Ground grading

elitestands wrote: Hi all I have been involved with football all my life so when it comes to ground grading I am clued up from 50 capacity covered stands to enter at step 6 up to the premier leagues 10000k all seater requirement, I know rugby both union and league are not as well funded but I cant seem to find any ground grading regs from the rfu ? As you may have gathered elite stands make container style stands and are looking at both rugby codes for growth but cant seem to find which level to aim at as I cant find any guidance. can anyone post a link for the rfu or the wrfu thanks

Edited by Scrumtime - 30 May 2023 at 15:16

I think you will find that only the Premier league has a ground criteria. Requiring clubs to have a 10,000 capacity. All leagues below do not. I believe that the RFU made a big mistake when the Rugby went professional and all National leagues clubs received a payment from the RFU plus travel expenses. That was the time to introduce ground criteria for level 2-4 entry levels. Instead the clubs used the money they received to pay players and not improve their grounds. Thus starting the a cycle of destruction in todays Rugby. Unfortunately the one thing you cannot buy is Loyalty.

is there a level where you require at least seating or could a club go from counties to championship and stay with stay tents pavillions but no seated stand. even when i watched wakefield they were in the 2nd tier had seating at both sides with terracing at both ends

10k is from the legislation - the Safety of Sports Grounds Act. a stadium with 10k+ accommodation requires a licence. The Premier League got a dispensation from that for Bournemouth when they were first promoted and the limit for football was recued to 5k. The RFU didn't seek the same dispensation hence the requirement for Ealing/Jersey/Doncaster to demonstrate a 10k stadium despite the fact that their crowds will probably never fill the stadium.

Jersey Reds chairman got quite a bit of 'airtime' for this tweet over the w/e -

elitestands wrote: 10k hence the lutons dump and there possible move to mk or watford you can enter the championship with 5k capacity and 2k seated but have to be all seater within 2 season or building another ground

elitestands wrote: yes heard about amphill, puzzling that they dont even have hard standing gods knows what happens in bad weather and for the disabled, they would struggle. That place would not meet step 7 in football as they have not even fenced off the pitch. there player wage versus ground works budget must be the biggest gap in world rugby.

Halliford wrote: 10k is from the legislation - the Safety of Sports Grounds Act. a stadium with 10k+ accommodation requires a licence. The Premier League got a dispensation from that for Bournemouth when they were first promoted and the limit for football was recued to 5k. The RFU didn't seek the same dispensation hence the requirement for Ealing/Jersey/Doncaster to demonstrate a 10k stadium despite the fact that their crowds will probably never fill the stadium.