Hill calls for Championship expansion and axe for cup
EXPANDING the Championship to 14 teams and scrapping the British & Irish Cup is the only move that makes financial sense, according to Richmond director of rugby Steve Hill.
Current contracts for the cup competition end this season but pressure is on the RFU to make a decision over making changes to the Championship or setting up a new cup competition before Christmas.
Championship rules state changes need to be agreed a year in advance and a bigger league will also need the approval of National League One clubs.
Hill believes it is ridiculous that Richmond will go four weeks without a league game in January this season, especially as the cup is not financially rewarding, with the RFU providing funding only in the knock-out stages. Hill told The Rugby
Paper: “I don’t know of any team that says positive things about the cup. Crowd numbers show that the league is what people care about, so from a financial point of view it makes sense to have more league matches.
“Current rules state that league changes need to be agreed a season in advance, last year with London Welsh was an anomaly, but the RFU need to make a decision in the next six weeks.
“We don’t get any money from the RFU for the group cup games; we’ve got a trip to Connacht this season and with flights, hotels and food for 35 players and staff, that’s going to cost us more than £10,000 and we’ll only get anything back if we reach the quarter finals.”
Hill believes a bigger league would be the way forward, but says that would need the RFU to stump up more money as it’s unlikely the current 12 teams will agree to receiving less central funding.
Currently each club gets £550,000 in RFU funding, while winning a place in the cup final earns an extra £130,000 – but there is the lack of a main sponsor for the cup to provide additional funding.
Hill added: “It’s different for us and professional teams like Jersey or Doncaster. No pro side can survive off 11 home games in a season so they will have to do something.
“It’s unlikely they’ll get an agreement unless the RFU put more money in.”
Hill adds the quality in the cup is just not there. “Some Welsh teams don’t even put out a second fifteen – we rested 13 players last week. Only Ealing, who have a bigger squad and expect to reach the knockout stages, are interested – they played six of their first fifteen against us.
“If the RFU continue with a cup they should include the rest of the national leagues as teams like Darlington Mowden Park and Blackheath can cause an upset and it adds variety – we are playing Ealing and Rotherham four times this season.
“In National One I thought 30 games was too many on the guys, 22 is too few, so 26 from the second week of September to Easter would suit us just fine.”
An RFU spokesperson said: “Expanding the Greene King IPA Championship to 14 teams for next season is speculation.
“The RFU’s priority remains delivering the fiveyear deal already in place with the respective clubs until June 2020.”