The French proposals - Good or Bad for Rugby?

Change for the better?
Ian Moriarty
May 22, 2012

Less is more - but try telling that to the owners of some of France's biggest clubs who seem set to transform the European rugby landscape.

As cup finals go, last Friday's Amlin Challenge Cup Final wasn't exactly the most inspirational marketing for what is purported to be the biggest and bestest professional league in world rugby. The hand-wringing from both punters and pundits that followed Biarritz' narrow victory over Toulon at the weekend was completely understandable, especially in light of the Heineken Final that followed it on Saturday. It was, if truth be told, an awful advertisement for French and European rugby.

The age-old rivalries between Top 14 sides have always been one of the great pulling factors of the French Championship but taken out of context those intense encounters are often lost on neutrals. Last Friday night at the Stoop, we had two committed teams who threw everything at each other yet virtually everybody bar Biarritz supporters will want the game erased from the memory permanently.

But was Friday night's game a damning indictment of where French rugby is, as claimed by some commentators, or was it a one-off to be set aside and forgotten? There is certainly enough circumstantial evidence to believe the standard of rugby in the Top 14 is struggling this season thanks to the extended World Cup season. Yet nothing has ever been black and white in French rugby and despite this year's slog there are plenty who believe there should be more games, not less.

For some time now, there have been murmurs of discontent bubbling away across the French rugby landscape: too few Top 14 games, not enough TV money, too many European games, not enough control, not enough voting rights... Now comes the news that French (and English) clubs are giving serious thought towards refusing to re-sign the Heineken Cup accords in 2014, for which they have to give two years notice. The reason, they say, is that they should have more clubs in the world's best club tournament, to the effective detriment of sides in Scotland and Italy.

And there's more. Not content with potentially destroying the balance of a great European competition, there are those like Racing Metro owner Jacky Lorenzetti who sound as though they want to destroy their own club competition too. Lorenzetti recently told Midi Olympique that a return to sixteen teams was absolutely vital.

"There are too few games," said the multimillionaire. "The players whose teams don't make the final phases have maybe three months of holidays. That's nuts. A day at work for a rugby player is three, maybe four hours of training, four days a week. You've got to work more. They're not lazy but they're not Stakhanovistes (hard workers) either who are physically prepared to endure such a rhythm."

While a return to sixteen clubs in the next year or so is regarded as unlikely by those in the know, Lorenzetti's thoughts on the matter are shared by several other club presidents, broadcaster Canal+ and by Ligue National de Rugby (LNR) Pierre-Yves Revol. Money is the key and if those club presidents can't raise the extra cash by playing more games, other cash cows must be looked at, which is where the Heineken Cup comes in.

It seems like only yesterday that the French clubs were banging their shoes on ERC's boardroom table looking for a bigger slice of the European pie. Back in 2007 it was voting and share rights that captured Gallic imaginations but this time around it seems more serious. At the heart of the matter is the proposal from the French clubs and their English colleagues to limit the number of teams from the RaboDirect Pro12 to eight, thereby increasing their own. Taken in isolation, the proposal has its merits as it would undoubtedly make the Celtic league a more competitive and viable construct. However I'm pretty sure French and English clubs didn't have the health of Celtic and Italian teams in mind when they dreamed up the idea and therein lies the rub. More places for French sides equals more competition money and eventually, more control.

That would be all well and good if we thought European rugby would be well looked after, but given the recent utterances of powerful men such as Monsieur Lorenzetti of Racing Metro and Mourad Boudjellal of Toulon, how likely is that going to be? Would it mean more matches like last Friday night? Would it mean having more big name players like Matt Giteau and Carl Hayman (playing his 34th game of the season) playing well within themselves? How long before the French public stop watching?

Rugby's calendar is in a mess - of that we are certain. Here in the northern hemisphere though we are faced with the prospect of unions and clubs having to work together so that days like Saturday can continue to be enjoyed. And that, sadly, is a depressing thought.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

TV companies want more games in the premium competition - they are after quantity not quality.

