Heineken Cup Petition

Just seen there's a petition on Causes.org to 'Save the Heinieken Cup'.

It's directed at the Unions themselves. May not do anything but for those of us who want to see the tournament continue, it's worth making our voices heard to the head honchos.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/rugby-unions-save-the-heineken-cup

Petitioning Irish Rugby Football Union

Rugby Unions: Save The Heineken Cup

Maurice Riordan

Petition by

Maurice Riordan

Hamburg, Poland

blah


To:
Irish Rugby Football Union, IRFU, governing body of Rugby Union in the island of Ireland.
IRB, International Rugby Board, governing body of Rugby Union Worldwide
SRU, Scottish Rugby Union, governing body of Rugby Union in the country of Scotland
WRU, Welsh Rugby Union, governing body of Rugby Union in the country of Wales
FIR, Federazione Italiana Rugby, organo di governo del Rugby nel paese d'Italia
FFR, Fédération Française de Rugby, organe directeur du rugby à XV dans le pays de France
RFU, Rugby Football Union, governing body of rugby union in the country of England
PRL, Premiership Rugby Limited
LNR, Ligue Nacionale de Rugby

Save The Heineken Cup

Sincerely,
[Your name]


That covering letter to all the stakeholders'll knock 'em out with its punchiness.

Portnoy, you disagree, we get it. If you haven't got anything nice to say, please don't say anything at all.

Yup, signed.

Signed with the following rationale;

Notch wrote:The step-up in intensity from the Pro12, Aviva Prem and Top14 to test-level international rugby is immense. There is a need for an intermediate stage of European rugby for players to get gametime at an elite club level each year.

European rugby requires an elite club competition to keep up with the SANZAR nations and that competition needs to expose as many homegrown players as possible from Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy to a higher level of club rugby.

To this end it should be run at least partly by the Unions- total club control will weaken NH rugby in general. There also needs to be serious intent to put homegrown-player quotas in place for any future European competition and the Unions need to spearhead that policy and emphasize its importance in the ongoing negotiations.

The Heineken Cup or any successor tournament is a crucial stepping stone between club rugby and test rugby for players from all six nations and therefore it's imperative that the Unions refuse to surrender majority control of the elite European rugby tournament.

I signed the save the Celtic Warriors petition. I may have signed (can't remember) the Valleys Rugby petition too. Fat lot of good they did.

Fat of good this will do, to be fair.

i bet you a petition addressed to your respective unions to make sure there is ANY EUROPEAN CLUB COMPETITION next year would be i) more signed up to and ii) more effective.

a petition for the HC, a competition which in France cant even be called by its name because of the laws regarding alcohol related sponsorship, is doomed because the HC is doomed.

get with the program.

And what exactly would be preventing Heineken from sponsoring the new competition?  If we accept there will be a reduction to 20 teams, how else would it appear different?

The second level competition would have 4 more quality teams in it.  Beyond that I am not sure.

Please understand, I am not trying to rehash the same old stuff, but trying to see how it might be different.  The absence of a European Rugby competition would be very bad.

Save the DisneyLand Paris Cup!

Or better still...given the French distaste for alcoholic beverages.

Save the Camel Cup!

That's more Parisian.

quinsforever wrote:i bet you a petition addressed to your respective unions to make sure there is ANY EUROPEAN CLUB COMPETITION next year would be i) more signed up to and ii) more effective.

a petition for the HC, a competition which in France cant even be called by its name because of the laws regarding alcohol related sponsorship, is doomed because the HC is doomed.

get with the program.

Indeed, McCafferty, and Smith, must have overlooked your prediction of doom as they went cap in hand to Guinness, with Guinness promptly showing them the exit, according to some.

McCafferty, and Smith, didn't get with the program  

Munchkin wrote:

quinsforever wrote:i bet you a petition addressed to your respective unions to make sure there is ANY EUROPEAN CLUB COMPETITION next year would be i) more signed up to and ii) more effective.

a petition for the HC, a competition which in France cant even be called by its name because of the laws regarding alcohol related sponsorship, is doomed because the HC is doomed.

get with the program.

