The solution to the RFU

The RFU is rotten to the core, something which most English fans have suspected at one time or another.

The ruling council of 63 self serving politically minded autocrats will never recognise or permit any changes to their executive powers, which means that the vast majority of the recommendations made in the reports concerning the running of the RFU (not the RWC campaign reports) will never see the light of day. Many are saying it is time for a clean sweep. Some are beginning to think we need to go further....

All of the power & money that the RFU garners is from controlling the top flight, i.e. The Premiership & the Championship.

Is it time to rewind the clock a few decades and follows rugby leagues example?

If the top 2 divisions in English rugby broke away from the RFU, refused to recognise their authority and set up a new governing body (for arguments sake let's call it the PRU... Pro Rugby Union) to manage the modern professional game, they could in effect rebuild a fresh on a green field site... so to speak. Brand new and built the way it should be, not on the ruins of the RFU.

The IRB and ERC would quickly recognise the new body because all of the proffesional clubs & players would belong to it (and all of the money that the English game earns that the IRB & ERC love so much), then the England Team born anew under the PRU could move on, the clubs can move on and the RFU can go back to managing the amateur game.

We could also finally have a fixtures list where there is NO CLASH of domestic & international windows and properly constructed rest periods, as the PRU would be founded by, and run by the clubs.

Thoughts/comments?

The professional game must work with the amatuer game and there must still be promotion and relegation which would mean that the members of the PRU board would permanantly be in flux.

With the RFU owning Twickernham and all the England Rugby branding the whole international aspect of English rugby would still be a battle ground. The RFU will not release their hold on that cash cow easily.

The RFU has to be the governing body.

I havent got a clue how your system works as you have so many committees and different organisations that have far too much control, they are a result of the problems at the RFU over the last twenty years since everyone else's governing bodies modernised to the changes in the game.

Just to make a point here, I don't necessarily subscribe to the views in my OP but a friend of mine who is a league fan suggested the idea to me and I thought it might be an interesting debate.

Could the RFU ultimately fight the power of the clubs? If the clubs were to threaten to walk away then the RFU would have no choice but to reform.

formerly known as Sam wrote:... there must still be promotion and relegation which would mean that the members of the PRU board would permanantly be in flux.

Is that such a bad thing? two or three members would change a year... better than the current situation where they are entrenched and don't move.

Metal Tiger wrote:Just to make a point here, I don't necessarily subscribe to the views in my OP but a friend of mine who is a league fan suggested the idea to me and I thought it might be an interesting debate.

Could the RFU ultimately fight the power of the clubs? If the clubs were to threaten to walk away then the RFU would have no choice but to reform.

It's an interesting debate, MT. I think if you look at the example of most other unions around the world (NZ, Ireland, etc.), the primary objective is clearly the success of the national team and everything else is developed to that end. If England handed more power to the clubs, I think that could be a serious mistake