No, they are after more people choosing to take up subscriptions. They didn't give a monkeys how many games there are or how high in quality they are they only care about the increase in the revenue.

Making the Amlin a worthwhile and winnable cup will make people watch it, numbers will rise in viewing because games other than French B side A vs French B side B will be entertaining. Connacht vs Gloucester in the quarters people will watch, certainly more than people will watch Connacht getting humpered pillar to post by the Tolouse second team in the HEC. Selling the rights to someone other than Sky will bring the competition alive, whilst it's Sky's second European competition there will be no interest. Make it worthwhile and then flog it to ESPN and they will make a song and dance about it.

and the third tier, while good for development purposes, generates no interest whatsoever

So people in Georgia, Romania and Russia who like their rugby but couldn't give a poo about the HEC because it means nothing to them (unless an international is playing for a French side) won't tune in to watch a Georgian team take on a Romanian team in a competition they have a decent chance in? The third tier is good for development and opens the option of flogging stuff to the rest of Europe. It'll never be a cash cow but it'll at least pay for itself and sow the seeds for future financial growth.

beshocked wrote: Cmon Sam do people really want to watch Connacht vs Gloucester?

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

jeffwinger wrote:I don't mean to sound arrogant but surely it cannot remain that some sides qualify automatically without having to earn their place. I would assert that assuming automatic HC qualification could be construed as arrogance.

I believe EVERY league should lose some HC places to facilitate a reduced but higher quality competition. This is the point some people fail to grasp in a lot of these threads. It is not a case of big mean English and French bullys taking away all your places and keeping them for themselves. It is every union making concessions for the greater good and integrity of the competition.

I think there should be a minimum involvement in the HC for each 6 Nations union, but if the four Celtic unions decided against this I would not argue. How a union or league distributes its places is ultimately up to them. All I am saying is that there shouldn't be so many places available.

The problem is, jeff, that it's not about LEAGUES. Take Scotland as an example, the SRU has two places to allocate - the first one goes to the winner of the 1872 Cup, the second one to the next highest team in the league in which the pro-districts compete - now, that league could in tehory be the Swiss U12 girls netball league if that's what the SRU chose. So when Scotland also had the Borders and the Caledonian Reds, we still only had two teams in the Heino. Equally if we bring back a third pro-district, we'll still only have two teams as it currently stands. But it's our business how WE allocate those two places

beshocked wrote:Secretfly we English fans do care about the HC but it's a harder balancing act for the top sides in the AP because they lose the most players to international call ups whilst their rivals don't lose any.

There is not automatic HC qualification to fall back upon either.

Consequently there are more full strength sides played throughout the AP season making it a more intense league than that of the Pro12.

It's also harder than it used to be for English clubs to attract the best foreign talent because the salary cap is on par with the Pro12 but much lower than the French.

Guaranteed HC rugby every season is a key draw for the Pro12 clubs that cannot be ignored.

jeffwinger wrote:Fly you are probably correct to say not all sides in the Premiership are concerned with the Heineken Cup. That is not to say that none of the sides are concerned with it.

There are only a few each year who are capable of doing well in it, so why would the other sides throw all their eggs in that basket and risk danger in the domestic league? There is no capacity for an English side to follow the lead of Edinburgh, but there is no reason why a club like Leicester, Northampton or Saracens can't emulate Leinster or Munster given similar operating conditions.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

TV companies want more games in the premium competition - they are after quantity not quality.

No, they are after more people choosing to take up subscriptions. They didn't give a monkeys how many games there are or how high in quality they are they only care about the increase in the revenue.
Making the Amlin a worthwhile and winnable cup will make people watch it, numbers will rise in viewing because games other than French B side A vs French B side B will be entertaining. Connacht vs Gloucester in the quarters people will watch, certainly more than people will watch Connacht getting humpered pillar to post by the Tolouse second team in the HEC. Selling the rights to someone other than Sky will bring the competition alive, whilst it's Sky's second European competition there will be no interest. Make it worthwhile and then flog it to ESPN and they will make a song and dance about it.

and the third tier, while good for development purposes, generates no interest whatsoever

So people in Georgia, Romania and Russia who like their rugby but couldn't give a poo about the HEC because it means nothing to them (unless an international is playing for a French side) won't tune in to watch a Georgian team take on a Romanian team in a competition they have a decent chance in? The third tier is good for development and opens the option of flogging stuff to the rest of Europe. It'll never be a cash cow but it'll at least pay for itself and sow the seeds for future financial growth.

