Premiership clubs in relegation ‘panic’
Scrapping relegation from the Gallagher Premiership has been described as “a panic situation” stemming from the number of bigname clubs currently battling to avoid the drop, by the director of rugby of Ealing Trailfinders, one of the Championship front-runners chasing promotion.
Premiership Rugby’s shareholders – the dozen teams in the top tier plus London Irish – are discussing expanding the league to 13 sides. Ealing’s Ben Ward, however, says any move to ring-fence the Premiership could lead to legal action from clubs in England’s second division.
“It doesn’t seem a logical reason and more of a panic situation,” Ward told The Daily Telegraph. “Premiership clubs who have been in the top six before and haven’t had to worry about relegation are now throwing their weight behind it a little bit more.
“I’d be very surprised if it happens, because I believe there would be uproar. You would potentially see legal battles regarding competition fairness. The difficulty in this country is that you do not know who actually makes the decisions: is it the Premiership or the Rugby Football Union?
“The RFU should be in charge of the game in this country. I think at the moment you have owners from Premiership clubs who are in
Drop this idea: Ealing’s Ben Ward insists scrapping relegation would be met with uproar charge making decisions on their own interests, rather than what is right for the game in England.”
Even if Ealing were promoted – they are four points behind leaders London Irish – the financial gulf would mean that they would be favourites for relegation the following season.
“The rich are getting richer,” Ward said. “If we were promoted, our budget in terms of the finance we get from the Premiership would be around a third of what the other teams would have. In France, the teams that come up end up on the same money, arguably more, than the rest of the teams in order to help them survive.”
Meanwhile, Nigel Melville, the RFU’S interim chief executive, confirmed that relegation would remain this season. “Suddenly people want something to happen now. Well, no, that’s not how it works,” said Melville. “Should Premiership Rugby want to change the structure, they can bring that to the Professional Game Board for a vote there and then it would be put to the council. Nothing is going to change as regards this season.
“[I am ruling it out] because there’s a knock-on effect. It’s not just about them, in the Premiership. There are teams below probably investing to come up and also teams below them. The whole system is attached, so it has a knock-on effect all the way down if you start shutting doors halfway through a season. It has a huge impact on everyone below.”