Rugby is awash with acrimony after messy plan to crack on
RUGBY will continue this weekend, but the frantic, chaotic attempts to organise a fitting response to the death of the Queen stirred up divisions and acrimony within the sport. The opening weekend of the Premiership season is taking place, with amendments, after a decision was eventually taken to delay the two games which were supposed to launch the 2022-23 campaign last night — Bristol v Bath and Sale v Northampton. The West Country derby has been switched to 5.30pm today and the fixture in Salford will now kick off at 3pm tomorrow. However, the process was protracted and messy, to say the least, with officials veering between different solutions as they wrestled with the need to be seen to be suitably respectful, set against concerns about the financial and logistical impact of mass postponements.
For a time yesterday morning, the mood was to press ahead unchanged, but that position soon shifted.
Sources indicated to Sportsmail that, after talks with the department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which yielded suggestions but no definitive guidance, Premiership Rugby sought to place the decision in the hands of individual host clubs. However, then came a twist as the PRL board chose to postpone last night’s games but allow the others to continue. Bristol were said to be ‘100 per cent’ determined to proceed with their game against local rivals Bath and it is understood the West Country club were incensed by the PRL board decision. The Bears were expecting a crowd in excess of 24,000 at Ashton Gate and fear that the postponement — driven by other, unaffected clubs — could cost them up to £200,000.
Many hospitality and ticket bookings will be cancelled and have to be refunded. There will also be additional match-day staffing costs. Another factor is that the match will not be televised in its new slot, either by BT Sport or via PRL TV’s streaming service.
Sale were thought to be erring towards pressing ahead with their game too, until it was taken out of their hands.
After discussions about moving
the fixture to mid-November, it was agreed to reschedule it to tomorrow afternoon.
To avoid a five-day turnaround to their next game, at home to London Irish, the Saints have put that back until next Saturday, September 17. At all Premiership games this weekend, there will be a minute’s silence, while players and coaches have been ‘invited’ to wear black armbands as a mark of respect. Meanwhile, the RFU announced all fixtures from Championship level down to the community game could proceed as planned.