Irvine rejects call for new Heineken Cup entry system

Andy Irvine has dismissed suggestions that the RaboDirect PRO12 may be turned into a straight Heineken Cup qualifier under pressure from clubs in England and France.

The French and English clubs responded to the fact that just one of their number, Clermont Auvergne, figured in the last four of the Heineken Cup this season and none reached the final by claiming that the Celtic and Italian clubs were unfairly aided by a RaboDirect league in which there was no threat of relegation.

With all Scottish and Italian clubs guaranteed entry no matter where they finish in the league, this, they contest, meant that PRO12 clubs could rest players from the Celtic competition and protect them for Heineken Cup matches, while they played their top figures every week in the Aviva Premiership and French Top 14.

They have proposed a new structure whereby only the top eight clubs in the RaboDirect PRO12, as well as the top eight in England and France, gain entry to the Heineken Cup, and insisted that they will refuse to sign the next ERC accord in 2014 if not agreed. If implemented now, this would have consigned to the Amlin Challenge Cup Edinburgh, this season’s Heineken Cup semi-finalists, the two Italian sides, with Parma expected to be unveiled as the replacement for Aironi, and Newport Gwent Dragons – the only PRO12 club that will currently miss out.

After watching Ospreys win a thrilling RaboDirect final in Dublin yesterday, Irvine, the league chairman, insisted that the English and French clubs would receive little support.

He said: “What a cracking final we have had again to a great league competition, another great end to a league that is making people around the northern hemisphere take notice of Celtic and Italian rugby.

“I know that the English clubs and RFU were pretty peeved at having just one team in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and I understand what they’re saying. They have enough teams in the Heineken so it’s not really a matter of having more in, necessarily, but their grouse is that we don’t have promotion and relegation in the Rabo. I would concede that that is a very slight advantage to us, but it is very slight, not the ‘make-or-break’ that they are hinting at.

“At the moment, we don’t have enough teams to have promotion and relegation and I don’t see that changing for a long time. That’s just our make-up in the Celtic nations. It’s not our fault.

“And it doesn’t mean to say that the teams that are put out are not trying their absolute damndest to win every game. Okay, we can rotate our players a bit more, but, then again, we don’t have the money and size of squads that they have in England and France, which allows them to rest key players as well.

“What’s the big deal? The fact is that we have fantastic quality players in the Rabo and, when it came to the Heineken Cup matches, they played better than their counterparts in England and France. The English champions [Harlequins] lost to ‘lowly’ Connacht. I say ‘lowly’ because Connacht are not considered the biggest name in rugby, but you ask any players who go there and they will tell you how tough it is.

“They remind me of Langholm in my playing days. Nobody liked going down there, a tiny wee town of 2,500 or so people, and the whole town would turn out and you felt as if you were playing against 20 guys rather than 15, but that’s what makes sport. The ‘Davids’ can beat the ‘Goliaths’, and that’s why people are drawn to sport.”

Last year, three of the four semi-finalists came from England and France and those two countries have dominated nine of the 17 tournament finals to date, while Scotland and Wales have hardly made a ritual of upsetting their big neighbours even without the fear of relegation.

There may be an argument that the Celtic nations benefited this season from the World Cup intervention, which impacted more heavily on English and French clubs and the ability to rest top players. But there is also a fundamental point that the Heineken Cup is not about pitting together the best 24 teams in Europe, but a contest of the best handful of teams in each participating country; not a competition for the wealthiest clubs – even though they still traditionally dominate – but a crucial lifeline to developing rugby across the continent.

