Ex-EPCR Halliday's 'crisis' message on joining a Championship club
Ex-EPCR rugby boss Simon Halliday has secured his next gig in the sport, stepping down into the Championship in England. It was October 2021 when the former England player issued his exit statement from European rugby after serving two terms as the organisation’s chairman and he had now resurfaced 13 months later, agreeing to become a strategic advisor for the Gallagher Premiership-chasing Ealing Trailfinders.
A statement on the ex-EPCR figurehead read: “Ealing Trailfinders are delighted to announce that Simon Halliday is joining the club as a strategic advisor. A former England, Bath and Harlequins player, he joins the club having most recently spent six years as chairman at EPCR. During his tenure, he helped guide the organisation through the pandemic and secured a new eight-year agreement between the leagues and unions in European rugby before his departure.”
Halliday said: “I hope this will be the beginning of a long-term relationship. I’m most impressed with Ealing’s strong commitment to the men’s and women’s game, their best-in-class academy and, most importantly, the surrounding community. They epitomise the model rugby club. Another fundamental reason I’m getting involved is to help them realise their considerable ambitions.
“The game is in crisis right now at pretty much every level and we must effect sustainable change. Ealing Trailfinders, and the Championship clubs in general who have always represented the fabric of our game, must be at the forefront of the solution. I have been struck by the lack of consideration for this key area of our game and the administrators have not been listening.
“I look forward to helping represent the justifiable ambitions of Ealing Trailfinders while working alongside the Championship clubs and the whole leadership of our game in England. The long-term future can be very bright, but only if the game genuinely comes together in the immediate term. The work starts now.”
Ben Ward, the Ealing managing director, added: “We are delighted to have Simon joining the club. Over the last nine years since turning professional, we have continued to grow and invest in our infrastructure and the benefits are being seen. Last season our men’s team completed the Championship league-cup double in what was a historic season for the club.
“We were denied promotion based on flawed criteria with which we did not agree at the time and this has become an issue for all aspiring Championship clubs and must be resolved. Over the last couple of years, women’s rugby has become one of the fastest-growing sports in the country and it is something we want to be a part of and have invested accordingly.
“We already have a successful women’s academy based out of Brunel University, as well as strong links to partner schools such as Cardinal Newman and Henley College. Earlier this year we recruited World Cup winner Giselle Mather as our director of women’s rugby and we have submitted our bid for a place in the Women’s Premier 15s ahead of the 2023/24 intake.
“We have also partnered with our pods (places of development), which are clubs with thriving girl’s sections that we will invest in and support so we can help nurture their talent and create pathways for these players to play for Ealing Trailfinders Women at the highest level.
“We have taken a unique approach to our academy, by having the Trailfinders rugby academy also based at Brunel. We have developed the facilities at Brunel so that now they are some of the best in the game and now the men’s team is competing for a place in BUCS Super Rugby.
“We have partnered with some of the best rugby schools in the world and we are the only professional side in the country to have their Academy based out of a university. We think that allowing our young athletes to combine their rugby with their studies is hugely important as it gives them more options going forward.
“We are extremely proud of everything we are doing as a rugby club. We are ambitious and all our teams want to play at the highest level possible. Rugby is at a crossroads currently and has to change.
“We want to be part of these discussions and I believe Simon can help us with this. We are very fortunate with the support we get from Trailfinders and Mike Gooley. Mike and Simon are both passionate about rugby union and its values and we want to be part of ensuring the game is sustainable for future generations to enjoy.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Those are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
1 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
133 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
8 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
8 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
133 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
133 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
133 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
8 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
8 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to comments