The RFU has produced a recommendation paper on the future structure of the adult male competitions (English Club Championship Level 3 and below)

It's watering down and weakening what at Nat 1 and Nat 2 has been a fantastic standard over the recent years. There will be 10 new teams at level 4 - 2 of whom will drop down from L3 and 8 more who haven't managed to gain a place at that level through promotion. Lower down the soon to be flat pyramid they are proposing 12 team leagues - perhaps they will explain to the club treasurers how they are going to balance the books based on 11 home 1st XV games. Cups and friendlies are not the answer.

Just sent in my 2,000 word comments - I struggled to give them a gamma. They did at least spell their name correctly and did not blot their copybook. But that is about all.

I do think it takes a special someone to set out to reduce the number of games and the distance traveled and on the fourth attempt to have once again increased both for all but 48 teams.

Based on the 3 leagues 16 clubs (48)

To 4 leagues 14 clubs (56) requires promoting 8 clubs.

However hasn’t it been recommended increasing Championship 16 clubs two conferences, so that adds 12 clubs. (10 if it was a 14 team league).

So National 1 stays a nationwide competition with travel, whilst Championship is a semi national system?

Maybe Championship could stay fully National (16 clubs 8 extra games but drop the Championship Cup?, or 14 clubs]

A 16 team conference system offers 14 + 8 matches. Would splitting both Championship and 1 be preferable to both leagues offering more regional games?

Find Melton Mowbray on a Map.

Draw a line eastwards from MM so that it intersects with the River Ouse at Kings Lynn. Then draw a line North West from MM to the River Mersey near Frodsham. Finally head South West with a line going to the River Tamar at Saltash, gives you a Y shape. Top bit Nat 2 North, bit to the left Nat 2 SW/Mids bit to the right Nat 2 Mids/SE, think it makes travel worse for several Clubs!

I did suggest an alternative way of structuring National 2 based on traffic corridors - M1, M5 and M62. That isn't enormously different from the Approach outlined above, however, my scouts tell me that has yet to be agreed.

I thought we had until October to comment.

Does everything get put back 12 months?

Do they bring no wins or do you give them some credit for playing tougher opponents? 

I suspect no relegation from National 2 - as your league increases from 32 to 42 teams.

Two might come from National 1, but not if the Championship increase to 14 or 16.

I hope the National 2 Champions are promoted - so up to 4 down from from National 1 (ouch).

What are the costs of these reviews? How much do the jobs for the boys consultants get? 

If the budget is £250,000 (for example) and you know you've got 30 league games per year, with 20 players per match, and the going 'pay as you play' rate is say, £200 per match, then you put all your players on that rate and know that you will pay out £120,000 in match fees.

You then have £130,000 to spend on support staff, retainers, coaches, travel, etc.

There aren't too many variables to consider. A club driving itself into the ground says more about the management at said club than the need to reform league systems.

Rugby clubs are a business. Owners / the board / directors of rugby need to accept some responsibility and get on with it.

Fed up of the RFU constantly attempting to rejig things because some idiot old boys cant run a (relatively small) business within budget and blame everyone else but themselves.

Surely a new structure should include summer sevens festivals.

Why would it? It's a completely separate sport.

I suppose that this could be the/an opportunity to align the two properly, should that be desirable. The divergence has led to a situation where the 7s circuit has become formalised to the extent that if a club were to launch a 7s festival from a cold start they might find they're struggling to get decent teams to come because all the good sides already know where they'll be playing when - which means that 7s as the "obvious" fund raising idea for clubs next summer is a probable non starter unless they're already on the circuit.

OTOH (with a lot of work and local research) something could be organised with/between local clubs but it would need the work and local research/liaison doing, which potentially makes it less attractive again.

If we were still in 1973 then you could jack up a quick 7s tournament/s mandated by the RFU as a money spinner and to get some rugby played. I just don't think it's much of an option in 2020/1.

As you say, 7s has become a creature that looks a bit like rugby, and sits under the RFU, but doesn't have much to do with the XV a side game. Now might be as good a time as any/opportunity for a bit of creative destruction to smash the two back together again, but it wouldn't be painless, and I'm not convinced there's much point...

The bit in bold is 100% not a given post-covid. How many companies that have struggled through Covid will still want to throw money at sponsorship? Some will, but some won't. 

For clubs that have one main sponsor that provides a lions share of funding, that could be huge if the backer decides to pull out. 

