Andy Goode: Ring fence the Premiership? I'm 100 per cent against it
It’s hardly surprising that more owners of Premiership clubs appear to be keen on ending relegation now that so many teams are at risk of the drop but it can’t be allowed to happen.
I’m 100 per cent against it. It goes against everything that the league has been built on over the years. Just think about Exeter going from the Courage League Division 4 around 20 years ago to becoming Premiership champions in 2017. That couldn’t have happened if the league was closed off.
The Chiefs were only promoted in 2010 and the gap between the top tier and second does look like a chasm at times now but that’s only eight years ago and look where they are now.
Bristol were the latest team to win promotion from the Championship and they’re sitting seventh in the table and hammered the most successful club in the professional era of English rugby at the weekend.
I’m not sure London Irish will be in a position to compete next season but the focus should be on how we can make the Championship a more competitive and commercially viable league, not on how we can keep all those teams out of the big time.
There are currently just four points separating sixth place and bottom in the Premiership and that’s a refreshing change from the usual two-horse race to avoid relegation. It’s also why these calls for the league to be ring fenced seem louder than they sometimes have done in the past.
The likes of Leicester, Northampton and Bath are genuinely at risk of relegation this season and some of the bigger clubs have definitely changed their tune on this issue as a direct result of the fear of what relegation could mean for them financially.
That is short-sighted and owners could make emotional decisions based on where they are at the moment. That shouldn’t be allowed to happen and I know any plan will have to be run past the RFU but someone impartial should be making this decision, not a group of people with a massive vested interest.
Apart from anything else, getting rid of relegation would make the league a poorer product and how that can be allowed to happen is beyond me, especially with the news this week that CVC might be about to purchase a 30 per cent stake in Premiership Rugby for £240m.
CVC were involved in Formula 1 before and that’s about as uncompetitive as you can get, with the likes of McLaren and Ferrari so dominant. You could say that Saracens and Exeter are the McLaren and Ferrari of the Premiership but the league as a whole is hugely competitive and we don’t want to lose that.
You only have to look at Super Rugby and the PRO14, where there is no relegation, and it’s a dead competition halfway through the season sometimes.
It can’t be good for ticket sales, sponsorship or, most critically, television companies if there are more dead rubbers in the second half of the campaign. I think the product would dwindle if relegation was scrapped and it’d be an awful decision commercially, as well as from a sporting point of view.
I understand the argument that some have made in the past that not having the threat of relegation looming over clubs would allow them to operate more freely and also blood more young players in big games but it’s not a good enough reason to do this.
I don’t buy that it needs to happen for player welfare at all and if the rumours are true about the proposal for it to become a 13-team league with the Premiership Rugby Cup being abolished, then you’re actually taking away a competition that gives young players valuable game time.
You could take the view that it’s a good idea to ring fence the top tier just for a few years if there’s actually evidence that all of those in the second tier have no prospect of being able to make the step up before then and doing so would actually help them to get closer to being able to compete but I’m not sure it would and I think it’d be a backward step.
I used to love them as well because you knew the importance and you’d get really up for those games. That’s why you play sport, to compete.
On the flip side, I remember one year at Worcester when we were safe from relegation with three games left and the buzz just wasn’t there in those matches. It wasn’t that we weren’t bothered as players but the same competitive and emotional juices just aren’t flowing in those games.
I played for the Sharks away at the Lions in Super Rugby as well at Ellis Park and, despite it being a derby, there were more away fans than home fans there because we were fighting to make the play-offs but their season was over.
That’s not good for the product commercially. And, I think if you ask them, players nowadays don’t want to be involved in those dead rubbers either and would much rather have the prospect of relegation on the cards to keep things competitive.
This is by no means the first time that a proposal to scrap relegation has been mooted and an official statement from Premiership Rugby even confirmed that “it’s been on the agenda for 20 years and will always be debated”.
That doesn’t make it right and this time around it smacks of self-interest even more than in previous years with so many of the traditionally biggest names in the league at genuine risk of losing their top flight status.
You’re killing dreams by ring fencing the Premiership. The likes of Cornish Pirates, Ealing Trailfinders, Jersey, Coventry and others might not be in a position to compete in the top flight right now but they’ve worked damn hard to get into the position they’re in and who’s to say they can’t be the next Exeter. The opportunity for them to achieve something similar cannot be taken away.
Comments on RugbyPass
The pack lacks a little in height for the line out and I wouldn’t be completely convinced by some of the combinations till we see it in action.
5 Go to commentsThe side is good but lacks experience. International playing bona fides udually trumps super rugby form for good reason. And incumbents are usually stuck with. Codie Taylor should start or come off the bench. B Barrett will start at fullback. Blackadder has not earned the position, Finau has. TJs experience and competitiveness earns him a starting role, Christie or Ratima off the bench
5 Go to commentsPretty good side. Scott Barrett should be the captain. Ethan Blackadder a great choice at blindside. He is going to go from strength to strength having made a couple of starts for the Crusaders. Scott Robertson rates him highly. Perenara could start a no 9.
5 Go to commentsI question and with respect. Was enough done over the last few years to bring through new blood knowing the Whitelocks and co couldn’t last forever. There should have been more done to future proof the team. New squad new coach, he and they weren’t set up well. IMO
6 Go to commentsJacobsen will definitely be in the 23
5 Go to commentsLots of discussion points, Ben, but two glaring follies IMO: 1. Blackadder at 6. Has done nothing so far this season to justify his selection. Did you see him going backwards in contact at the weekend? Simply has not got the physical presence at 6: we need a Scott Barrett or a Finau (or wildcard Ah Kuoi), beasts who are big enough to play lock, like Frizzell. If Barret played at 6, Paddy could be joined at lock by Vai’i or one of the young giants we need to promote, like Darry or Lord (if he ever gets on the field). Blackadder best left to join the queue for 7. 2. Not even a mention for Christie? Ratima gets caught at crucial times at the back of the ruck when he hesitates on the pass. The only way he starts would be if Christie and TJ are injured.
5 Go to commentsWhat a dagg in more ways than one
6 Go to commentsRegroup come back next year but sack some of the coaching team and don't be like the ABs last minute sacking. If Crusaders don't do well ABs don't do well.
5 Go to commentsProctor Definitely inform again this year had a hell of a season last year and this year is looking even better. Still mixed feelings about Ioane tho.
4 Go to commentsDagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
6 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
5 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to comments