I'm sure it's more complicated to do but seems a relatively easy step 

Effectively making the premiership a province type league, it would grow local interest promote player development and make clubs self funding. Moving away from a business model which requires funding to survive.

The RFU would do everything to stop this including redistribution of funding if they were to lose effectively 2, 3 or 4 of the leagues which are so important to player development 

The quickest win would be kids go free across the whole league when with an adult. Okay lose a tenner but gain behind bar, food, sweets etc and developing a sustainable fan base

I don't think it's as easy as we all think to make our own deals. l seem to recall that we are part of the PRL/RFU agreement which includes TV rights and league sponsor which is held by the RFU.

The good news is that this is up for renewal at the end of next season.

Surely you have worked out by now that the RFU don't need any player development from outside of the Premiership clubs or Academies?

The only clubs that require player development is the Premiership clubs and the RFU fund them a ludicrous amount of money and provisions of Academy rugby in order to have access to roughly 50 players per season to play in Internationals.

Yes, and all of that money ensures access to the best English players, who deliver high level results. Like in the last couple of Sux Nations (sic).

Sorry Richard but by default if the premiership club need player development so do the RFU if there was a blanket refusal of DRs the RFU would act.

Look at the current England squads please name a player that has not played in national leagues or championship as a DR

Player development isn’t just feeding the Prem clubs, it develops players across the board. 

Lewis Bean - no one's academy, picked up by his regiment in the army having never played the game - two seasons at Moseley in his late 20s ->Northampton -> now Glasgow. 

A return to a governing body controlled by the clubs(like the old FDR) is the only way for the League to progress.

Your last point confirms the point I was making. It is the Premiership clubs who need the player development, not the RFU.  If the Premiership clubs don't get the players from their Academies or lower leagues, they will just go abroad for them - as we constantly see.

A 'ban' on DR would mean very little to the Premiership clubs - the players may suffer - but for the Premiership club it wouldn't matter a jot. 

The RFU through the EQP scheme /payment are trying to tilt the balance in favour of English qualified players but who counts as overseas? Welsh, Irish, Scottish players? Employment law does not allow discrimination based on nationality and it opens up a can of worms. South Africans for example have the legal right to work based upon EU legislation currently enshrined in UK law. Until that right is restricted or removed then they are treated the same as a UK passport holder. 

One of the arguments in favour of ring fencing is that it would give clubs the opportunity to blood in youngsters as the clubs would be safe from relegation. It is a false argument as the clubs are rewarded financially based on their league placings and qualification to Europe, so they still feel under pressure to buy in "proven" players than use "unproven" youngsters. 

Unless Championship clubs have a ground that meets the Premiership criteria next season, then 22/23 will be another dead rubber and that will not promote the league at all, never mind the clubs!

So what are Ealing, Doncaster, Pirates etc doing to ensure they can't be blocked again?

ed a dead season for promotion, even if they had such grounds.

who called 22/23 a dead season ON, and when? I know there was originally going to be a moratorium on relegation, but that was lined up on basis that a 14th club would arrive in the Prem at end of 21/22, which as we know hasn't happened. That leaves a space as things stand, with potential scope for would-be Prem sides to improve their facilities to required level, as well as some noise from the Prem that the minimum standards might (appreciate there are few if any guarantees here) be lowered slightly...

Of course if Wasps, or rather their parent companies, continue to have problems renewing their bond there could be a further gap in the Premiership, and at that point I suspect a team would be found to fit the (reduced) requirements.

I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that, if you are suggesting the demise of a Premiership team could be a good thing for a Championship team.

Based on the fact that Arena Coventry Ltd, and another of the Wasps group companies, IEC Experience Ltd, have now both been issued with Companies House 'Strike Off' orders, the scenario is one that definitely will be at the forefront of that club's mind while they attempt to re-finance and pay back the overdue bond to its investors.

I tend to agree.

  The article also stated  that younger ( cheaper, lower paid ) Academy players will have more opportunity for game time.

Which is as it should be. No doubt many of the older heads will be heading south and east in search of the Euro.

You're right ON: there was no formal announcement of the 'freeze' being changed. But neither was there any announcement that it would remain in place while the Prem was 'stuck' at 13 teams.

Instead we have the rather frustrating middle ground where the parties involve express vague hopes [in contributions to articles like https://www.rugbypass.com/news/rfu-confirm-ealing-trailfinders-wont-be-promoted-to-premiership/" rel="nofollow - THIS ONE ] that things might turn out differently at the end of next season, while at the same time giving themselves enough wriggle room that they might not. All rather predictably unsatisfactory... 

100% agree with this. Ensuring that 2022/23 had promotion/relegation should have been one of the conditions of Ealing dropping their appeal. However the more I have poked about, the .ore concerned I am that they got nothing but vague statements.

£20m a season

£2m a team

They seem hell bent on the Womens clubs being the same clubs as in the Pr3miership, if I get the right end of the stick.

 Looks like Championship is just an annoying thorn in the RFU sides. 🤬

It's an utter nonsense. So, business as usual for the farts.

I do think the Championship needs to get its act together, find a strong leader and start banging heads together to demonstrate the importance of Level 2. Its all too quiet!

Hmmm.

Lots of research on that - growth of other sports, pandemic identified “better” things to do on a Saturday, preference for individual sports over team sports, etc.

Women’s rugby is going through the sort of growth spurt that men’s rugby had 50 years ago.

Totally support the growth of Women's Rugby but it still has a long way to go when you consider that the Senior England Male team are responsible for 90% of the RFU's annual income.

Alternately the RFU is an annoying thorn in the side of the Championship.

Given they kicked out Richmond, the most historically successful women's club in England, in order to let Exeter in, it's pretty clear that's exactly what they want. (though I believe Wasps Ladies are affiliated to Wasps FC and not Coventry Wasps but minor technicalities). 

Exeter might as well call themselves Exeter North America Nippon Cymru Women.

Do not believe the figures that are being quoted about the expansion of the Women's game. Yes it has had some growth but scratch the surface and its hardly massive. Pumping money into a League that doesn't and will not ever pay for itself is madness.

Proportional.

Not saying you are wrong but do you include the Prem and Championship in that?