‘Heartland’ competition will renew old rivalries
COVENTRY chairman Jon Sharp says a new ‘Heartland’ competition could provide salvation for clubs below the Premiership if ring-fencing becomes a reality.
Sharp believes the writing is on the wall. He claims self-serving Premiership clubs have lost sight of rugby’s values and that the RFU’s failure to rein them in has widened fault-lines within the game.
However, he is confident the Championship clubs can plot a sustainable future despite the growing threat of RFU funding to Tier Two being cut altogether. Sharp told The Rugby
Paper: “Competition is paramount and the concept of shutting off promotion and relegation is anathema to any true sporting fan. That said, because the game’s got out of control and out of the RFU’s hands, the Premiership is already ring-fenced by finance and the gap will only grow wider.
“Bearing in mind the Championship clubs’ participation agreement with the RFU runs out this summer, my expectation is a new deal will possibly be for only one year because what the Premiership want is for Saracens to be promoted – then they can go to 13 clubs.
“After that, I’m not sure whether we should expect any further funding from the RFU in the Championship or that they will allow promotion and relegation.”
Sharp added: “Everything’s in complete disarray – it’s chaos in rugby from top to bottom. Undeniably the virus has affected things and we can’t forget people are dying, but it has also exposed the fault-lines in rugby’s model at all levels.
“Premiership Rugby are arguing with everyone and I hope the RFU grab hold of the whole thing. They need to take control of the Premiership, which they’ve singularly failed to do through lack of leadership, meaning the rest of us suffer.
“While next season will be a mess, we’ll make the best of it and I’m turning my attentions to the following year, that’s where the excitement lies.”
Despite the growing likelihood the RFU will cave in to Premiership demands to pull up the drawbridge, Sharp paints a brighter picture of the way ahead.
A Championship working group, led by former Saracens CEO Ed Griffiths, is close to tabling proposals for a new-look competition from 2021/21 that may involve conferences and a wider geographical spread of ambitious clubs.
Sharp explained: “We recognise that the current structure is bust, but a vision group, with Ed Griffiths leading the charge, has been looking at a new structure for the Championship.
“We haven’t seen the final model yet, but the hope is people will buy-in. It proposes a return to the core values of English rugby and it will ensure the under-represented north and south-west get a proper voice.
“A lot of classical club rivalries will be renewed and it will have a totally new financial model based on the premise that the league has to be self-sustaining. There are proposals around how that is going to occur and I can tell you that it’s going to be exciting.”
Sharp, a ‘Cov’ fan man and boy, believes a new Heartlands competition involving Championship and National League sides offers something the Premiership cannot. He added: “It returns to that part of the game that creates real values and interest for supporters – my city, my club – rather than the brand-based events in the Premiership.
“It’s also very important that it’s all-encompassing and we’re going to be doing appeals to everyone in the National Leagues and all of the stakeholders too.
“The Championship is thinking outside the box and the RFU and Premiership Rugby would do well to listen to the ideas coming out of our forum because it’s the future.”