Show sensitivity and put freeze on relegation plans

ONE of the many difficult issues to be resolved in rugby as a consequence of Covid affects National 1 clubs.

It was decided last year we would move to a league of 14 (from 16) to provide more rest days and enhance player welfare which is a commendable aim and supported by most.

The super-relegation year was scheduled for 21/22 and would have followed a full season of rugby which we have not had. I understand the intention remains to keep the deciding season as 21/22 which will mean up to five sides out of 16 could be relegated at the end of the next season.

There is, I believe, an argument that at the end of the next season, following the 18 months that all of the clubs will have had, that it would be a kindness not to have any promotion or relegation in order to remove commercial worries. No one will know what their true financial position will be for many months yet, nor the intention of their sponsors, and there may be a lag in crowds being allowed.

A substantial increase in the number of clubs being relegated will inevitably result in real pressure to allocate more money to playing budgets at a delicate time.

Therefore surely it would be an act of harshness to almost double the number of clubs being relegated at such times. Either keep the relegation numbers the same at three, and only one promoted from Nat 2, or defer the implementation of the new structure for one year.

I would urge the members of the RFU Council to consider this matter sensitively.