I'm local to Ampthill. Bletchley ex player and coach etc.

It looks to me like the big money has run out and so a new level or new money needs to be found.

It's been great watching Ampthill go up the leagues and your mini section continues to hoover up every rugby playing lad so the club is being built on sensible foundations too.

National One is where Community (affordable & member players) club rugby is played, Championship is a bit of a mess. Amps (and Caldy & Cambridge), know your place.

Article in TRP about virtues of the broken 3 straight back in, but not Jersey - maybe they've seen the light.

I guess many supporters of Wasps, Worcester Warriors and London Irish would rather be in the Champ than where they are now, as they aren't anywhere right now (altho' Wasps and LI do have amateur sides).

Talking of amateur sides, that's where Jersey is focused now - an amateur side that has been promoted twice in last 2 years, and currently lie 2nd in Regional 1 SC (level 5). We are at the same level as 15 years ago, but the difference being that this is an entirely amateur set-up, with no current plans to pay anyone, whereas 15 years ago there was already a handful (4, IIRC) of professionals.

And the team a point above Jersey RFC in R1SC? That'll be London Welsh, also on the up after the Championship side went pop...

If you believe Jersey RFC aren't paying players... you will believe Richmond were amateur in the Championship like they reported.

It's not a question of believing D22, I know how things stand here in Jersey and am happy to go on record with that...

Can't speak for Richmond, but as I recall they were open about paying players a match fee and/or win bonus during their time back in 2nd tier

Only 3

It doesn't mean that clubs in the National Leagues don't care about or support the community aspect of rugby which is so vital.

I think that the RFU are keen to apply  and promote the term "Community" to the National Leagues because it suits their agenda...

I think bringing a squad together late and then moulding it in the first half of the season is just they way that the coach and DOR do things, I assume there is some rational for it and it is probably about keeping costs down and seeing who is available on the cheap when the dust has settled at the start of the season.

This means the first half of the season is scrappy and they come together second half and end up comfortably mid table.

It is a system that has worked in that way for a few seasons now and while it makes for unsatisfying viewing for fans until after Christmas it keeps the club viable as a mid table Championship side which is the limit of their ambitions.

I also think it is unfair to say they they don't bring through players, no club is going to bring through many players at this level because they are one of the top 20 clubs in the country and the standard is very high but they have a massive and thriving mini and youth set up that provides players for them and for many other clubs in the area and beyond.

They have had strong links with Sarries from the start of their rise as Paul Turner came to Ampthill from having been a coach at Sarries.

It is not a new thing and a hatful of Sarries players have done seasons or more at Ampthill over the last decade or so.

So if they sold anything it was a long time ago and it is the the only way a club run on very modest means for this level can stay viable at this level.

Personally I wouldn't mind if they dropped a league or two I enjoyed it more when they stuffed everyone by 20-30 points  but the club think they are a viable mid table Championship side based on this model and the evidence has born that out so far

So the punters still go for it.

Note I said “at least 3”. I wasn’t including any club that may only have taken their place in the Champ within the past month or so, whose supporters might therefore not yet have made up their minds…

Guess that depends what proportion of the purchasers are from Bath…

Very true.

That's a one off though and sadly the same day as my birthday party, I'd love to see Ampthill play Bath at home, what a hoot.

They are lucky that they have some big local matches with Bedford, Cambridge and Chinnor all being within easy range for an away fan.

But crowds are never going to sustain Ampthill it will always be the pockets of some rich men and the link with Saracens.

If either of those things goes I imagine we will drop down a league or two in short order.

It never ceases to amaze me how much posters on this site know about the financial models of clubs in different leagues, hundreds of miles away, which they have no association with.

Point taken and agreed. I fell for their trap!