Irvine believes that the Heineken Cup is a powerful draw to Celtic nations, but is also confident that the RaboDirect PRO12 is now a competition able to seriously challenge the Aviva Premiership and Orange Top 14.

“We know we’re always going to play second fiddle in terms of population and money,” continued Irvine. “France has 60 million and England 60 million and, while Italy has a similar population, rugby is a much longer way from being the top sport there, and the combined population of Scotland, Ireland and Wales equates to around ten percent of England and France’s. And England and France have very wealthy entrepreneurs who are prepared to help subsidise the game.

“But what we do have is the quality of players, and the proof of that is the success of the RaboDirect PRO12 teams in the Heineken Cup. And, actually, there’s no better example than Edinburgh. Edinburgh beating Toulouse was not far off Hearts or Hibs beating Barcelona in terms of the differing depth, quality and resource of the respective teams, and the crowd at that match [nearly 38,000] was phenomenal, but, to sustain the growth, it is crucial now that Edinburgh build on that.”

Irvine concluded by praising the SRU for taking the investment in each pro squad up to £4.2m each, level with the English clubs’ salary cap, and stated again that he would like to see the growth in wins, attendances and commercial revenue that would force the SRU to re-launch a third pro team.

“That’s where we have to be headed, to three and four teams again in the next four or five years,” he added. “The SRU have put their balls on the line by seriously funding the pro teams for next season, and the teams will be under pressure because no longer will they have the excuse of not having the same funding as the rest. They have to deliver and that’s good for our game.

“The Irish teams will still be strong again. Munster have been a little on the wane, but I expect them to bounce back, and Leinster are a class act and will take a lot of confidence into next season, as will Ulster, but the Welsh regions are going to operate on smaller budgets and are losing players, so I think the Scottish teams will push on above them. They have to both finish in the top half of the RaboDirect PRO12 but be really pushing for the play-offs.

“Off the field, the season ticket sales are up already for both Scottish teams, and Scotstoun is an exciting challenge for Glasgow to develop and fill with the exciting young talent they have coming through. I spoke to a lot of people after Edinburgh’s win over Toulouse who said it was fantastic, and they wished that there was another game the week after to go along to. So Edinburgh need to tap back into that at the start of the new season.

“If they can start with three or four wins on the trot, there is no doubt in my mind that there is the potential there to build to regular crowds of 10,000. If Belfast can do it, Edinburgh can because Edinburgh is a bigger rugby city.

“They need two things that haven’t quite come together in the RaboDirect yet – a good brand of rugby, which they play, and runs of victories. Get that and people might be surprised at how Scottish rugby takes off, and how the RaboDirect pushes the French and English even more.”

HammerofThunor wrote:Sky don't want more games. They want enough to entice people to pay. If they have fewer games, but are ones people REALLY want to see they'll still subscribe. AND this means there's more space in the schedule to put another sport in, to entice other subscribers. They don't want loads of games (especially as they won't be able to show them all and it increases the chance of another broadcaster taking on some of the games). The reasons competitions expand is based on the participants wanting more home game revenues.

As, one of the most interesting things in there is the bit about the Scottish squad funding being £4.2M from now on. Can we finally see the end of the "they have more money than us" crap? Supposed (although I've never seen the actual figures) the Provinces run at a similar level as the english cap (no idea if this includes central contracts, or is even true), the Ospreys have been struggling to get under the Regional £3.5M(?) cap for the European squad even after getting rid of the superstars, and now even the Scottish sides are on equal footing.

But there is also a fundamental point that the Heineken Cup is not about pitting together the best 24 teams in Europe, but a contest of the best handful of teams in each participating country; not a competition for the wealthiest clubs – even though they still traditionally dominate – but a crucial lifeline to developing rugby across the continent

viewtothegym wrote:They are not good enough, not once have they proposed changes that would suit them

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:What's the welsh regions 'big fat excuse' for failure in Europe?