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'Stop talking about corporate reasons why we can't do relegation'
Ex-England out-half Stuart Barnes has had a pop at millionaire club owners in the relegation-free Gallagher Premiership, claiming they don’t understand the game. Unlike in France, where their promotion and relegation system is sacrosanct, stadia criteria were used in recent months to block the promotion of Championship champions Ealing to the top flight in a year where the decision had already been taken to scrap top-flight relegation due to pandemic financial concerns.
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With no elite club set to be relegated until 2024 at the earliest, it is a situation that has ensured that this Saturday’s final round of regular fixtures in the Premiership has no consequence at the bottom of the table. Worcester, who are running 13th and last with 30 points, host twelfth place Bath who are on 33 points along with eleventh-placed Newcastle, who play away at playoff-chasing Northampton.
Whereas these results won’t have consequences at the foot of the Premiership in England, the relegation/promotion battle in France has – in sharp contrast – gone down to the wire with Brive and Perpignan fighting it out on the last day of the season not to finish 13th in a division where the 14th-place Biarritz have already been relegated.
Whoever finishes 13th in France will have to play off for survival against the defeated Pro D2 finalists, a showpiece second-tier final fixture that features the unfashionable Mont-de-Marsan playing Bayonne in the decider this Sunday in Montpellier with automatic promotion the reward for the winners.
It’s an exciting, tense finish that doesn’t exist in England where there is no Premiership relegation scheduled until summer 2024 – and even that will only be via a playoff with that year’s Championship champions.
A former England international has led a ragtag team of teachers, fund managers, engineers, pharmacists & students into the English second flight.
This is the remarkable story of @CaldyRFC – as told to @heagneyl ??? by @matt_cairns2 @Champrugby https://t.co/8K0CC6zcl0
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 15, 2022
Barnes has had enough of this protectionism and with RugbyPass columnist Andy Goode having already criticised the ring-fencing, the ex-Bath star now becomes the latest ex-England out-half to hit out at what has happened.
Speaking during an appearance on The Ruck, the weekly Times podcast, Barnes said during a review of last Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup final in Marseille: “Having played for a small city team with a population that is not that dissimilar to La Rochelle for a decade at Bath I can tell you that the great passion at Bath was always their closeness with fans and it makes a hell of a difference.
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“The other thing I feel we should also mention is Ronan O’Gara after the game was saying only eight years ago La Rochelle were in Pro D2. We have people in England who want to turn the clubs into sort of unchallenged franchises and they want to close opportunity.
“I have written so many times about what would have happened if the gate had been shut 15 years ago. There wouldn’t be an Exeter. What would have happened in France if the gate had been shut eight years ago? There wouldn’t be a La Rochelle.
“I am not prepared to have millionaires tell rugby people which clubs have no potential to grow. They don’t know and they never will. Most of them don’t understand the game well enough.
“We should get back to working as hard as we can be based on the French example – the fanaticism of the fans, the potential growth of the teams – that we need to get back to promotion and relegation as soon as we can and stop talking about the corporate reasons why we can’t do it. It’s a shield to hide monopolists.”
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Barnes did admit that the current Championship structure isn’t the best but he offered a solution to help make the second tier a far more appetising competition. “There are not enough supporters, not enough quality at the highest level in England.
“The way to do this is to create a second division with about four or five, maybe six, of the Premiership clubs in it, and then have four of five of the best (Championship) and have a league below develop.
“They won’t do it because they are scared to be judged on their performances on the field but if you do that you would then have more money in the Championship. At the moment I can understand broadcasters don’t want to spend money on games where 250 people are watching, it’s no good.
“At some stage we have got to say performances on the pitch matter, if you do down you go down and you have smaller leagues but they are more competitive.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
11 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
11 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to comments