Bristol full-back Rich Lane is keen to see relegation and promotion return to English rugby, but only if a fairer funding system is brought into place to allow Championship clubs to compete as top-level professional sides.
Former Bedford captain and their 2019 Player of the Year, with 97 appearances in the blue to his name and 31 tries, Lane is acutely aware of the issues around promotion and relegation; which has been effectively suspended since 2020.
And he feels that the below average attendances in the Premiership and Championship has a lot to do with the fact there is not enough incentive at the bottom and the top of each league respectively.
Speaking on The Rugby Paper Podcast, Lane said: “It has probably become boring.
“Ealing did really well with a great squad and finally won the Championship and all they got was a trophy and told to go again next year.
“Equally if you can't go down clubs can relax and have got time to recruit and go again the following year, but if you're in a relegation dogfight there's an excitement that brings people to watch.
“Rather than fans thinking that they should wait till next year to buy a season ticket while the team re-builds, they will want to see the boys in huge games fighting to stay up.
“If we can bring that back it keeps the excitement all year round.”
But although Lane feels that bringing back movement between the leagues is important, he also believes there has to be a change in the way the leagues are funded to make it work successfully.
Citing his former club, which was one of many in the second tier to become semi-professional after funding issues and players seeking employment during covid left it as the most practical solution, he questions why they would take the risk of returning to the previous status quo without a chance of survival at the top level.
He added: “For a club like Bedford, why would they move back to a full-time model when they'll put themselves into a position where they're losing money?
“I know there's been chat about two leagues of ten, but there would have to be a proper sit down and there would have to be a fair funding agreement, because there's no point in clubs putting themselves at risk.
“I don't know how that looks, but people need to come together and all clubs need to want to grow the game, meet in the middle and put everyone's best interests at heart.”
He also feels a return to the previous arrangement of having one Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL) shareholder playing in a semi-professional Championship also wouldn't work, with the relegated PRL team regularly coasting to the title.
Since Exeter Chiefs became the 13th shareholding club of PRL in 2012, the league has been won by that shareholding member in every season but one where a PRL team has competed.
Out of the 200 regular season games PRL sides have contested since 2012, they have won 184 and lost just 16, with a win percentage of 92.
Lane said: “In the past if a Premiership club dropped down to the Champ the mindset was: ‘It's a village league, we're probably going to walk it, it's just an annoying year to re-set and go again.'
“If that mindset became: ‘We're actually not going to bounce back up here, it's a serious year', and there was TV coverage and a lot of fans, it would work much better.
“Being able to guarantee you'll come straight back up takes away the excitement.”
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