Indeed, McCafferty, and Smith, must have overlooked your prediction of doom as they went cap in hand to Guinness, with Guinness promptly showing them the exit, according to some.

McCafferty, and Smith, didn't get with the program  

HaHa. if guiness had gotten involved (and they might yet if the IRFU sign up...hold this space...) that means that in France the tournament would become knows as the G Cup.

anyway, i would hope that mccafferty and busy pounding on doors to try to generate commercial interest in the RCC - that's what they should be doing. going after Guinness without the irish signing up to RCC would seem a bit cheeky though, i agree.

and advertising space with (Guiness involved) at half-time would become known as the...G-spots...

I thought McCafferty & Co. were to announce the details of the new competition at the end of October.
Why the delay Quinners?

taking longer to write the detail now that all 3 leagues and 6 unions are on board

It can be tough to pull such complex details from one's posterior...

IanBru wrote:It can be tough to pull such complex details from one's posterior...

They've had plenty of practice of doing that up to now  

Sin é wrote:

IanBru wrote:It can be tough to pull such complex details from one's posterior...

They've had plenty of practice of doing that up to now  

its a comedy magic routine. ERC disappear up their own posterior, PRL wonderboys pull miracles out of their posteriors.

quinsforever wrote:

Sin é wrote:

IanBru wrote:It can be tough to pull such complex details from one's posterior...

They've had plenty of practice of doing that up to now  

its a comedy magic routine. ERC disappear up their own posterior, PRL wonderboys pull miracles out of their posteriors.

  This whole situation has gone a serious sense of the comedic.

madmaccas wrote:Portnoy, you disagree, we get it. If you haven't got anything nice to say, please don't say anything at all.

To be honest, I support neither party.

Mostly because of the inherent nature of anything that has been on offer by either side. Well apart from the initial ERC demand for 24, but when no proposal to divide it by 8, I lost the will to support the Celtalians in any reform.

But this petition is so rubbish in its wording and construction that it's laughable.

And even the power of t'googleweb cant find a Hamburg in Poland.

It was written by a Munster fan, so the wording and construction exceeds all reasonable expectations we could have had  

..I of course meant Hamburg, Germany.....

Portnoy's Complaint wrote:

madmaccas wrote:Portnoy, you disagree, we get it. If you haven't got anything nice to say, please don't say anything at all.

To be honest, I support neither party.

Mostly because of the inherent nature of anything that has been on offer by either side. Well apart from the initial ERC demand for 24, but when no proposal to divide it by 8, I lost the will to support the Celtalians in any reform.

But this petition is so rubbish in its wording and construction that it's laughable.

And even the power of t'googleweb cant find a Hamburg in Poland.

Would you like to rewrite then please?


Over the past couple of years, there has been a concerted effort by private interests within the rugby structure of England and France to wrest control of club rugby from the unions. This has manifested itself in many ways, most notably the attempts to undermine the ERC and one of the jewels of world sport, the Heineken Cup. This competition in its short history has provided the teams and fans of European club rugby with many moments of elation, heartbreak, thrills and glory. Munster's win over Gloucester in the Miracle Match, Leinster's defeat of Northampton in 2011, Ulster's dominant march to the final in 1999, Connacht beating Harlequins and Biarritz in 2012, Aironi's stunning defeat of Biarritz in 2010 and Edinburgh's masterful display against Munster just a month ago and too many more to mention.

