Saracens chairman Nigel Wray is thought to have pumped more money into the English club game than any other owner.
Saracens chairman Nigel Wray has added fuel to the debate about the future of the European club rugby landscape by suggesting the Welsh regions could join the Aviva Premiership.
ESPN Sports Media Ltd
This season’s Heineken Cup is set to be the last unless stakeholders can reach an agreement on the future structure of the competition and the distribution of revenue. Frustrated at the perceived reluctance of the Irish, Italian, Scottish and Welsh to find a compromise since they served notice to leave the competition last year, the English and French clubs have tabled plans for an Anglo-French tournament that they insist would also be open to their European partners.
And in an intriguing twist to the saga, Wray has dangled a significant carrot in front of the cash-strapped Welsh regions – the Dragons, Blues, Ospreys and Scarlets. “I feel we should have the Welsh clubs in the Premiership,” Wray told ESPN earlier this week. “It would be a league to replace the LV Cup as what the customers want are big games every weekend.”
Expanding on his idea in The Rugby Paper, Wray said: “I’ve thought for a long time, and this is a personal opinion, that we should have the four Welsh teams in the Aviva Premiership.
“That would make it a fantastic tournament. The customer is king and he wants to see big games. I can’t speak for the Welsh but I’d be greatly surprised if they wouldn’t jump at the chance of playing the English clubs more often.”
More pressing is the need to cement plans for a European competition beyond the end of this season at which point the agreement governing the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup will come to an end.
Premiership Rugby, the umbrella body representing English rugby’s leading clubs, has stated it no longer has any interest in dealing with European Rugby Cup Ltd, organisers of the current competitions, and Wray has urged the Welsh sides to join them and their French rivals in forming the breakaway tournament.
“My message to the Welsh teams is simple – ‘Join the competition’. At the end of the day, you have to have guts. They would be a hell of a lot better off than they are now.”
Thanks Tony!
There certainly is a lot of movement in rugby circles up North!
With so much back and forth at the moment its confusing to figure out what is going to happen I guess we will find out sooner or later. But I was wondering last week about Anglo-Welsh Cup and what these changes would mean to that competition so its interesting to read this development, not so sure about this proposal of Welsh teams in the Premiership, but I guess you have to admire Saracens for the way they have turned things around there and are leading the way in many areas at the moment with their innovations. Surprised though that there is not mention of Irish clubs at the moment, I guess once the English and French appreciate the value of the brand of Ireland clubs – at least Leinster and Munster they will try to get them on board in some form. Been told that apparently there is more money from the sale of Leinster replica kit etc than all of that made by Scotland, which thought was odd given that I think the Irish rugby is also having some money hassles but I guess they are probably struggling under the burden of the cost of their ‘new’ stadium.
Should this happen then it leaves Italy and Scotland clubs in the cold, a disappointing prospect for me.
Seems as if there will be some rugby splits up north, so much for a United Kingdom let alone a United Europe.
Will have to see how this pans out Tony, wonder if the ‘Cheeky Celtic Nations’ (as you referred to last week) will stand together in this or will they be split by the lure of money?
Had a quick look and it seems as if Leinster have already started to make whispers about their future:
“The leading Irish side Leinster indicated over the weekend that they might be prepared to join a new competition. “I hope there is a resolution but, if everything goes pear-shaped, we’d have to consider how to get into it,” said Leinster’s chief executive, Mick Dawson .”
In the same article Saracens chairman Nigel Wray was quite forthright going by the quotes “”The English and French clubs would, in my opinion, be quite crazy to stay in the existing tournament under the existing rules,” said Wray, adamant there can be no significant changes under the existing structure.
“The minority – in terms of revenue producing – nations outvote the English and the French 4-2 so, surprise, surprise, not much is going to change. That is why one has to leave the room in order to create something different and something better.”
“The English clubs and the French clubs need more revenue from the pie and deserve more revenue given that they create the vast majority of the pie . That said, we are in the business of creating a great European tournament and, by the deal proposed, all nations will obtain more money. This is a union-run competition created by the unions and, therefore, quite rightly it’s their game. We, however, do not wish to play under those conditions and wish to create our own tournament, which needs to be better still.” ( guardian )
Its not surprising they “need more revenue” given the wages they pay their players in England and even more so France. By the way it is alledged that Sarcens posted a £5m loss last year. They may have had big numbers through their gates at Twickenham which I guess is a good selling point to sponsors, but apparently they sold tickets for £5 for these games so if this is true they maybe artificially boosted their spectator numbers.
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