PLANS FOR A BREAKAWAY COULD TEAR RUGBY APART

But Premiership chief plays down ‘civil war’

PREMIERSHIP rugby chairman Ian Ritchie tried to play down the threat of civil war in the English game yesterday after it emerged that top clubs have considered forming a breakaway league, outside RFU control.

Minutes of PRL board meetings, reported by the Mail on Sunday, revealed that discussions have taken place about forming an ‘unregulated competition’ in the event of union opposition to their quest to ring-fence the top division.

Any such rebellion by the Premiership clubs could tear apart the English game and jeopardise the national team.

In response, the RFU have emphasised no formal proposal has been tabled so far in relation to scrapping promotion and relegation. Sources have poured scorn on the notion of a breakaway league, calling it ‘preposterous’ and ‘pie in the sky’.

But the leading English clubs have already demonstrated their militant tendencies by driving through an overhaul of the European tournaments.

And Sportsmail has learned that chairmen from Premiership clubs held meetings about an audacious plot to buy the RFU and Twickenham stadium. The plan came to nothing, but there were suggestions last night that it may be revived in this latest phase of club-versus-country tension.

An imminent investment of £200million-plus into the Premiership by private equity firm CVC has emboldened PRL as they pursue their agenda of scrapping the annual one up, one down model, which they argue is a commercial hindrance.

Board meeting minutes stated: ‘If the RFU were unwilling to support change, we shall need to ensure access to match officials and player insurance cover, as this would potentially become an unregulated competition.’

The RFU have control over the entire England set- up and any players involved in a breakaway league would not be eligible for Test selection.

In addition, as part of the current system, the union financially support the top clubs to the tune of £30m a year, as well as overseeing disciplinary matters, antidoping, referees and a myriad of logistical details.

Last month, the union’s interim chief executive, Nigel Melville, expressed a willingness to explore a compromise, whereby the Premiership is ring-fenced for a handful of years before being re-opened — allowing a period to achieve greater financial stability and prosperity.

The next scheduled meeting of the Professional Game Board — the body representing the clubs and the RFU — is later this month and the RFU are keen to receive formal ring-fencing proposals so the issue can be properly addressed.

Ritchie, who was RFU chief executive for five years until May 2017, sought to douse the flames yesterday.

‘You would expect all boards to discuss issues like Premiership promotion and relegation and we’ve been doing that for some time,’ he told BBC 5 Live’s Sportsweek. ‘To be clear, we have an eight-year agreement with the RFU (until 2024) — we work very closely in partnership with them — and we’ve not put any proposals to them about this yet. ‘Nor have we finalised our own, so I think what we need to do is consider this further. It’s a bit precipitous to say that there’s a rift between us because we’ve not had the discussions yet. To suggest a civil war is imminent is, frankly, ridiculous.

‘We all have views of promotion and relegation and what happens with teams going up or down. But the uncertainty of that and how it works is another matter to consider, how it works on the economics of the game and the business.’

Pressed on the concept of ringfencing, Ritchie said: ‘There are plenty of models around the world where it works, the NFL being a classic example. How does it work with the economics of the game? How does it work with the sporting aspects? We’ve been discussing these matters for some time.’

The minutes of recent PRL board meetings also reveal a desire to promote the Premiership ‘brand’ by taking more games to other countries.

Asked about that, Ritchie added: ‘Obviously we want to expand the Premiership internationally. There have been gains in the USA and we’ve been looking very closely at that market. You wouldn’t rule out looking at other countries.’

Ritchie took up his role at PRL soon after stepping down as chief executive of the RFU.

While in charge of the Union, back in 2015, he had considered ring-fencing the Premiership but with a very different mindset, saying: ‘Promotion and relegation is enshrined in our regulations and any possible move away from that will have to be considered in the round, not just on the basis of a business case put forward by the clubs.’