'This is a massive call that will dictate what happens for the next 25 years in English rugby'
In a week that has seen renewed calls for promotion and relegation between the Gallagher Premiership and Greene King IPA Championship to be scrapped, you could forgive Championship clubs for feeling a bit nervous.
With Ealing Trailfinders sitting just four points off the top in the second tier of English rugby, and promotion the carrot at the end of the stick, the club’s director of rugby, Ben Ward, has taken these latest calls to ringfence in relaxed fashion.
“I think it’s something they want to push for. Why wouldn’t they? You’ve got 13 shareholders who want to protect their own interests, so I understand why they’re pushing for it.”
“I think it’s an interesting dynamic of how the game is run in this country, that there’s a lot of control to those clubs, to those shareholders, to the owners.”
“It won’t happen midseason, it just can’t. From our point of view, we’d vigorously fight against it, for obvious reasons. I think if you look at Nick Kennedy’s comments when he was at London Irish in the Premiership, he was all for ringfencing, and then when he left Irish, he said that no, he wasn’t really for it. I’m sure if you were sat here talking to me and we were in the Premiership right now, I’d be saying to you, yeah, ringfence. Again, for obvious reasons!”
“I think that this is a massive call that’ll dictate what happens for the next 25 or 30 years in English rugby. If you look at some of the sides at the moment and the debt they are racking up, Wasps for example, is this CVC deal just going to bail them out? Or is it that in six- or seven-years’ time, they go bust and then there’s no team that can make that step up?”
“My argument would be, and I think there was a suggestion that they could shut off promotion for five years and then see who’s ready, is that in five years’ time, if they’re getting £6m funding a year, that’s £30 million. If we’re getting half a million for that period, that’s less than £3m. How are you supposed to close the gap with that funding level difference?”
“There are subtle changes that have been made. The playoffs have gone. They’re now talking about promotion and relegation. I believe the next thing that will come in, in terms of the subtle way of doing it, will be a playoff between the top of the Championship and bottom of the Premiership. Once that starts to happen, they may turn around and say we’ll cut it off for five years. They know what they’re doing.”
“I think it’s wrong and we will very much fight it if it does happen, so we’ll just have to wait and see. I’d like to think the people at the RFU would protect the interests of the English game, rather than just the 13 shareholders. It’s a shame that Steve Brown has just left, as he was a big supporter of the Championship, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens there. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
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With the group of clubs belonging to Premier Rugby Limited (PRL) having dropped to 13 sides, following Yorkshire Carnegie’s loss of shares through a combination of having been out of the Premiership for a significant period of time and a forced sale to Exeter a few years ago, the opportunity for Ealing to join that group is one Ward would relish.
“We haven’t been asked. I know there was talk of 14 teams. We’d love to be considered.”
“If they offered us the opportunity, we’d be very happy to buy some shares in the Premiership at the moment. We want to grow – we’re no way near the finished article yet.”
“We’re still growing off the field and we’re still looking at various stadium options, both in terms of the longer-term and what we’d do next year if we were able to go up this season. We’d love to be involved, but we have had no contact from the Premiership whatsoever.”
“The biggest disappointment for us is that we don’t hear from them. Why not come down and have a look at what we have got? Give us some advice on what we could improve and what you’d like to see from us in order to be included in the next couple of years, and we’d work towards that.”
“We’d love to be involved and to try and improve what the Premiership is. I’m not saying we’d be perfect, and, in the current state of play, I think we’d yoyo a bit, but at some point, like Bristol are doing now, you try and make that step up.”
Ealing are clearly not dwelling on that disappointment, though, with plans in place to take the club forward off the pitch, as well as on it.
A partnership was recently set up with Brunel University which has the scope to help Ealing deal with the fact they do not have recruiting grounds and a PRL U18 academy, as well as creating a niche for themselves in terms of attracting some of the top young talent around.
The club have set themselves a target of getting Brunel to BUCS Super Rugby and the partnership includes bursaries for players on the programme, financial assistance for tuition and accommodation and a host of other rugby benefits from the link-up between the two entities.
“I think it’s extremely realistic [getting to BUCS Super Rugby]. You haven’t got another programme like it in London. You’ve got a lot of good programmes in the BUCS Super Rugby competition and what we want to do is link that in with our set-up here. If that means there are players training with us full-time during the summer and in the week around their studies, that can only be beneficial for them and the university.”
“We will send our coaches, S&C, medical staff and analysts in there and it will be run as a full-time programme. I think it’s a fantastic competition. We signed some players from there last season and I think a lot of players now look at it as a really good route to go down. After three years, if you’re good enough, you’ll go to the Premiership or to pro rugby, but you’ve also got an education behind you. As I say, there isn’t a programme like that in London, so there’s got to be an attraction there.”
“In terms of timescales, if we could get there [to the Premiership] in three years, it gives a guy joining now, at 18, the three-to-four years to develop and we should have a nice production line coming through, to give us some strength. We’re very excited about it.”
“Part of the reason for it is that when Wasps left the area, we weren’t considered for their academy recruiting grounds. I know we’re not a Premiership shareholder, but Yorkshire Carnegie still have a Premiership academy and they are no longer a shareholder. We have tried to build an academy, but it’s very difficult to compete with the Premiership sides. By offering education, as well as full-time rugby, hopefully it has some pull. Nottingham are probably quite a good example, with what they do at Nottingham Trent.”
“It’s about sitting down with a player and their parents and saying yeah, you’ve got a one-year contract in the Premiership, but here you’ve got three years of full-time rugby guaranteed, as well as an education. If you’re good enough at the end of it, you’ll go to that level. If you’re not good enough, you’ve enjoyed yourself, you’ve got something behind you and you can either get signed by us, play National One or you’ve got your education and job opportunities.”
