Following football will put game on road to ruin
IT WON’T happen. It can’t happen. Anyone proposing that the Premiership should cut loose from the RFU and become a rebel league must be playing a game of brinkmanship, because the notion is ludicrous.
Not only is it unworkable and devoid of sporting logic, it would also be an act of vandalism which would tear apart the sport in this country.
That is not an exaggeration. Club v country disputes have been a feature of the professional era in English rugby, but a breakaway by the clubs would cause and require monumental upheaval, from grass-roots to the Test arena.
If it turns out to be a strategy on the part of militant factions within PRL — a negotiating tool designed to help realise the aim of sealing off the top division — it is not convincing.
Going it alone is not just about the pursuit of precious new ‘markets’ in far-flung corners of the globe, it is about the tedium of every-day governance. It is about organising refs, drug tests, insurance policies, disciplinary hearings and community coaching.
Certain owners are agitating to be freed from perceived chains, in order to reach for the stars. But those chains of RFU control come with money attached. That point appears to be overlooked.
Some within the hierarchy of the club game believe they have a product fit for world domination. They see a chance to follow football’s voyage far beyond these shores. They see firework displays and cheerleaders, hashtags and ‘likes’, razzmatazz and glamour. They see a ‘brand’ and dollar signs.
But rugby is not football. The world does not wait, with open arms and minds and wallets, for Worcester v Newcastle, or even Saracens v Exeter. Global conquest is a long way off.
Frankly, the clubs would be best off getting their houses in order first. Not enough of them fill their own stands, let alone have the box-office appeal to do so in America or the Middle East.
It remains to be seen whether there really are markets to tap into across the Atlantic and in China. And why do all sports now have to set out to become international brands anyway?
The Premiership is an English league and there are plenty of English people who remain immune to its charms. Focus on them first.
How about this to aggravate the rugby establishment — ex-Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who has had talks with the CVC hierarchy about their investment, saying: ‘If you got hold of the guys and tarted them up, it would be bigger than American football.’ Tarted them up?
Then there’s Bristol chairman Steve Lansdown’s take. ‘The deciding factor is how many games you can physically play,’ he said. ‘ We’ve already got Friday, Saturday and Sunday games. Will we see the odd game in the week? Maybe. Television will dictate when we play. That’s happened with football. We will see those habits changing. That may not be the best for the fan experience but we’ll get used to it.’
And what about those players? A breakaway league would leave them forced to either abandon their club contracts or Test careers. It is hard to imagine many deciding they’ll give up on England in return for midweek games and trips to new ‘markets’.
Football has been dictated to by TV rights- holders to an extent that cannot happen in rugby. There is welfare to think about.
If rugby wants to follow football, the conclusion will be absurd kick- off times to suit viewers in China, a saturated calendar, devalued marquee fixtures and imported talent having a negative effect on the production of England players.
And if franchising is the model of choice, what price a team from Qatar or Shanghai being added one day? Never mind poor Cornwall, as they strive to tap into so much native passion for the game.
At the heart of all this is Ian Ritchie — who has jumped from one side of the fence to the other with staggering haste. He left the RFU, wandered down the road and joined PRL, armed with so much insight about how to take on the union in boardroom conflict.
He claims that talk of a civil war is ‘ridiculous’, when what is most ridiculous is that his job- swap was even allowed to happen. For now, Ritchie is in diplomatic mode, saying that the clubs want to continue working closely with the union. Of course they do, because they need the hand-outs.
But with CVC coming in, spying an opportunity to make a swift buck from another sport, don’t bet against the club-country truce collapsing again. It feels as if rugby here is back on a knife edge.