Wasps Statement

WEvans wrote: tigerburnie wrote: WEvans wrote: Indeed Eddie. I have said for some time the best thing in the long-term for English rugby (all of it) would be for the vast majority of Premiership clubs to fold. Curious to know what your reasons for this are, do you believe there are other clubs to step into their place and maintain the supply of England players who could contest or even win a World Cup? No I don't tigerburnie and if that happened then rugby in this country would continue to be in exactly the same mess it is in now except there would be different clubs bankrupting themselves. I also don't see supplying players good enough to win a World Cup as being the primary reason English rugby exists. I see rugby as a sport which needs to be properly run by a governing body that is interested in all the clubs in the country and wants to see them and the sport flourish into the future. We need the top-level of rugby in this country to be sustainable and if this means it has to become semi-professional then so be it. From this (and from players who may decide to go overseas) we can select an England team. If this isn’t good enough to seriously challenge for a World Cup then so be it.

 Ahh the good old days where no body put rolls of cash in players boots or found them a non existing job. Whilst I prefer the old game with rucking and no lifting in lineouts, scrum halves putting the ball in straight and hookers going just that, hooking the ball. But it's gone, money has trashed the game, or greed, avarice, gluttony or a mixture of all of them has. We can never go back, not only will the prawn sarnie lot not countenance England not being the worlds greatest, I think a lot of fans won't either. It would seem and I am going on other peoples account here because I do not go on them, but twitter and facebook is infested in rabid England fans who do not care too much about club rugby and I have a suspicion they do not know there is a set of leagues below the Premiership.

Big Eddie wrote: I think you are right Tigerburnie. In  my playing days I once encouraged a friend to come and watch me play in a 3rd division game in Scotland. He came expecting to be disappointed but to his surprise he loved the intimacy, the ferocity and the local rivalry and he became hooked on club rugby..... he didn't realise how compelling the whole club rugby scene was and he was also hugely impressed at the gaggle of pretty women on the touchline and in the bar afterwards. When Caldy got promoted to the Championship I was somewhat fearful that the Wirral public wouldn't be much interested in Caldy v Cornish Pirates or Caldy v London Scottish but without any expensive marketing engine the crowds have come to support a true community club......because it matters to them and they want to support their local lads. My much younger wife was serving at the outside bar and got into conversation with a couple of chaps who had previously never followed rugby. They came to the Paton Field Stadium to support a small local rugby club that had gotten to the dizzy heights of the Championship with mostly local lads. They were so impressed with the spectacle and its brilliant value for money they then started going to away games.......that is what club rugby is all about.

I'm not that bothered about the money side, if the RFU want to support a top tier by sticking £2m a club in to it then that's fine, as long as they have to field 70% English registered players or similar.
My beef is with the academy structure and the monopoly it gives the Prem clubs on our youth development.
I know a lad who was in the Falcons U18's this year, learned his rugby at school and the Falcons academy, so no club ties, and no one had encouraged him to join Tynedale or Alnwick etc.
Come the end of this season and Falcons offered 3 of the U18's no salary contracts.
RFU should match fund youth coaching in 50 clubs nationally and let clubs grow the game - then have county & regional elite coaching as a pathway to pro rugby post 18.

There is talk of franchises at Level 2 but only for areas where there is poor Club representation. Portsmouth/Southampton, East London and Central Birmingham have been mentioned as areas where a franchise might help to grow participation.

front5 wrote: Halliford wrote: There is talk of franchises at Level 2 but only for areas where there is poor Club representation. Portsmouth/Southampton, East London and Central Birmingham have been mentioned as areas where a franchise might help to grow participation. Hopefully the North East and Cumbria would fall into said areas of poor representation

Neasham wrote: front5 wrote: Halliford wrote: There is talk of franchises at Level 2 but only for areas where there is poor Club representation. Portsmouth/Southampton, East London and Central Birmingham have been mentioned as areas where a franchise might help to grow participation. Hopefully the North East and Cumbria would fall into said areas of poor representation  Not sure that would hold water in the North East. As well as Falcons we have a number of clubs at most levels (if not championship) and very little rugby league.

front5 wrote: Surely a franchise based model for the top tier has to be looked at, like the southern hemisphere. Have the championship as the core league pro/semi whatever and the players are selected from the clubs for their respective local franchises. More players for down the tiers, more competition better attendances and hopefully game for all

cheshire exile wrote: The Welsh went for a regional franchise setup and look how that’s worked out.

The problem in Wales and also in Scotland was that just like England, rugby was/is club based, there were/are no regions like in Ireland, so the fans basically turned their backs on it. Rugby is not thriving professionally in Scotland, crowds in the two major cities are not great, but the fans are still there in the borders watching their clubs.

tigerburnie wrote: The problem in Wales and also in Scotland was that just like England, rugby was/is club based, there were/are no regions like in Ireland, so the fans basically turned their backs on it.

Edited by billesleyexile - 24 May 2023 at 09:54