I’m hoping that county sides will be back next year

» THE Gloucestershire RFU have announced that they will not be entering the men’s or Under-20s County Championship this season. They will be participating in the 2021/22 women’s and age-grade boys and girls’ county competitions, which are part of the development pathways for players, coaches and support staff. The GRFU executive and management boards came to this near-unanimous decision after balanced discussions and lengthy debate and the reasons are entirely financial.

They are based on severely reduced RFU funding due to the financial impact of Covid on revenue streams, to the GRFU over the past several seasons plus the loss of its major sponsor, Wadworth, in 2020.

The RFU have offered County Championship funding support of £2,000 per team, while the men’s and Under-20s England Counties teams have been discontinued.

Whilst the GRFU has sufficient reserves to underpin its core functions, these need to be managed to negotiate a period of uncertain financial support from the RFU due to the pandemic.

This has not been an easy decision to make with Gloucestershire having such a rich and successful history in both competitions and hopefully next season we will see the team return.

Rugby in Gloucestershire has taken a hit due mainly to the pandemic, and this will not help matters.

So have the GRFU pursued other possible sponsorships within or outside the county? - that would be the first question, which has gone largely unanswered. Clubs are told by the RFU and GRFU they should not rely on “handouts” from the said governing bodies, so I would suggest that the GRFU should do the same and do some creative thinking to sell this historic championship to a potential sponsor.

It’s okay to say it will be back next year. But will it?

Companies and organistions across the world are adapting to the pandemic, so should the GRFU, or a generation of players will not have the opportunity to play for their county at Twickenham.

Any sponsors who would like to get involved give me call. I would be happy to sponsor the playing kit.