Premiership could play midweek games and cut break to finish season
Premiership Rugby is considering midweek matches in order to finish the season as well as slashing the length of its summer break in a move that could seriously jeopardise player welfare.
The PRL chief executive, Darren Childs, has claimed finishing the season is “the No 1 priority” with Harlequins on Monday the latest club to ask players, coaches and staff to accept a 25% wage cut. Childs admitted that playing matches over the summer was inevitable and revealed staging multiple fixtures at the same venue – possibly behind closed doors – is also a possibility along with midweek games.
The Premiership is suspended until 24 April but resuming next month is highly unlikely. This season is due to finish on 20 June but Childs conceded that to complete all matches the campaign would stretch well beyond then.
That remains the aim, in the face of the threat of financial ruin for some clubs if the season is scrapped, but
Childs also insisted the start of the following campaign – 12 September – would not be delayed, raising the prospect of exhausted players going from one season to another with barely a few
weeks’ rest.
As things stand, there is a guaranteed minimum break of 12 weeks between seasons. Playing into the summer could also mean no significant summer rest for England’s World Cup players, who have been on the go since last June.
England are due to tour Japan in early July but that two-Test series was cast into further doubt on Monday when Japan cancelled the rest of its Top League fixtures.
“Our number one priority is to find a way to play, and that is what we are all working on behind the scenes,” Childs said. “Our aim is really clear. We are all working to try to be the first sport back on television, whether that is in a closed stadium or an open stadium.
“The reason why the clubs have put the players on a three-week break is to have that option to potentially compress the end of this season and the beginning of next season. There is no plan at the moment to delay the start of the 2020-21 season. These things might
over O’Brien’s well-bred Lipizzaner, who had been odds-on when betting began but was allowed to drift to 2-1 by the off. O’Brien’s Knight Of Malta was a disappointing favourite in the next but punters kept faith in Sir Dragonet, who was a long odds-on shot for the Devoy
Stakes.
That proved a mistake, as he found little in the closing stages after travelling like a winner, Numerian pulling clear for a first success in 13 months. Sir Dragonet, beaten less than a length in last year’s Derby, will surely be sharper for his next outing, if Irish racing is allowed to continue behind closed doors for long enough.
Bolger is hopeful that will be permitted. “Everybody’s on tenterhooks,” said the trainer, who was not at Naas and kept in touch with the action remotely. “We have to keep up the security and make sure everybody is staying well apart from one another. It’s working fine for us at the moment.
“We’re even at the stage where we quizzed the younger staff where they were last night. I’m amazed how sensible they are. Most of them were at home, nearly all of them. They’re being very responsible and not buying coffees or sandwiches on the way to the races or anything like that.
“We would like it to continue the way it is because everybody is keeping their distance and there’s no restaurant or tea-room and they have to leave immediately after they’ve had their runners. It’s being very closely policed and even the jockeys coming back from the race are not chatting. They all seem very conscious of what’s required.”