Why spend if academy system works so well?
IT SEEMS to me that Premiership Rugby has got rather too full of its own importance.
The moratorium on promotion and relegation as is proposed is likely to be in place for an additional four years. We are told it is to ensure the sustainability of the professional game.
I would have thought by now that they would have realised that, in its present form, it will only be sustainable if the injections of cash from the RFU continues. Without it, every business or club would run at a loss.
I suggest that to test sustainability, the RFU withdraws money from the Premiership once the existing contract expires. What is even worse is that the wording of the various statements implies that the fouryear moratorium could be extended, or at least the criteria for promotion made so stringent that in effect relegation will never be an issue in the future.
Along with many true rugby followers, I have no particular interest in the Premiership – either who wins it or who is relegated – I certainly would not pay to watch it! I prefer to put my support in the direction of local Community Clubs, without which the Premiership would become even less sustainable because the supply of players to their much vaunted Academies would simply cease.
These Community Clubs are where the support from the RFU should be directed. Sadly, they prefer to throw money to people who simply want to serve their own egos by owning a professional club.
The question that has to be asked is: How good are the Academies? Clearly Northampton have no back rowers in theirs if they have offered South African Juarno Augustus around £180k p.a. to come and play here. Clearly this is not the only such case as there seem to be more South Africans in the Premiership than any other nationality. To pay that money clearly indicates they don’t need additional funding from Twickenham.