A move north to the Scottish Super 6 (soon to become 8) 

Board citing a few reasons including:

- They will likely be demoted to the National Leagues following the RFU Review (Does that mean we'll have a 10 team champ next season?)

- Stable funding in the SRU programme - £150,000 a year across the next 3 years

- All travel costs covered by the SRU (probably will save the club a good amount of cash)

- Their budget (I'm guessing without RFU Funding) would only allow the club's 1st XV to compete at Level 4/5 (according to the board).

 

Will they be playing in Scotland? If so the name London Scottish would seem to be a misnomer.

For the first question, im not really sure... - I think it's around now. They have brought out a fan's survey (closing date sunday!).  What it is, that i have no idea.

No they plan to play at the RAG for the foreseeable.

If LS feel they can only afford to play at level 4 or 5, then I tend to think they should be happy to play at level 4 or 5 - as that is what every other club with that budget does.

They should not be looking for support from the RFU or SRU because they are somehow special 

However, if the other clubs in Scotland are prepared to let their union waste money on LS - rather than spending it at home, more fool them.

However, I do not want RFU funding them.

Similar to what London Welsh were rumoured to be wanting to do a few seasons back, in their case playing in the Welsh leagues.

The game of Rugby Union is a fantastic product, but over the years I have fallen out of love with it because it is run by people governed either by self interest or only being interested in England. 

The terrestrial channels wheel out the Six Nations but there is hardly any coverage of the Autumn tests, and even the excellent Channel 5 Prem highlights have been dropped. 

Sky no longer cover the Championship, funding has been cut, there are not enough games, and last season was nothing short of disgraceful in allowing promotion to Saracens based on 10 games yet we were relegated and replaced by someone who was deemed to win the play offs without actually playing, yet, this season,because of the bungling at higher levels, we have a situation in National 2 North (and South) where,  the second placed team may not even get the opportunity to play off for the chance to play in Nat 1 even if they wanted to.

 In the past we have had to play off even after winning the league in a full season. No one knows how many teams will be in the Championship next season, but a structure that does not allow a home game every other week is unsustainable for revenue. 

The game lacks leadership. It’s no wonder players and fans are turning away from the game.

All that will be left at club level are the die hards and the ex players of the respective clubs who prop them up either financially or by through volunteer work.

Club Rugby is on its knees below the Prem and nobody cares a jot. 

Regionalisation is the only way below the Premiership. Due to there being no promotion from the Championship next season there is no incentive  for winning the league. What is the point?

So, back to London Scottish, I think, assuming there is substance to the story, they, in my opinion will not be the only club to consider the viability of a future of Rugby at elite (professional) level. It is not worth the investment save for the wealthy who bank roll certain clubs.

I just hope for LS' sake that this Super 8s thing doesn't go blue mountain pepper up and they have to start at the bottom of the RFU pyramid (again).

No idea why they think they’re going to be relegated. I thought it was already confirmed they’ll be no relegation this season. At the very least, they’ll promote 2 from the league below with rumours being it will be 4

They are currently getting clobbered every week and it will probably get worse so maybe the relegation reference is regarding the 22/23 season.

This sounds almost as stupid as the topic of another thread (Ottawa RL basing themselves in Cornwall) 

Obviously if they do depart, and we go to 14 team Leagues across the board then it will require Top 3 up from all Level 5 Leagues plus 2 more best placed 4ths

Oh gawd, not this total non-starter again...  & how could the food & beverage attraction possibly compete with Yorkshire ale + cow pie?!

They plan to push the LS Lions within the RFU structure at the same time, with an aim for Nat 3.

£2.5m a year in funding however, and massive gates.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/19699155.super6-become-super8-london-scottish-introduction-next-term/" rel="nofollow - https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/19699155.super6-become-super8-london-scottish-introduction-next-term/

That was why I used the Harald link.

From the bit you can see of the TRP story without paying, it came from the same press release.

I will say that last week Andretti racing were buying into Sauber/Alpha Romeo - but this week the deal is off.

I'm intrigued that the TRP piece states their concern about playing possibly at Level 4/5. Two relegations expected?

That was taken from the LS statement

"Based on our current budget forecast and following the RFU review of the Championship, London Scottish would probably return to the National Leagues and our current revenue model will not support a first XV playing at a level higher than Level 4 or 5."  

It does not say will drop at the end of this season.

Just that they face relegation soon and without central funding would not compete at level 3.

I do not know how much it costs to run the RAG, or how that is split between the two clubs.

Gates seem to be dropping at both LS and Richmond - and if costs are high that could be an issue.

Losing two sets of central funding will have hurt.

London Scottish have a better 'ole - the rest of us just need to wait until the bombardment stops

They are looking to hold games versus the likes of Oxford,Cambridge, Army etc

I'd guess looking at a season of 20 games or so a year.

Isn't the calendar set-up of the Super 6 a little different also? - maybe that is an USP for some players?

Except, the Scotland team is drawn from the two fully professional sides.

I have done some more digging.

It appears that the clubs hosting Super 6 sides are now represented in the league by their former amateur 2nd XVs. There is no movement between the Super 6 and amateur squads.