All this will be lost if you, the Unions, don't hold the line and stand up for your players, fans and clubs. Much has been made of the future of Pro12 rugby by elements within the PRL and LNR, saying we will disappear into bankruptcy if we don't sign up to their Rugby Champions Cup. They say that without them, we will become non-entities. I would like to remind them that Pro12 supporters are the best in the world, bar none. Without the travelling support of our teams, most of their home games would be very quiet affairs. Without the passion of the supporters from all over Europe, England and France included, the European cup would never have become the greatest club rugby competition in the world. Celtic and Italian rugby will continue, because we, the supporters, arm in arm with our clubs and our Unions, will not let it fall.

Please, do not cave in to the unreasonable demands of the rich patricians of English and French rugby. This is nothing short of a power and money grab.

As for the Hamburg, Poland part - that could mean that he is based in Hamburg and Poland.

All things change the HC may well disappear but don't fear the it will be replace by a fair for all (not just the few) competition played on a level playing field.

Well, that would make a pleasant change... I'd be all for a level playing field. Running uphill against sexy Harlem Globetrotting sides has been manageable in the past ... but still it's tough going on the studs and heartrate.

This is why the HC needs to change , Aviva and Top14 clubs wouldn't be able to get away with this much squad rotation, as their leagues are competitive every game, can't people see that this is wrong and geared towards some Rabo teams which just so happen to be based in the same city as the ERC.


Leinster vs Newport Gwent Dragons - Rabo
15: Zane Kirchner
14: Darragh Fanning
13: Luke Fitzgerald
12: Noel Reid
11: Lote Tuqiri
10: Jimmy Gopperth
9: John Cooney

1: Michael Bent
2: Aaron Dundon
3: Martin Moore
4: Quinn Roux
5: Tom Denton
6: Dominic Ryan
7: Shane Jennings CAPTAIN
8: Rhys Ruddock


Leinster vs CASTRES OLYMPIQUE - HC

15. Rob Kearney
14: Fergus McFadden
13: Brendan Macken
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Dave Kearney
10: Jimmy Gopperth
9: Isaac Boss

1: Cian Healy
2: Sean Cronin
3: Martin Moore
4: Devin Toner
5: Mike McCarthy
6: Kevin McLaughlin
7: Sean O'Brien
8: Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

Scrumpy, you do realize that many of the players missing were away at the Ireland training camp and that it would have been pretty much the same for England players and AP clubs had they not had the game vs Aus?

Spot on ASBO Leinster have 17 players with the Ireland squad for that Dragons game, who were all available for the game against Castres.  Besides that it was well documented on here that Saracens rested all their players in the AP the week before the HC and French team are rotating a lot for between Top14 and HC games, Racing Metro most of all.

Rotation is the gift of the coach...not any competition rules.  

Rules of any competition don't involve dictating to a coach how to rotate.

A coach proves himself by how well he can rotate to keep his side fresh [but still drilled] for a long season.

"Competitiveness" is a relative term.  

Two dung beetles fighting over elephant schit is "competitiveness".  

So too is AP top side, Saracens, been taken oh-so-close to defeat by lowest ranked Pro12 side Connacht (who can't afford a plush rotational policy at all - as most if not all their players are considered journeymen)

  "Save the Heineken Cup"

If Derek and Clive did petitions it would probably be...

HC's are ******* stupid. Can you mention one HC in the history of mankind that has had a record in the top ten? Can you? Can you mention one HC who's written the equivalent of, er, 'Othello', Shakespeare, 'Health & Efficiency'? They've produced nothing in the way of literature. All they've ******* produced is a load of other HC's and all they eat is ******* plankton, and they call them intelligent. Can you imagine drifting along in the sea with your mouth open and a lot of ******* plankton going in?

You'd like it, would you, just drifting around in the sea? And you can't, they're such ***** they can't even breathe underwater. They have to keep coming up the whole ******* time and spouting. Then some ****comes on telly and he says, "Oh, the HC is being wiped out by mankind, save the ******* HC." Well! During the war, did we notice a lot of HC's rallying round and saying, "Save England!" I didn't notice many down my part of the world. No, they were doing **** all ..... swimming around the ******* sea sucking ******* plankton down!