Community clubs are the real unfortunates

I WOULD contest the central message in John Allanson’s letter in last week’s TRP.

He stated that the “RFU inherited this situation” and added that the PGA, (Professional Game Agreement) signed in 2016 was signed by “people no longer involved at the RFU”.

Bill Sweeney was not in place, but the majority were there. The most notable leaver was serial CEO Ian Ritchie who resigned to become chairman of the Premiership in 2018!

John goes on to talk about the “unbalanced relationship with the PRL” with “very limited rights of input or veto on PRL decisions”.

However, the real unfortunates in this sad story are the community clubs who have seen their share of the budget diminish from 50 per cent to 30 per cent since 2016, with the Premiership millionaires trousering the lost 20 per cent. Be it on their own heads.

Could this RFU chaos lead to a form of collective depression and result in a performance like last Saturday’s? Or was it that five or six players from the same club were selected despite having hardly played this season? Or just a much better Scottish performance.

Change is overdue.