What do you think about having a World Club Competition...?

First topic message reminder :

World club championship still on the cards
James Mortimer - (8/01/2012)
The elusive dream of a club championship could still occur if Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty gets his way in the coming years.

PASS IT ON


0

The reverie of seeing the Investec Super Rugby champions take on the Heineken Cup champions has always been a mouth-watering proposition for fans of the game, and the thought of teams like the Crusaders taking on Heineken Cup holders Leinster or French giants Toulouse would be fascinating.

McCafferty runs an organisation where the game is in excellent condition, with the Premiership recently reporting attendances are up seven percent since the World Cup, while Harlequins and Saracens recently broke the world record attendance for a club game – selling over 82,000 tickets.

He believed that eventually his Premiership could lead the way to a club challenge that would be a natural evolution in the game – with the concept embraced and successful in other codes.

"The national championship is something to treasure and Europe is very successful," he said.

"Ideally we would like to bolt on top of that an international club event, something that answers the question 'who is top dog?”

"Is it the Crusaders? Is it the Bulls? Is it Toulouse, Leinster or Saracens?

"That would be such a compelling event that sooner or later it will have to happen because people would love to see it. Club rugby at its best now is every bit as entertaining and enthralling, if not more so, than international rugby.

"Season structure is the biggest issue. We have had plenty of indications from our partners and from a TV point of view it would work.

"It won't happen before 2015, before the World Cup. There is a possibility it might happen after 2015. It is a matter of the stars coming into alignment to make something possible."

The Premiership and Rugby Football Union started their respective lives in the professional era on less than ideal terms, as players were not contracted centrally, and essentially a ‘club versus country’ battle ensued before Rob Andrew pioneered the landmark deal to compensate clubs and ensure player release.

The English ‘business model’ is one of the leading examples of evolution in the professional era and McCafferty said it could be adopted around the world.

"As I understand it, within the next five years all the Australian Super 15 teams will have private investment. New Zealand are looking at private investment because everyone understands their model is just not sustainable," McCafferty said.

"The RFU turn over 135 million pounds a year and invest only 10 percent of that into Premiership Rugby. In Australia and New Zealand, 40-50 percent of their revenues go into supporting the professional game.

"The consequence of that is you have less money to invest in the community game. The RFU have got the best of both worlds."

"You have to accept that for English rugby to be successful the clubs and country have to work hand in glove. When somebody pulls that hand out of the glove and smacks you, it doesn't work.”

"That is not the way we can work effectively together. But as long as everyone accepts that - and it is a two-way street, we have to help produce a successful England team - then English rugby will thrive.

"We have a contract that works. The agreement has been a big success. The issue now is to translate that into sustained England success.

What they should try and do is bring the South Africans into the Pro12 and Heineken.

It always amazes me how often posters on here propose changing the Heineken Cup or even abolishing it!! It's widely regarded by pundits everywhere as the best rugby tournament in Europe. More exciting and more attractive rugby than the 6 Nations. Even southern hemisphere commentators, like Bob Dwyer, and southern players who've played in it sing its praises. It gets massive crowds and TV audiences. It continuously surprises and amazes me with the brilliant contests it throws up. It's been a roaring success.

Did you see the final last year? It was amazing. Northampton were incredible in the first half. Then Leinsters comeback even more stunning. I've never seen a major final like it. I find the crowds in the south of France to produce the best atmosphere. But all the nations bring something different to it. The Welsh teams even get to fulfill their dream of playing English teams in it.

Do we really need more opportunities to lose the the New Zealanders?

gowales wrote:What they should try and do is bring the South Africans into the Pro12 and Heineken.

Already done that a couple of years back and decided it wasn't feasible

feasible or affordable?

This inclusion of SA teams in the pro 12 is something I would love to see. I don't see how it would be wonderful for those teams though. Surely they would have more travel rather than less and the travel costs for the current teams would soar.