shamed English rugby. That is no comment on those who worked through the night, most with reduced pay and many without anything at all, to stage this match; nor the players, who fought and scrapped as well as they could; nor Steve Diamond, Worcester Warriors’ director of rugby, and his staff, who have moved mountains to play; nor Exeter Chiefs, who had a job to do in tough circumstances.
However, anyone involved in the game in this country — from the RFU, right the way down — who watched yesterday’s match should hang their heads.
How on earth it has come to this, how we have drifted into this abyss, how it has been allowed to happen in front of everyone’s eyes, beggars belief.
Worcester came in with no chance against Exeter. How could they?
Players and staff should be lauded for playing on despite everything. They were heralded before the game by the 4,999 fans allowed inside, the unpaid staff forming a guard of honour before the match. Later, in the 65th minute, the one occupied stand stood to applaud those who have not yet received 35 per cent of their August salaries. One pair of fans held up a homemade sign for the owners: “Wanted: a village for idiots.” Worcester were beaten 36-21. Defeat was all that was ever going to happen.
The players are talented professionals, a credit to themselves, the club and the sport, cracking on admirably while mentally exhausted, racked with uncertainty about their livelihoods.
They do not deserve to be in charge of this club, these people — many of whom, from those in the ticket office to stewards and bar tenders, volunteered to get the game on, or others from the Worcester Warriors Foundation rattling buckets to help top up staff pay.
Their endless broken promises have left this place rebellious, angry, on its knees. The end of their involvement in Worcester, and rugby, cannot come soon enough.
Whittingham did send out a statement to BT Sport — though not, incidentally, to his director of rugby, who had not seen it when asked about it — trying to calm the mood before kick-off.
In it he said that the club were “in the final stages” of agreeing terms with a new buyer who is “absolutely committed to rugby at Sixways” and will “inject funds early next week”. That all may be true, but no one here was convinced — they have heard this for weeks now, having been told for days an announcement was imminent. Indeed, the supporters’ club were informed — wrongly — that heads of terms had been signed on Friday, and said as much on local radio. They have had enough.
It is just as well the owners were not here, as it might have incited a mob. They have not turned up at Sixways for months, and, incredibly, want to stay on with a minority stake. It is hard to imagine fans, staff and players buying into a club that the owners are still involved in.
“We’re past the point of anger,” Dave Kling, a supporter, said. “I cannot see the owners ever setting foot in the city again. I gather they know that. Their names in the local area are now toxic, sullied. Maybe they don’t deserve that, but that’s the reality. I can’t see how they carry on. We need new owners we can trust.”
Advertisement
This is meant to be the top flight of English rugby, in a professional league that calls itself the best in the world. But stripping away all the defiance, you were left with only sourness and shame at this amateurish scene.
45
Wasps Rugby Discussion / From the Beeb
« on: September 18, 2022, 09:36:35 AM »
Wasps head coach Lee Blackett:
"The number of opportunities out there, you look and you reflect and you're thinking, it wasn't like we looked clueless at times, we were creating opportunities.
"We just made far too many mistakes with the ball, that's why I'm constantly saying we've got to improve our skill set and that's what we want from Wasps players.
"I think if you'd seen us in pre-season, I saw us heading in the right direction in terms of that. I think it's a bad day in the office but we have got to be constantly working on that and that is the direction we are going in - we're working really hard on our skills and we've got to work even harder."
Stating the bleeding obvious. Sort it or let someone else do it.
"The number of opportunities out there, you look and you reflect and you're thinking, it wasn't like we looked clueless at times, we were creating opportunities.
"We just made far too many mistakes with the ball, that's why I'm constantly saying we've got to improve our skill set and that's what we want from Wasps players.
"I think if you'd seen us in pre-season, I saw us heading in the right direction in terms of that. I think it's a bad day in the office but we have got to be constantly working on that and that is the direction we are going in - we're working really hard on our skills and we've got to work even harder."
Stating the bleeding obvious. Sort it or let someone else do it.