Work to do but Bill can meet the challenge
DESPITE efforts to improve the league structures, there are clearly problems that have not been resolved.
In restructuring the leagues, the RFU did not fully address one of the main causes of concern – travel. One example will suffice – Redruth travel to three clubs in the Leicestershire area, each one a round trip of approximately 600 miles. Is this really what has been intended in the competition changes?
The west of the country is too big to be covered in one league. A better solution would be four regional leagues at level four – South West, North, Midlands, South East.
At the end of the season, the winners should play one another in semi-finals, with a final to be played at Twickenham. The winner would have the chance to be promoted to National League 1 at level 3, provided that it met agreed criteria- see below.
Leagues lower than level 4 should remain within these four regions, ensuring that the only clubs that would travel outside their defined geographical region would be National 1 upwards.
In my travels and through conversations about the game, the message these days is that the RFU is too Twickenham-centric, and that, out ‘in the sticks', people feel too distanced from the governing body and RFU employees. Let's take the regional idea further, in consideration of the structure of the RFU
itself. There is need for some form of devolution and the creation of four regional offices (based on those referenced above), each office to have staffing resources devolved from Twickenham, along with funding to meet regional facility and other resource needs.
Each region should have its own committee structure, feeding a trimmed down National RFU Council. The regional committees would have representation from the counties therein. These committees would each nominate six people to sit on the slimmed-down national RFU Council, which would retain one member each from the national bodies – schools, students, armed forces, professional game, and referees.
The above would give more influence to the clubs in the regions and would halve the size of the RFU Council. A win-win financially and structurally. Of particular importance, each region should then have its own devel- opment staff. RDO's in the past were of huge importance and value to many clubs around the country. The centralisation of the coaching, referee and general club support programmes has perhaps caused the most damage to the community game, and it is here that clubs have felt most let down.
Moving on, how do we address the reduction in numbers playing, with consequent cancellation of fixtures and fewer teams? What do they do in Australia, which has long been challenged for popularity by rugby league, Aussie rules etc.? On any match day, Australian clubs have up to four games against the same opposition – grades 1, 2, 3 and 4. These games are played back-to-back during the day. As well as a Grade 1 championship, there is a Club Championship trophy for the club that has amassed the most points from all its teams over the season. Aspiring to be the Club champion ensures there is as much focus on getting the 4th XV out to play as the 1sts. It may be asking too much to try to replicate this in England, but how about having this structure for 1st and 2nd teams, with the second-tier game played as a curtain-raiser for the 1sts?
As important as anything else – what is the solution to the problem caused by clubs having a sugar daddy who gives money so players can be paid, when the club has poor facilities and perhaps runs only one team? There are many clubs in the country, with poor facilities, and no more than two senior sides, where players are paid to play, and the stated ambition is to go upwards through the leagues. What benefit do these clubs provide to the game at large?
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The only place in the English game where there are criteria for promotion is from the Championship to the Premiership. There should be criteria from level 6 upwards, becoming more rigorous the higher the level. They should encompass quality of playing and social facilities, changing rooms and women's facilities, along with number of teams playing weekly, qualified coaching staff etc. This change would ensure clubs were not side-tracked by the blinkered ambitions of the minority who see short term benefit in having a more successful 1st XV, funded at the expense of the longer-term interests of the game.
These suggestions would improve the game, helping to meet some of its most serious challenges.
Finally, there has been a great deal of unwarranted criticism of the RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney, and his RFU colleagues. I know these people. They have had hurdles to overcome that are largely no fault of their own. Sport generally has many problems to sort out. All team sports are suffering from a drop in participation. I am confident that Bill and the RFU will meet the current problems successfully, even if takes longer than we might like.
