League Structure 24/25??

tigerburnie wrote: I'm not sure 2 would work, Nat 1 now is pretty much semi pro, don't think there's enough sides across the Nat 2 leagues who could step up financially. Sadly it's not just about the rugby it's affording the travel now the RFU have abandoned the grass roots of rugby.

I think in the main, in National league 1,players are on contracts and are paid on a pay per play basis. 

There will still be levelling when clubs get promoted or relegated and without those what is the point of playing, ring fencing will kill the game it has already contributed to killing the Premiership as a spectacle.

Soccer is the national game, you see hundreds of kids playing on parks every sunday morning, mini's and juniors in rugby is increasing the amount of kids in the sport and will help, rugby has always seen itself as elitist at the top, always has been, most first class games were "by invitation only" and that still seems to exist. An old pal of mine was told he wasn't going to be playing for England because England did not have van drivers playing for them, even though he was head and shoulders the best in his position at the time.

I'm not sure it's the spectacle of the game that has much to do with participation rather than the accessibility of the game. Rugby is a game that requires supervision, clean open spaces and a high level of understanding. You can have fun/do something meaningful with 3 mates and a football in almost any environment. The same cannot be said of rugby.

tigerburnie wrote: There will still be levelling when clubs get promoted or relegated and without those what is the point of playing, ring fencing will kill the game it has already contributed to killing the Premiership as a spectacle.

For financial investment aspects ring-fencing makes sense.

Wasps, Worcester and London Irish are likely to be 3 of the Prem 2 sides - I don't like it but I suspect they already know they will be, hence not playing at all this season.

Cups don't work in rugby, the fiasco of the Pizza Cup tells anyone with a brain that.

14 teams per division gives a reasonable balance, any less and I can see many other clubs going under.

I agree tigerburnie it lowers standards and make matches meaningless, look what happened during the 2 years without relegation. If a club cannot live within its means then it should go to a level that it can sustain itself and there should be regular audits (as in France)

Raider999 wrote: tigerburnie wrote: There will still be levelling when clubs get promoted or relegated and without those what is the point of playing, ring fencing will kill the game it has already contributed to killing the Premiership as a spectacle. For financial investment aspects ring-fencing makes sense. Wasps, Worcester and London Irish are likely to be 3 of the Prem 2 sides - I don't like it but I suspect they already know they will be, hence not playing at all this season. Cups don't work in rugby, the fiasco of the Pizza Cup tells anyone with a brain that. 14 teams per division gives a reasonable balance, any less and I can see many other clubs going under.

Edited by WEvans - 17 Oct 2023 at 13:07

Can we agree that rugby, at our level, works? It may not work as a business, but the aims are different. The aim of business is to make money; the aim of a rugby club is to play rugby, for which money is required.