Premiership should support home-grown coaches and players

WHAT a mess our game is getting itself into.

Huge amounts of money are being thrown at the top tier so they can all but ringfence themselves from the rest of the clubs. Masses of money are being spent by these top clubs on foreign coaches, who in turn bring in their foreign mates to assist on the coaching front and foreign players flooding in to drink from this gravy train!

Supporters are having to take out bank loans to take their families to watch an international at Twickenham as corporate guests seem to be prefered. Laws are being interpreted by international referees totally differently to the way they are written.

How about reducing the Premiership by two clubs, leaving Premiership rugby with the TV monies to fund them and maybe they could support themselves a bit more? Limit the number of foreign players (non UK) on the pitch at any time.

Also reduce the Championship by two clubs and introduce a playoff between the tier two runners-up and the second to bottom Premiership team to decide the final spot in the top tier.

The RFU should then properly fund the Championship as they will not be throwing so much money at the Premiership. Also, the vast revenues the RFU declare they make each year should be shared more fairly with grass roots clubs who contribute so much.

It would also be a good idea to have an independent revue of the management structures and salaries of the Premiership Rugby and RFU hierarchies to save on salaries and reduce this messy situation we find our game in.

BILL CLEE via email