State of the Game: A Champ Rugby View

We're not sure if many users here listen to podcasts but if you do then the latest release from the Championship Clubs Podcast is well worth a listen!

This is a very good listen.  Whilst focused on The Championship there is a common theme about support throughout the game. 

kempstonblue wrote: So Wasps relegated. Worcester relegated. So RFU were unhappy having 14 teams in the Championship. But as it stands if these fallen clubs are admitted then it will be 14.

The gentleman from Cov made a very interesting point on the Championship Clubs podcast this week, when he said that nobody from the RFU had been in touch with them asking if they would like to run an academy in the West Midlands. My son's school is tied-in with the ACE Programme at London Irish, and some of his new friends have joined the 6th form having been signed up to the U16 Academy, which I think has 40 boys contracted. So if Worcester and Wasps between them have 80 boys on academy contracts at both U16 and U17, plus the ACE programme, there are over 200 kids whose dreams have just been swept from under them, some of them just six weeks after signing up. And yet, presumably because they're not a Prem club, nobody has considered whether Cov can help them.

workerbee wrote: The proposal to have two Premier Leagues of 10 Premier 1 and Premier 2 is interesting but has a number of issues.  1. Ground Criteria - Will Premier 2 have the same criteria as Prem 1 or will it be downgraded to 5000 even so it will restrict the 7 Aspirational Championship who will be needed to fill the 7 spaces in Prem 2. There are a limited number of Championship Clubs who will achieve the criteria.  2 Funding- Will Prem 2 get the same funding as Prem 1 if not 3 clubs will be a lot worse off. 3. P Shares - if the 3 clubs who were originally in Premiership keep the P shares, then they will always have an advantage over the other 7.  4. Academies- Currently Premiership Academies are funded by the RFU, again if premier clubs go into Prem 2 and keep this funding, they will have an advantage over clubs from the Championship who do not. 5 Premiership Cup- This will need to change as you will now have Championship clubs, who rely on D/R and loanees from Premiership clubs will effectively be playing themselves. for example, Northampton v Bedford, Exeter v Pirates, Harlequins v London Scottish,  5. What will happen to the remaining Championship clubs, which would effectively be at level 3 in the Pyramid would they lose their remaining RFU payment, which effectively pays for the required Insurance premium and medical expenses. Would they still have to adhere to the same criteria as they are required to do, or effectively would they revert to being a community club.    6. The rest of the Pyramid- The community game was told that the last changes would stay for a fixed term but effectively 5 clubs from the Championship would need to go into Nat 1 or 9 clubs would need to come up from Nat 2 leagues. More changes.

373 wrote: Mark W-J wrote: The gentleman from Cov made a very interesting point on the Championship Clubs podcast this week, when he said that nobody from the RFU had been in touch with them asking if they would like to run an academy in the West Midlands. My son's school is tied-in with the ACE Programme at London Irish, and some of his new friends have joined the 6th form having been signed up to the U16 Academy, which I think has 40 boys contracted. So if Worcester and Wasps between them have 80 boys on academy contracts at both U16 and U17, plus the ACE programme, there are over 200 kids whose dreams have just been swept from under them, some of them just six weeks after signing up. And yet, presumably because they're not a Prem club, nobody has considered whether Cov can help them. From personal knowledge, the RFU are still working on ensuring that the lads at u18 at Worcester and Wasps are looked after and have sent an email to issue a hands off warning. It seems the first step is getting the infrastructure in place to give those some continuity before planning for the future. In all honesty it will most likely go the way of Yorkshire, although knowing the quality at Cov in terms of developing youth, it seems that not giving them something to with would be ridiculous.