Sorry Colin, I’ll not raise a glass to the leaches of rugby

I WILL not be taking up Colin Boag’s invitation to raise a glass to “our Premiership club owners”.

He presents them and their clubs as benefactors of the game in England, rather than the leaches that I believe them to be.

What is it that the RFU get in return for “the fair price” that is paid for release of England players? Some extra training time because players for other countries are released, albeit for shorter periods without the payment of ransom monies.

And the benefit to England of this? An abysmal Six Nations performance and this from a country with by far the biggest player population in the world! For “fair” price, read “extortionate”.

The virtuous circle of international profits flowing to the lower levels of the game is another fiction that needs to be put to bed – just read the growing chorus of letters in these pages from members of community clubs, that desperately need a fairer share of RFU funding to help renew outdated basic facilities.

The army of people who give up their time – and their money – to keep such clubs going are the real heroes of the game and it is to their health, not the Premiership fat cats’ that all true lovers of the game should be drinking. Without them the whole game structure will eventually collapse.

Will owners care if their businesses are then totally dependent on foreign mercenaries? As long as they can sell to CVC’s global audiences, I fear not. JOHN ALLANSON Bishop’s Stortford