Relegations down the pyramid to accommodate a club that's gone bust and still has no ground, no players and still no money as far as I know

Stinks! 

Still on the plus side, it means tomorrow at the RAG will be blood and thunder. Just the 8 Harlequins loan players in the Scottish squad. 

Championship Twitter notification

Brizzer wrote: If Wasps are unable to field a side, then I get it, although it will leave us with a division of 11… again!! However, if they relegate the bottom side and include Wasps then this is nothing short of disgraceful.

I'm probably missing something but if one club is promoted and another is relegated AND Wasps are brought in doesn't that give a Championship of thirteen rather than eleven and a Premiership of eleven? Perhaps the clubs who have a bye in each league can play each other. Twelve in each may make more sense as the RFU don't want Ealing or Jersey perhaps they should place Wasps straight back into the premiership.

Radio 4 are wittering about Wrexham possibly re-entering the Football league, partly because they now have Hollywood backing.

Jersey having a chance to get promoted to the Rugby Premiership should be the big story - but because the dogs in their manger say no, the march on the island is utterly ignored.

Te Championship needs some serious marketing, does it even have a PR department?

Perhaps with a compelling behind the scenes documentary, like Drive to Survive or Welcome to Wrexham.

No it won't?

You'll be 13 if they enter and 12 if they don't.  Winners of Nat 1 are coming up to replace the relegated side regardless.

If you read all the posts SK you'll see this was pointed out previously & Brizz apologised for a mathematical lapse...

Which is a more interesting story. Sharks 2nd XV in the Championship 

49-3 FT Scottish win. Next week will now be even more interesting.

He didn't have an answer when I asked him where the 4 sides were coming from to make it 14, but if Rams and Sale are up from Nat 1, Wasps are dropped in, who is the other candidate, given that we've been told now that there willbe relegation from the Championship?

Just adds more weight to the "rumour" that Newcastle have been pursuaded to come down, especially after the humping they took on Friday.

Not sure what the relationship between Sharks and Sale FC is nowadays, but I talked to a Sale fan a few years ago and there was no love lost.

Oh how i do love the rugby rumour mill. Don’t worry it’ll be either Rams but more likely Cambridge going up. So no need to worry about a sharks 2nd team to complain about next season

'New' sides and grounds in a division are part of the lifeblood.

Now, I wonder if the parachuted pretend-midlands parasites have a ground yet?

Hope not

Only by themselves, rfu and certain vociferous ex players

Ps I’ve heard Wasps will be using their training ground at Henley while they’re in the Championship. Not the first time it’s been done- it’s worked reasonably well for us at Nottingham with Lady Bay. 

I heard they were going to groundshare with Coventry RFC!

And the moon is made of cheese.

Rumours abound, including that one.

Bet the, already very miffed, Henley locals can't wait.

I may be an old fashioned corporate financier but there aren’t too many investors looking for start ups based on a failed business model that also requires £8.5 m out of the door day zero .

I just cannot see this happening 

Not a groundshare with Henley-on-Thames, but using the training facility at Henley-in-Aren

http://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Henley-in-Arden/Henley-on-Thames/@51.9118716,-1.5995013,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x4870c58ca30ffae3:0x57e8a85c70c50af7!2m2!1d-1.779866!2d52.292549!1m5!1m1!1s0x48768542ad0cb2ab:0x50b007c5953c9c7d!2m2!1d-0.902894!2d51.535764!3e0" rel="nofollow - http://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Henley-in-Arden/Henley-on-Thames

Geography?  RFU probably need maths as well.

I believe 10 + 14 is the aim, but this season it will be 11 + 13.

Though there are rumours, not just here, that Falcons might decide to take voluntary relegation - and presumably write off some debts.

There is also talk of a Prem/champ cub to be played during the World Cup. With, again presumably, 6 pools of four sides. So one pool gets one Premiership side, and you can bet that pool gets Wasps.

But, there has been very little clarity.

How much funding will Wasps Phoenix get? Premiership Parachute or Championship?

Does this stem from a credible source CE… the use of the word ‘apparently’ has a strange effect on my right eyebrow!

