Nick Cain: No, Kenny your call to ring-fence is so wrong

Exeter finished bottom of National 3 and were relegated to National 4 along with Clifton in 1995, the year that the game was declared professional. They had won just one of their 22 league matches. Last weekend they were in a different league in every sense, hosting the champions of Europe, Toulon, at Sandy Park in a crucial Heineken Cup clash in front of a full house of 11,000 fans.
It is testament to the ambition, ability and vision of the people associated with Exeter's remarkable rise through the ranks of English club rugby in the last 18 years. It is also testament to the importance, if you want a vibrant, healthy sport, of giving clubs the right to aspire.
Had promotion and relegation been ruled out 18 years ago, with a ring-fenced structure imposed instead – allowing whoever happened to be at the top two divisions at the time to be enshrined as elite professional clubs for evermore – then the rise of the Exeter Chiefs would never have happened.
Devon and Cornwall, counties that are part of the Rugby Union heartland of England, would have been denied a Premiership team, and Rob Baxter's emergence as one of the most promising coaches in the country could have been stillborn. Furthermore, the stream of talented young local players coming through to play for the Chiefs – such as full-back Jack Nowell, and hookers Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jack Yeandle – might have been reduced to a trickle, or non-existent.
In the same season Worcester won promotion from Midlands 1, which was six leagues below what has become the Premiership (then known as National 1). In the intervening period they climbed up the leagues and have become an established Premiership side, with the financial help of Cecil Duckworth and his boiler-making millions.
Even if they have consistently flirted with relegation, and appear destined for the drop this season, Worcester have given the game in the West Midlands a flagship club in the English elite. In the process they also established one of the best academies in the country, which was responsible for nurturing current England regulars such as Dylan Hartley and Tom Wood.
A fortnight ago in this paper Kenny Logan, the former Wasps and Scotland wing who is now a director of London Scottish, called for the Greene King IPA Championship to be ring-fenced. Logan's argument is the familiar one that the clubs who are currently fortunate enough to be in English rugby's professional second tier should be allowed to develop their infrastructure and commercial interests without the pressure of relegation.
In fact, Logan wants to see both the Premiership and the Championship suspend promotion and relegation for an indefinite period. He said: “I'd ring-fence the top two divisions now – at least for a few years – because there are lots of clubs in National One who don't want to come up because of the cost.”
Logan is as entitled to his opinion as anyone. However, if there are National 1 clubs who truly back his view, then let's hear it from them, rather than a potential competitor of theirs, like Logan's London Scottish, who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and staying in the Championship.
Let's hear it, in particular, from Doncaster and Esher, two clubs fighting to get back in the Championship after being relegated last season. Last weekend London Scottish and Doncaster drew crowds of just over 1,000, despite being one league apart, so when it comes to filling grounds the Scottish Exiles can claim no primacy.
Do Scottish have any more right to be in Championship than National 1 clubs with equally (or more) illustrious histories like Coventry, Rosslyn Park, Blackheath or Richmond, other than those won through a meritocratic playing structure?
For instance, why should Richmond – one of the RFU's eight founder member clubs in 1871 – have any less claim to play in the Championship than London Scottish, or any of the other 11 clubs currently inhabiting it?
You are asking for open rebellion by trying to pull up the drawbridge on most clubs, especially one like Richmond who have battled their way back through six leagues since being relegated from the Premiership to Herts/Middlesex 1, after going into administration in 1999.
Joining them in that revolt would be Championship leaders London Welsh. It is inconceivable that they would support a Logan proposition that they be denied promotion to the Premiership.
Let's see also whether Logan's position holds if, in the wake of the Premiership clubs' withdrawal next season from the Heineken Cup, there is also an expansion of the top league to include the top four promoted Championship clubs. If London Scottish are among them – and they are currently third – will they remain true to their ring-fencing stance and turn down the opportunity to go up?
What English rugby does not need is a minority of clubs seeking to curb the ambition and aspirations of others. Promotion and relegation preserves those rights, and that is why the RFU must continue to kick ring-fencing into touch.