Under-funding will ruin Tier Two warns Griffiths
DONCASTER head coach Clive Griffiths reckons the RFU must step up to the plate and fund Championship clubs to the tune of £1m-a-year each – or risk wrecking England’s successful second tier player development pathway.
With London Welsh set to go into liquidation on the back of mounting debt and an unsustainable wage bill, Griffiths fears more clubs may follow them into bankruptcy, thereby reducing opportunities for up-andcoming EQP players.
Welsh’s position will become clearer following tomorrow’s High Court winding-up proceedings over £250,000 in unpaid HMRC taxes, but Griffiths holds the RFU equally culpable for their failure to adequately fund hardpressed teams.
He told TRP: “The RFU can plough £225m into the Premiership and yet clubs in their own competition, the one they are supposed to be running, are going to the wall. Where’s the leadership from the RFU on this? There is none.
“We hear nothing. If the RFU are serious about the Championship they should say so and every club should get £1m. If we had that we could operate properly and give the RFU a top-class competition that helps to produce world-class England players.
“If they don’t rate the Championship, the RFU should say so and we’d all know where we stand. But in my opinion the competition is vital and you’ve only got to look at the number of England players who’ve played in it to see its value to the game.”
Since the RFU launched the Championship in 2009 a host of tier two clubs have hit financial trouble. Griffiths says annual funding of £530,000, compared to the £6m-plus Premiership clubs receive does not stack up.
“It’s the perennial problem of under-funding. There are other sides out there who are battling to remain afloat and it’s sad.
“I just can’t get my head around why the people at the top of the RFU poohpooh the Championship as an entity. It’s a fabulous competition but it’s virtually ignored.”
Griffiths hopes Welsh can survive, adding: “For London Welsh to cease as a rugby club would be a travesty and hopefully they come through it and keep playing at a decent level.”