Shame of the RFU blazers

It's funny what tugs at your emotions and I was caught unaware last week by the traditional pre-season picture of the Premiership club skippers or stand-ins at Twickenham.

There, looking vulnerable and a little sad were the last 10 clubs left standing. This time last year there were 13 in the line up. Barely 24 hours later came the crushing news that Jersey Reds, winners of the Championship last year, had ceased trading.

I don't know about you, but I am so bloody angry with my cherished sport and those running it in England. The warning flags have been evident for years but never more so than the last 12 months but the blazers are rabbits caught in the headlights, incapable of making the necessary changes.

Who to blame? Well the Premiership is the love child of both the RFU and Prem Rugby, it's a case of joint parentage and equal blame. The Championship though is the RFU's abandoned and neglected baby and they must take full responsibility. What should have been their pride and joy has become a sidelined, confused, chronically neglected imitation of its former self when the fight for promotion was real and their collective playing resources once so strong they beat the Springboks.

The RFU can always find the money for Bill Sweeney's latest bonus payment and so-called ground improvements at Twickenham; it can always afford to compensate its latest failed England coach and then pay off the employers of their next coach; it has seemingly conjured money from thin air for women's rugby and addressing the transgender issue – if indeed there even is a transgender issue in English rugby – but there is never ever the wherewithal to support its core league at the tip of the grassroots apex. Shame and damnation on all concerned at Twickenham.