I’m pretty sure they suggested the Premiership is going to 10 (it won’t be 11 with a bye week), they also suggested the Championship could also go to 10. They also mentioned the cup pre World Cup between the 2.

If we did go to 10 that would mean 7th would be the “safe” position. 11 + wasps + Cambridge (presumably) leaves 7.

and they said that all these changes to league sizes would be brought in by September?! NO, they didn't!! This is how rumours grow and hares are set running! We need to scotch this 'bottom 5 in Champ to be relegated this Saturday' nonsense straight away - totally wrong!

Absolutely right islander.  The SUGGESTED possibility is that in season 2024/2025, there will be a POSSIBLY 2 x 10 Prem 1 and 2.  Nothing has been decided and this drip feeding of theories, possible changes are only causing concerns that should be avoided at all costs.  

What should be talked about is, regarding the new Professional Game Agreement, to be agreed by the RFU/PRL is , by my understanding, and I stand to be corrected , is there is unlikely to be a representation from Championship clubs during these discussions/negotiations/rubber-stamping ( delete as necessary!).  Should we be concerned? Yes. To have to agree to any changes, major changes affecting ALL our clubs would be , like a multi-storey car park, wrong on so many levels.

In the meantime, well done to ALL Championship clubs, supporters and everyone for this season, enjoy your last games next weekend and, it’s only by keeping asking of YOUR clubs we MAY find out the Championship formation and schedule.   By accepting the shoddy governance, their shocking treatment of the game at all levels can change be acceptable at all levels of OUR game. 

Has relegation been changed half way through a season to lose 5 clubs in the division before? 16 to 12 maybe?

Notice I didn’t say “will” for the championship. They did say everything was on the table and it is all up in the air.

They are the TV rights holders and had a Premiership DoR.

More seriously, the reason it was put forward was, according to my source (which in old profession as a jobbing hack we would have called 'well-placed'), because the funding deal for London Irish is on the verge of falling through and the RFU has had to give Irish until May 16th to come up with certainty one way or another.

Apparently, according to the I, Wasps asked to sit out a year and have been told to finalise plans by June or lose their place in the Championship.

https://inews.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/rugby-saracens-london-irish-wasps-dai-young-suspended-2292833" rel="nofollow - https://inews.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/rugby-saracens-london-irish-wasps-dai-young-suspended-2292833

It is only a two horse race if Wasps get their act together.

Nottingham's problems with Saturday kick-offs are well known, but I do not think that is a good enough reason to deny them a home game in the final week. It is unfortunate that this week, their match affects relegation.

Obviously, if Scottish take five points, it matters not.

But Richmond will go out to try to win whatever, even if they only need one point.

The idea that promotion to the Championship, and relegation from it, could both be settled on the number of draws is an interesting coincidence.

I swear the 57 old baked beans at HQ have 57 varieties of ideas for Next Season.

Still waiting for URC to be renamed Championship.

The final round of matches this week & none of us has the faintest idea of the 2023/24 structure.

They the RFU are clearly hell bent on shafting the Championship.

We know there is a Cup, involving pools with the Premiership sides, then a 13 team league = so 29 games and two bye weeks. Yes, technically, you might be involved in two knock out games, but even without the World Cup stars and resting some others, the chance of a Championship side topping a pool is slight.

What we do not know is whether Wasps will enter. So Richmond could yet be reprieved. We think they have until the end of June to declare.

Or if any more Premiership sides will go bust.

Happy to clarify that one. Not a shred of truth in it.

What if voluntary was omitted? I. E the other clubs threw Falcons to the Wolves? 

The rumour was specifically about voluntary relegation, which I’m saying is not true.

After getting over my aversion to the word 'apparently', I checked this out. And yes it's true, according to the copy of the regs I've just found from last summer. Must have missed it, or noticed it and forgotten. This is 3.1 (b)

As pointed out, this could affect the battle for 11th/12th. It could also affect 1st/2nd, should the Reds pick up 2pts on Saturday and Ealing get 4, or if there's a 3/5 'split' - Ealing would win the tie-breaker. I might be a dribbling wreck if this happens!