“There are a lot of players who go into the Premiership on one-year contracts, they might get injured and then they’re cast aside. There are a lot of late developers, too. Tom Lawday, at Exeter Chiefs, is a really good example, who’s absolutely flying now. He played at Exeter Uni and Cornish Pirates and he’s now playing very well in the Premiership.”
“I think BUCS Super Rugby will only get stronger, as well. Our ambition is to get in there and not just run a programme to the level of the other sides involved, we want to go a step further and make sure, ideally, we are doing it even better. Being in London, we feel that is a good attraction to players as well.”
“One of our targets will be the guys that are released by Premiership U18 sides. We can offer them a very good rugby programme at the university, education and then full-time rugby with us.”
Ealing have already made a significant move in this direction with the growth in their senior academy, something which is almost exclusive to Premiership clubs and those with U18 sides, fully-fleshed out junior academies and recruiting grounds.
“We have seven guys at the moment and they train completely full-time with us. They’re aged between 19 and 22.”
“There are guys who left BUCS Super Rugby, someone like Jake Ellwood has been playing really well for us this year and he’s from Northumbria. We’ve got a couple of Loughborough lads as well, a couple of Cardiff Met guys. We’ve got a young lad called Reon Joseph, who came through our system as well. A few of them are playing with Chinnor on loan this season and Reon is one of the top try-scorers in National One at 19. These guys are doing well.”
“I look at it that an 18-year-old should be playing National Two, a 19-year-old National One and then, come 20, are they ready for the Championship or Premiership? Some guys develop faster, some slower, but that’s our senior academy, and then we’d almost see Brunel as a junior academy.”
“They come in there and they’re part of that programme. Our coaches are able to look at them, the S&C guys are with them, and then preseason, outside of the university calendar rugby year, they’ll train with us full-time. Potentially, depending on what numbers we get enrolled for next season, it may be that 20 guys out of that performance squad come onboard full-time with us to make our squad a bit bigger and though they may not play straight away, with the S&C and the coaching they’ll be getting, by the time they’re 19, 20 or 21, they should be ready for first team rugby.”
“Our turnover of players has been considerable, so we want to get players coming through our own system. They may not be with us completely throughout the year, because they’ve got lectures and commitments, but come the last year or end of their degree, it’s not a new player coming in, it’s someone who’s a familiar face, knows how we coach and knows what we expect of them, and we can promote from within. One of our longer-term visions is to be able to do that.”
With the Brunel link and academy structure in place, Ealing are taking considerable steps to close the gap on player development and ability to promote from within that the Premiership clubs currently have. Alongside stadium issues, it is usually one of the biggest challenges facing any ambitious Championship club.
It’s not the only proactive step the club are taking, however, with their stadium situation, Vallis Way’s capacity of 3,000, often the elephant in the room when talking about Ealing as a potential Premiership club, but work is underway to change that.
“They’ve just started laying the groundworks for a new stand this week. That’ll be at the far end of the pitch and should take the capacity to five or six thousand. There are options to expand that further, as well, and for us that would be the dream, but we also know that if we were to go to the Premiership this season, we would have another option available to us.”
Moving to a new stadium can be a risky proposition, as London Welsh found out to their detriment a few years ago, but Ward doesn’t see too many comparisons between their situation and the one that Ealing would find themselves in if they could secure promotion.
“Bluntly, I see it being very different. Look at the infrastructure we have here [Vallis Way]. London Welsh, with all due respect to them, didn’t have a significant amount at Old Deer Park. We have the infrastructure here, as a training ground, that is as good as any Premiership facility. We’ve got a new gym being built as well and that’ll be done by the summer. We’re continuing to expand our set-up.”
“I’d also say that we have an incredible owner. He’s not just a guy that’s a sponsor, he owns it and he’s invested £20m into the rugby club so far. It’s part of his legacy and he wants to see it being extremely successful and playing at the top level. Whether that’s in two years’ time, 10 years’ time or 25 years’ time, it’s part of his legacy of having taken the club from where it was to where it is now.”
“We are very conscious of what happened to London Welsh, though, and when you see all the figures about what each club is losing each year in the Premiership, we do take a step back and say that we have to be careful about what we’re doing on wages and that’s another reason why we’re looking at the academy programme. I think the London Broncos are a really good example of that, having gone to Super League on a lesser budget and a thriving academy.”
“Interestingly, you look at London Irish over the last 15 years and you can have a thriving academy, but you can also then get picked off by the bigger sides, so the next challenge for us will be contending with that. If we can get this programme running well, how do we keep the players wanting to play for us longer-term and for them to be able to achieve their ambitions?”
“That then goes back to the stadium, getting promoted – the opportunity to have promotion and have that dream – and then if that’s not available to us, we will have to look at all possible options for us to make that step up. If they do ringfence, we will look at our legal options.”
The criticisms that get thrown out around Ealing are that they’re just a Championship club with a chequebook, or that they’re another London Welsh waiting to happen, but it’s clear to see there are plans in place to be much more than that.
With a refreshing realism about their current position, an owner whose financial input is significant – and a labour of love, not monetary gain – as well as visions of sustainability, it’s hard not to be excited about the journey the club is on.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are Premiership rugby clubs, but the growth and ambition of Ealing Trailfinders is a welcome respite in a year of financially-worrying news for English rugby.
Watch: The Rugby Pod discuss some South African stars who could be on their way to the Premiership.
Comments on RugbyPass
Lets 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?
10 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.
10 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 commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to comments