I can't speak on behalf of Richmond as a club, but as a supporter of several decades who knows a lot about the club and speaks frequently to the people who have been chairmen and presidents in recent seasons, I can say this: since 1999, Richmond only pay players a match fee and a win bonus. When we first went up to the Championship in 2016, we increased the match fee a fair bit, I think to £300 from £175, with the win bonus going up to £100 from £50, but I may be wrong in the exact figures. That is the ballpark. A cap was placed on the total any one player could get in a season because the fee was raised and there were concerns people might get the wrong idea about being paid to play - and the cap was £9,000 as I recall. No player came close to it, in fact I believe nobody got above half that number for the season.

We have a loose "jobs bureau" where if a lad is interested in a certain profession they can get advice and maybe an introduction or two from club members who work in that line. I have done that myself once. I am not aware that anyone associated with the club employs or has ever employed any of the players. Again, I may be wrong. The sort of arrangement some clubs have where players are employed by the person or people who effectively run the club does not exist at Richmond to the best of my knowledge.

There are no players on salaries or contracts that pay money. I am not sure whether players get contracted to us as part of registration - a lot of the language around this subject is ambiguous. But players joining the club from elsewhere are told they cannot earn their living from playing rugby for Richmond.

We usually have a couple of Harlequins youngsters (Lucas Schmid and Frank McMillan this season) and have benefitted from having the likes of Kyle Sinckler, George Merrick, Louis Lynagh (who with his brother Tom was a Richmond mini) and Lennox Anwanyu in the past. The board has recently told members that the club would have nothing to do with a league that expected us to open our First Team to a large number of players from another club.

That is what the club calls the Richmond Way - not a phrase I like, to be honest - and it is all driven by the experience of going bust in 1999 and deciding 'never again'. You can be cynical or sceptical about it, but that is how it is.  

At that time ,we used to know Ampthill as 'Old Tongonians'!

I believe that they were promoted to Nat 1 through the play-off system and then picked up following cash injections. The cash will run out when those putting in move on or lose interest.

I think you mean 'the National Leagues' rather than simply 'Nat 1.'.

The majority of Nat 1 & 2 Clubs run 3-4 Senior Men's teams, a Women's Team and a full range of MJ's from U5's to U19's but, we are seeing an increase of 'one team' Clubs, who of course are run on the whim/cash of some personal ego/egos and give nothing back to the game. Here again, eventually the cash will run out, leaving no foundations etc!

I meant National One is the top of club rugby IMHO

It was basically based on getting a very high quality head coach early on and letting him get on with things. 

That included getting in a few Tongans because Paul Turner was a fan of their attitude to Rugby, training and staying fit, Molitika staying fit and playing into his 40s is a great role model to young lads and clubs thinking about loaning good academy lads to lower clubs probably think about those sorts of things along with the quality of coaching they will get and having Paul Turner there is obviously a massive plus point in that.

And all that is probably based on the money of the DoR and his companies sponsorships etc

I doubt there is any side in the Championship and few in the premiership who would survive if key people pulled the plug; Jersey, LI, Worcester and Wasps all show that quite clearly; Ampthill are no different in that respect from anyone else bar a small number of Prem clubs.

To be honest I don't think it is just the Richmond way. I believe a number of other clubs use a similar fixed match fee/win bonus approach. Esher I know have fixed match fees although I don't know if they have win bonuses (not that they would need to pay many this season!).

As for a "job bureau" again I think many clubs have members who help find employment for their players but I suspect Richmond may have an advantage being so close to the City.

I think Richmond have a great approach to the game and the fact they run several very strong senior men's sides and are competitive in NL1 suggests it is successful. Good luck to them.

I know where I go first when I need work or advice.

Absolutely agree - I wasn't claiming that it or the "Richmond Way" thing were in any way unique or pioneering. There was an earlier post which strongly implied that the club had salaried players when in the Championship and I was laying out what incentives, including the payment of match fees and the potential advantage of job contacts, were on offer for people to come and play at the RAG.

I always heard that they washed them on the forecourt! 

Research I did a long time ago showed that players join Clubs where they already have friends ( even Tigers in the 1990s).

That's because they were too big to get in them!