However, while the Super 6 teams were originally the nominal club's 1st XV - which had been in the Premiership. But now draw on players from nearby Premiership clubs and some players form the franchises. So, for example,  the Ayr team in the final had 3 Hawks players.

But I do not know if all the Super 6 players have found places in Premiership sides. Or how the relationship between Ayr and Hawks would change by introducing a Glasgow side into Super 8 - or more importantly, which clubs LS would draw on.

This whole thing is bizarre - as someone who has watched a lot of services Rugby, and also been a regular on the terraces at Iffley Road watching Oxford (like every week regular), I don't know what they've been smoking.

Services rugby ramps up in January, the full Blues side at Christmas, but in general I'd expect a National 1 side to beat either Oxford or the Army outside the very peak of their training process - so Oxford the week before it plays Cambridge in December, and the Army at the May bank holiday.

The rest of the year they're about lower end national 2 standard - if that.

So they can't afford to compete at a level higher than 4-5 in the English system, so as a way round that they're going to play Super 6 for 7 home matches then 15 glorified friendlies at a level about what they say they can afford but clearly think they're too good for - so disguise it by playing rep sides who realistically are about the same standard as the league they'd be in if they were being honest??

Madness, and worse actually, there's a horrible stench of entitlement. Just find your level. If you were going to be able to compete at a higher level by withdrawing then I still wouldn't agree but it at least makes sense. 

This, on the other hand, is *disguising* your level. Who do they think they're lying to - the players, the fans, sponsors? 

The other week BBC3CR mentioned a online stream of a Bedford game. Initially I tuned to BBC Sounds, and found an English Local Radio EFL goals service.

The Rugby was via the BBC Sports App. Interesting on Sports App, often commentary of Cornish Pirates,Jersey, Coventry yet 3CR fail to guide listeners to the otter stations if Ampthill or Bedford are away. Maybe joined up thinking between at the BBC, those clubs that don’t get commentary on local station, go into a pool, and a match of the round is promoted on the BBC App? More so next year if we get a 14 team league.

I don't think the will's there at the BBC. Interestingly there are two other models out there, the RFL's OurLeague app, which is a clearing house for pretty much the whole of what's on where in English RL (and their own coverage where no one else is doing it), and the new (this season) weekly highlights programme covering N1 and N2N/S.

The former requires signing up to the app, and the latter is a subscription model - so neither are the 'getting it out to the masses' approach you're talking about, but both is more coverage than the Championship is getting. 

Someone at the Championship needs to think about that - levels 3 and 4 have got a (pretty good) weekly highlights and commentary/discussion show now....

Especially a Championship without Scottish...

BBC Scotland already broadcast Super 6.

S4C Welsh clubs.

This is my point. I would suggest the RFU Championship is a better competition than the Super 6, or Welsh Premiership (if that is still its name), so whilst the Pro16 and English Premiership as top tier get broadcasts, England’s second tier is either that badly run or due to 90 English soccer clubs too much hassle for media to bother with. Admittedly looking at numbers through gates, I wonder if even football’s National League is a more attractive proposition which is why BT Sport show it.

But in saying this it just shows how little interest or drive their is to promote the game outside internationals or premiership

Making top level rugby inaccessible on the TV for the majority (apart from the 6 Nations but even that for how much longer) was also a disaster and was always going to lead to more money for the top end and reduced interest for everyone else.

Any thoughts of the Championship - excellent though it is - being televised are simply a non starter. Level 5 or 6 soccer would be more popular to a TV audience. Sad but inescapable I feel. 

Super 6 is on the BBC website. For example: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/l003bd28" rel="nofollow - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/l003bd28

You cannot blame the broadcasters, the fault lies with 100 years of RFU led neglect, the insistence on amateurism and no competition and rugby for the players.

Charge extortionate prices to go and watch them. Even Premiership club Rugby is no longer on terrestrial.

There’s enough alternative things to do out there even if it was accessible so being on terrestrial is critical to keep it in the public eye. 

Take a leaf out of England football team and make it accessible to the masses. 

About time the people who run the Championship clubs made some decision. Frankly there should be at least 14 clubs at that level to make a viable season. 

I was actually having this discussion in the bar on Saturday.

The key purpose of the RFU is to maximize the rugby playing numbers - and while there has been a welcome rise in the number of women and girls playing, the drop in the number of boys and men is worrying.

Therefore, the key job in this day and age is to ensure young children get some form of introduction to rugby. Which means providing development officers who can go into schools. However, every time they need to cut funding, these are the roles that go.

But what the RFU look at bodies on seats, which means they only really care about Internationals and Premiership games.

Prime has made it more accessible, and our Facebook community at work was very engaged, more so than when it was on Sky

I can believe that.

Having been cautious, I actually think Prime is the future (well, and equivalent services) - 15m people in the UK have Prime Membership. I've never had Sky, and until Amazon got them, also never watched the Autumn Internationals unless I was at Twickenham either.

agree - England's men that is. Women have been on terrestrial and have enjoyed a major upsurge in profile/awareness. I'd favour something similar (more online than mainstream channels) for the Championship...

London Scottish

Don't blame you for backing your team but I disagree. The Pirates game plan was spot on and did the job. Having said that the incident where your second row was sent off was pretty dumb on his behalf. If he'd stayed on the field it would have been a lot closer.