Championship ‘will be all about London sides soon’
DONCASTER co-benefactor Steve Lloyd fears the Championship will become a London-centric league within the decade unless the RFU step in with additional funding that allows clubs outside the capital to remain professional.
With Nigel Melville, the RFU’s new director of professional rugby, currently heading a working party looking at the future of England second tier, Lloyd is pressing for clarification over where clubs like Doncaster sit at the elite end of the game. Lloyd told The Rugby
Paper: “You cannot do professional rugby for under £1m. If the RFU tell us the current funding (£530,000) is absolutely it, then we have to be honest and say the only way we can continue is by becoming part-time professional.
“It sounds nice that you’re going to reduce your outgoings by quite a chunk, but it doesn’t work like that because to attract a lad who’s going to come to Don“At caster part-time you have to find him a job – but we’re not in London and it’s difficult.
“You will end up with the Championship being London-centric.
the moment we’ve got five Championship clubs in London and Bedford’s as near as damn it, then you’ve got Blackheath, Rosslyn Park and Esher all waiting in the wings.
“If that happens, within the decade you could end up with nine or ten clubs out of 12 who are Londonbased, all part-time professionals – is that what the RFU want?
“Is that what the Council members who represent the North-west, North-east and Yorkshire want? Of course it isn’t. It can’t be good for the game.”
Lloyd has challenged the RFU to be decisive over their intentions.
He added: “Currently there is no Championship presence in the West Midlands or North-west and Jersey and Cornish Pirates are outposts, so the writing is on the wall.
“But we’re effectively a wholly owned subsidiary of the RFU in business terms – talk of any funding from Premiership is obfuscation – so we need the RFU to state clearly what they want of the Championship and how it will be funded.”