RFU CHampionship

I have read a lot about Newcastle probably getting relegated but will the Championship side actually be allowed to be promoted?

Here is the current teams

1 Bristol
2 Bedford
3 London Welsh
4 Cornish Pirates
5 Rotherham Titans
6 Leeds Carnegie
7 Nottingham
8 Doncaster
9 London Scottish
10 Moseley
11 Plymouth Albion
12 Esher

Now looking at the current teams I'm guessing Bristol and Leeds have the required facilities. I belive most of the top 8 however don't. Given that anyone in the top 8 can gain promotion through the playoffs, its possible a championship side may win that does not meet the facilities.

Does anyone know who currently has the approved facilities for promotion and who does not?

Also what are people's thoughts on this process? Personally I dont understand why relegation is there if a team that rightfully gains promotion status is denied on because it lacks facilties. Also I'm sure that under the current criteria that the RFU have set some of the Aviva teams qualify. Newcastle being one of them. So if Newcastle get relegated they won't get promoted again unless things change. Is this true or do they essentially get the stamp of approval because they have already been part of the premiership?

I also cant believe the amount of games they have to play at that level. 22 games in plenty to decide a Champion. To then have 8 playoff games seems silly given the British and Irish Cup involvement. I'm not suprised this has resulted in a poor showing in the Cup from English sides. There is no way given the amount of proffesional outfits at that level they should not be able to compete. Given that Welsh Prem sides are Semi - Pro's I am amazed 3 have qualified for the last 8. Ether and sides like that have double to three times the bugets any of the ASDA sides.

Anyway a little off point as I'm actually more interested in the Promotion questions. Is it right that a side qualifing 8th in the league can potentially promoted to the Premiership by winning the last 8 games of the season in a Playoff format?

It's hard to tell who has the required facilities because some of the teams who might meet the requirements don't bother paying for the audit as they aren't certain of promotion and want to save money.

Nottingham play out of Notts County's football stadium which should meet all the requirements as it is an easy stroll from the station, big enough seats wise and seemed to be able to cater for enough rugby fans when I went. Depends on the full criteria though.

One thing that was floated in the Newcastle Evenin Chronicle is ground sharing. Both Leeds and Bristol share their grounds with other teams and cannot guarentee that they can have access to the ground if required (probably something to do with TV schedules)

I must stress that from a Falcons supporter perspective I think if they are bottom they should go down - and from what I hear the club thinks that way also.

I've taken these snipets from old BBC news reels:

Exeter spent £12m getting Sandy Park up to Premiership standard. Rowe said the criteria were so exacting that they had to measure every urinal to make sure it was at least 60mm apart from the next one. An extra 5cm had to be added on to a door to a medical room. "The criteria document is an awesome one," said Rowe.


It only applies to teams wanting to get into the top flight. The point Rowe was making was that if Exeter had spent £12m on players rather than facilities and a ground, they could have assembled a team capable of challenging for the Premiership title but they would not have been allowed in. It works in reverse for the teams already in the top 12. They do not need to spend on facilities, although many have done.


Sale have been looking to raise £8m to redevelop Edgeley Park. They lost £1.5m last year and have only once broken even in the professional era. If they were a Championship side looking to pass the criteria, they would have to make improvements, as well as satisfy the clause regarding primacy of tenure.


Only one Championship club in the play-off semi-finals will meet the entry criteria, Worcester. Cornish Pirates, London Welsh and Bedford do not have grounds that meet the required standards and what income they generate has to go on their teams. There is nothing left over.


The RFU this week said that the 12 Championship clubs would continue to receive slightly more than £300,000 a year in central funding, but only if they average 14 England qualified players in the squad over the season, rising to 15 and then 16 in the following campaigns. The Union will contribute £250,000 because there is no sponsor for the Championship, money that will be reclaimed if a backer is found.


It means that Championship clubs will receive some eight per cent of what their Premiership counterparts receive from central funds. Apart, that is, from the side that is relegated from the top flight which will enjoy, for a season, a parachute payment in excess of £3m.


"Funding is an issue for Championship clubs," said Rowe. "It is going to be very difficult for someone to do another Exeter. I think the RFU should look at ways of helping clubs develop their facilities by making interest-free loans otherwise who is going to take the gamble of investing millions for something that may never happen? It saddens me.