For clubs that rely on sponsorship income from a range of sponsors, the effect of several smaller business pulling out could have a big cumulative effect. 

For clubs that rely heavily on diverse income streams including events and venue hire, a huge amount has been lost already. My club has missed out on a whole summer of letting the club as a wedding reception venue and on income usually gained through turning the back pitches into a campsite for a few weeks. 

Unless a club has a major backer that they know is there to stay, such as Ealing (although is anything certain these days?) then budgeting is very difficult at the moment. 

The ofqual algorithm gave the result it was told to give, while randomly disadvantaging some pupils - especially for various reasons those in grammar schools, those in improving schools and those who were outperforming their school.

The RFU plan sets out to reduce the number of games players have to play and to reduce travel.

Howeve, for the vast majority of clubs it increases both the number of games scheduled and the distances travelled.

It only reduced travel for the 48 teams in the national leagues. While this means the RFU will not need to pay out as much in travel funding to those clubs, it will need to fund travel for the much larger number of clubs at levels 5 and 6 in their cup games, which will outwiegh the savings. (58 fewer games with antional travel in national 1 - more than 200 extra in the level 5 and 6 cups)

I am not sure the RFU competitions committee can find its elbow with both hands and a map.

So the level 5 and six teams are expected to travel for cup matches.

At least two away trips at the 72 new level 5 and for the top 16 level 6 clubs anywhere in the country. 

The remaining level 6 clubs get a semi national  knock out and shield.  So a variable number of away trips.

If you do not want to spend your March and April in a coach - then you need to send a comment to the RFU.

Personally I think cups are great and seeing your community club in a final at Twickenham is a truly unforgettable experience. But they should not be given the same podium as the league as this proposal seems to do. The Premiership and Championship Cups were severely missed opportunities to have one cup involving both leagues.

Yes, none of the 19/20 Finals were played...….at all, you know because of Covid Lockdown.

 

The 18/19 finals were played at HQ.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCzxOIsojBY" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCzxOIsojBY

 

But that is not what they are being given at level 5 - they get four weeks of pool matches all round the country.

Level 6 do get a knock out cup - apart from the top 16 who get a silly pool based competition to make the numbers work.

It is at the end of the season - so unless you win your season is going to end on a loss.

Also your season could end in March

But the players wanted fewer games, so I doubt they would be up for freindlies hastilly arranged in the off weeks. I'm betting that when push comes to shove that is what will happen.

I am sure clubs will want a fixture at the end of April with a beer festival and the opportunity to hand out caps to the mini and youth.

The round before beating Rosslyn Park at home in front of 2000 people at Yiewsley Drive... i even recall the announcer (my old man for his syns) DMP 7 RP 0 - DMP 14 RP still nil...

Our fullback at the time even picked up a trial at quins (Norpeda Stewart) spelling may be off but had the side step that Jason Robinson would be proud of...

1500 away supporters cheering at the the stoop who needs Jona Lomu when we have Micky Kent.. cup competitions make for dreams to come true bring back the Tetley Bitter Cup

I don't see any reason why teams within 1 level of each other can't participate in a tournament together, afterall some of those teams could be playing each other the season after.

You could have level 3-4 Cup, level 5-6 cup, Level 7-8 etc....and if they got their act together a level 1-2 cup 

Norpera Stewart. Played for Wakefield too. 

I don't know. Birstall RFC reached the Semi-final of the Shield or Vase, forget which, in the season just gone and a potential trip to HQ for a final is something that players at that level could only dream about.   

The RFU have allocated 6 weeks to cups which means no more than 64 teams in a single elimination knockout. So you cannot even include all of level 6 - they get split into three. The top 16 gets silly pool based competition and the rest get a knock-out.

You could play the cup earlier in the season and combine levles 5 and 6.

The preliminary round would feature the 24 terms promoted from levle 7 and the 40 teams with the worst playing record he previous year. Then the 112 teams left play in the first round and have the 72 level 5 teams join for the last 7 rounds.

Logic? RFU!

Isn't that because they have coops there?

Yes it is sad about the demise of the Yorkshire Cup and the reasons for the demise are well documented and debated.

I believe that the majority of Clubs do want a credible County Cup but the CB 'powers that be' seem to be only interested in staging a Cup Final rather than the route to the final. The date restrictions imposed on Clubs to have games played by are ridiculous. The best York's Cup years where when we played mid-week evening Cup matches but the CB aren't interested.