Premiership II plans announced

This proposal was put to the Championship clubs last year and they were given a deadline to apply but no club did. So the RFU under the new Prem 2 committee have re issued it. Will the Championship clubs still stand firm. The battle last year included the RFU assumption and Franchise club could apply (Wasps etc). Subject to any club achieving the new criteria. This would allow any club in Nat 1 to apply even if they do not finish in the top 2. However no mention of Promotion from Nat 1 or relegation from Championship. Presumably they are expecting a number of current Championship clubs to fail the criteria.

Can you please substantiate your claim about Newcastle Falcons’ owners “wanting out?”

We looked at this last year. An even split would see Bishop’s Stortford and (then) Chinnor go North. 

Now then; presumably Felicity Kvesic is related to Coventry’s Matt Kvesic, so must have some knowledge at least.

So essentially current Championship clubs who do not meet this criteria will be relegated and similarly clubs who earn promotion from National 1 on the field of play may not be promoted whereas clubs who should have to start at the bottom of the league, and clubs who are not involved in National League Rugby, eg Universities will be given the opportunity to usurp established clubs. Each club will have to take on 15 dual registered players per team, meaning a loss of identity for many clubs, a restricted pathway for ambitious clubs who win games on the field.

Essentially a feeder league for the Prem. Not necessarily in my opinion developing the game but under the guise of developing future England players, serving existing Premiership clubs by having effectively B teams in the Championship as seems to be taking shape at one or two clubs already. Opening the door for clubs with let’s say previous history in playing at that level or above but failing miserably financially, yet impress the suits with yet more business plans which gain favour over actual on field performance and introduce franchises all in the name of the good of Rugby, keeping “promotion and relegation” essentially as a tick box exercise.

And for this each Championship club is paid £250,000 per year and has to maintain a squad of 30 players and then another 15 dual registrations, presumably which the Prem clubs will finance given the the huge disparity. They then have to meet certain criteria at significant cost to essentially become a feeder club and losing identity to play in a meaningless league that will ultimately be, a closed shop, just a place for fielding Premier squad players to give them experience to see if they have what it takes to play higher. The bigger Universities will already have the facilities to be put forward, so I reckon the clubs below will have little to no chance of getting any higher.
Ultimately the top prize for any semi pro team will be to win the National 1 league.
It seems to me that clubs such as Cambridge and Chinnor have already had the rug pulled by not being allowed to play in this new cup competition, meaning slim pickings for them in terms of home games in a season. This looks like a sign of things to come.
Premiership B teams and Universities feeding from and into the Prem itself.

So is it good for the game or good for the 24 or so clubs involved in the top 2 divisions but not necessarily for the community game? I am not sure a loss of identity is worth it but those clubs and respective members will have to decide if it is worth it or not. Will it be a case of “ a price worth paying” or “paying the price?”

It has been threatening to be a closed shop for more than 25 years, but my feeling is that this is the first stage in that unthinkable eventuality becoming a reality.

May as well have stayed with merit tables.


Edited by Rothman2 - 01 Oct 2024 at 03:24

The RFU seem to have super high expectations and anre asking more of Tier 2 than they do for the Premiership clubs but giving them a fraction of the money.

It's a year since Jersey Reds ceased trading - well September 27th/28th to be precise - and while I retain great respect for the clubs/people in the Championship, and will always look out for results + off-field news, nothing's that happened since has fostered any further regret about the outcome from my side, beyond the initial huge regret at the time about the effect on people's livelihoods.

The worrying thing about this is that I'm not sure that the RFU or PRL and other stakeholders who favour the franchise and Prem 2nd XVs model need the existing Champ clubs to stick together. It may be that there are already enough ambitious Nat 1 clubs (Rams, Moseley etc both flying high so far this season), Universities, Wasps, Worcester etc waiting in the wings to take their places. 

Edited by Nat1 - 01 Oct 2024 at 10:39