Is ring-fencing on its way? "I hope not," said Rowe. "If the English game is to grow, we need teams in the Championship with grounds that allow them to make the step up. It costs at least £1m to run a side in the Championship and the central funding does not go anywhere near to covering just that. What is there to spend on facilities? The clubs need help and, given the hoops they have to jump through to meet the criteria, you would expect facilities at every Premiership ground to be excellent. That is not the case. Promotion and relegation have to continue and help given to those who need it."

The Rugby Football Union's minimum standards criteria for Premiership rugby state that participating clubs must have stadia with a capacity of 10,000, a figure that dwarfs the Pirates' Mennaye Field in Penzance, where a sell-out crowd is 3,000.


Looking at that article I doubt half the Premiership sides qualify if they did get relegated.

So essentially the RFU is ring fencing the Premiership.

I've saw an article saying that London Welsh were interested in investing in facilities etc... to meet the requirements. But its a risky decision because obviously if you don't get promoted then its a waste of money but if you do its worth it. Tricky one this.

OP,
I don't think a playoff format is fair. It should either be the top two teams automatically get promoted like football or they have a 4 team playoff.

formerly known as Sam wrote:It's hard to tell who has the required facilities because some of the teams who might meet the requirements don't bother paying for the audit as they aren't certain of promotion and want to save money.

Nottingham play out of Notts County's football stadium which should meet all the requirements as it is an easy stroll from the station, big enough seats wise and seemed to be able to cater for enough rugby fans when I went. Depends on the full criteria though.

A phrase I keep hearing being bandied around is 'primacy of tenure' I think this is the stumbling block for Nottingham.

gowales - I read too that London Welsh had a ground share option in place with Bretford FC just up the road from their Kew rd Base.

Cumbrian, but aren't Nottingham owned by the same people that own Notts County? Therefore, they are eligible?

It does go to show what a complete farce the system is, as I doubt even an RFU employee could come on here and give a straight answer!

My understanding is that Bristol, Bedford, Pirates, Nottingham & Leeds are eligible, but I'm probably completely wrong!

The London Welsh/Brentford rumours were hovering last season when they were in the playoffs. The decision was made to not move due to risk I assume, but if you go to Old Deer Park they're really starting to get a lot of supporters.

They've had some good results this year haven't they. I saw that they beat Bristol last weekend, massive scalp for them.

Cumbrian, but aren't Nottingham owned by the same people that own Notts County? Therefore, they are eligible?

I think they are now, there's been some buying and selling of Notts County as the wanna be Abramovich lot who took over did their level best to throw the rugby club out, right down to reclaiming their admin section. As far as I know the County are now owned by the bloke who used to run the rugby club. It's a bit complicated but the primacy of tenure would pose no real problem as with County and Forest outside of the Premiership the number of televised games would be very few so there would be little chance of a clash. The rugby club could use the additional tv revenue to compensate County with plenty to spare.

It's not the RFU that's virtually ringfencing the Prem - officially it's the Professional Game Board,which is a joint RFU/PRL device for RFU to rubberstamp what the PRL cartel want.

Primacy of Tenure at Football grounds can be worked around, since OFT ruled against the PRL criteria several years ago. Irish, Sarries, Wasps & sale do it, and Bris did (and still do).

I'm pretty sure that it's only Bris and Leeds that meet the criteria, and Notts probably could. Pirates have faced delays in the development of the Stadium for Cornwall, and now aim to have it in place and audited for the following season.

The Championship season is more than faintly ridiculous, with the 22 game phoney league, the mini-league pools, and the knockout playoffs. It's better than the initial season, since clubs now carry some points from the phoney league into the pools to reward their 22 game effort. The reason is largely to provide enough home games, from which the clubs derive a large part of their income. In the old 16 team NL1, there would be 15 home games (plus EDF Trophy). Now there are 11 in the phoney, plus 3 in the pool, then possibly knockout, plus 2 B&I home pool games.

Most English clubs don't take the B&I Cup seriously, a bit like the Prem and Regions with the LV. It's not popular with fans and is expensive with travel and overnight costs - given that RFU only invented it to help provide income, it's failing spectacularly. This season, we've even seen the early all-english ties being played midweek between real "phoney" games, and clubs allowed to temporarily recruit players from other teams in the lower National leagues.

It's a shambles.

For more information of the farcical structure of the Championship season and issues with regard to Promotion and Primacy of Tenure issues, you will find a lot of information and opinion here:

http://www.rolling-maul.com/forum_topics.asp?FID=1&SID=422710623421814587cazz7a171957147800926&title=the-championship