European clubs have agreed to launch three new continental tournaments, after almost two years of conflict.
The six federations and representatives from English, French and Welsh teams made the announcement on Thursday.
In a joint-statement, the nine stakeholders also revealed that previous competition organisers European Rugby Cup (ERC) will be replaced by a new organisation – European Professional Club Rugby – based in Switzerland.
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“A new deal on European club rugby has been signed,” read the statement.
“All nine stakeholders have underlined their commitment to an invigorated competition that will start in the 2014/5 season and meets the requirements of all the parties involved.
“It is a truly meritocratic tournament, with appropriate division of finances, underpinned by a long-term agreement and strong governance.
“It features three cross-border club competitions to be called the European Rugby Champions Cup, the European Rugby Challenge Cup and a new competition called the Qualifying Competition.”
The European Professional Club Rugby statement in full:
“All nine stakeholders (listed below) are delighted to confirm that a Heads of Agreement ensuring the continuation and development of European club rugby competitions has been signed.
“The parties have underlined their commitment to an invigorated competition which meets the requirements of all the parties involved. It is a truly meritocratic tournament, with appropriate division of finances, underpinned by a long-term agreement and strong governance, starting in the 2014 / 2015 season.
Overview:
Thee cross border club competitions to be called The European Rugby Champions Cup, the European Rugby Challenge Cup and a new competition called the Qualifying Competition.
An association shall be established in Switzerland called ‘European Professional Club Rugby’ (EPCR). This body will be responsible for organising and managing the Cup Competitions.
European Rugby Champions Cup qualification:
20 clubs qualifying through the finishing positions in their leagues from the preceding season:
- Top six from Top 14
- Top six from Premiership Rugby
- Top seven from Pro12, with at least one club from each country participating in the league
- The 20th place will be taken by the winner of a play off between:
For the 1st season: The seventh highest finishing club from Top 14 and the seventh highest finishing club from Premiership Rugby. This play off will be played in May 2014, either as one match (in which case, there will be a draw for home advantage) or as home / away.
For subsequent seasons: The seventh highest finishing club from Top 14, the seventh highest finishing club from Premiership Rugby and the eighth and ninth highest finishing clubs from Pro12 (or the two highest finishing which have not already qualified automatically).
From 2015 season, if the previous season’s European Rugby Challenge Cup winner has not already qualified through its finishing position in its league, it will participate in the play-off by taking a place given to its league.
The play-off will take place over two dates.
- 1st date: Seventh club of Top 14 versus eighth or ninth from Pro12 and the seventh club of Premiership Rugby versus eighth or ninth from Pro12. The matches will be played at the home venues of the Top 14 and Premiership Rugby clubs.
- 2nd date: The two winners from the first matches. The venue will be selected by a draw.
European Rugby Challenge Cup qualification:
- 20 clubs comprising 18 clubs from Top 14, Premiership Rugby and Pro12
- Two clubs from the qualifying competition organised with FIRA-AER (Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur – Association Européenne de Rugby)
Format of both Competitions:
The competition will take place over nine weekends. The Pool phase will be through five Pools of four teams which will play each other home and away (six matches). The five pool winners and the three best runners up will qualify for the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals will be played at the home venues of the four best Pool winners. The quarterfinal winners will play the Semi Finals and the Semi Final winners will play the Final.
Calendar of both Competitions:
- The Pool phase will be played in 3 blocks of 2 weekends and will be completed by the end of January.
- The Final will take place latest the first weekend of May.
The Qualifying Competition will compromise between 8 and 12 teams from Tier 2 countries and Italian clubs as agreed by EPCR & FIRA-AER.
EPCR will be managed through a Board of Directors representing all parties and an Executive committee in charge of commercial matters and assisting with preparations of Board meetings. The EPCR Board shall have an Independent Chairman.
The EPCR Executive will comprise the Independent Chairman, Director-General, and three voting representatives, one from each of the leagues ? namely the Top 14, Premiership Rugby and Pro12. The Director-General shall manage the day to day operations of EPCR.
Competitions will be under the aegis of the IRB and run according to the IRB Laws Relating to the Game and IRB Regulations. The parties have also agreed to form a working party to discuss and propose the principles of an integration of European competitions within an all-encompassing European rugby framework.
A minimum eight year agreement.
Equal distribution of funds. i.e. A third to Top 14 teams, a third to Premiership Rugby teams and a third to Pro12 teams, with a guaranteed minimum distribution for the clubs from the Pro12 in years 1-5.
The nine parties are: Federation Francaise de Rugby (FFR), Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR), The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), Ligue Nationale De Rugby (LNR), Premiership Rugby Ltd (PRL), Regional Rugby Wales Ltd (RRW), The Rugby Football Union (RFU), Scottish Rugby Union PLC (SRU) and The Welsh Rugby Union Ltd (WRU).
ERC Ltd. The parties take seriously their obligations to ERC and their staff and will ensure an orderly and proper transition to the new association.
You bugger, have been following this one for ages with all the backwards and forwards on the negotitations and take my eye off the ball for a moment and you publish the news here that its finally been sorted, oh well I guess for me its a case of you snooze you looze
Good one though to finally have some sort of solution as it had been dragging on for AGES, had a quick look and seen details of this came out last night when was out at a super gig.
One thing though as its going to be a new competition run by different body it will need a different logo.
BT and Sky reached an agreement on broadcasting the new European competitions with a four year rights sharing deal
Iloveyoubakkies has just had a meltdown with this news.
he is stuck with the australasians, must be their fault the NH didnt want SA.
still, Im sure we will hear much noise from some SA supporters about going north again, its cyclical, normally after a Bokke loss
@ nga puhi:Hehehe he must be absolutely shattered!!!
Below are just some examples of what he must’ve looked like after reading this catastrophic news…
@Pops
You are not quite right
Bakkies had a meltdown after reading THIS story:
A daring, last-ditch proposal by Australia’s rugby players to form a trans-Tasman breakaway competition has been shot down by the New Zealand game’s chief powerbrokers.
As the future shape of Super Rugby inches closer to a form that will be taken to the broadcasting market, details have emerged of a proposal from the Australian Rugby Union Players’ Association to reduce the competition to a 10-team trans-Tasman format, with a peripheral role only for the South Africans.
Aussie players boss Greg Harris presented his organisation’s preference to his New Zealand and South African counterparts in Hong Kong recently, and told The Australian newspaper that the future of the game across the Tasman may depend on it.
Harris told Rob Nichol (NZ) and Piet Heymans (South Africa) that Rupa research had delivered a firm indication that Sanzar’s proposed 18-team Super Rugby model would not produce sufficient compelling rugby for the Australian game.
“The most viable model, the one in the best interests of Australian rugby, is a 10-team competition between Australia and New Zealand,” he told the paper. “The only crossover involving South Africa would come at the playoffs stage.”
Australian rugby is desperate to cash in on a vibrant broadcasting market that has emerged across the Tasman, with the AFL ($A250m annually) and NRL ($A200m) both signing monster deals in recent times, dwarfing the $A25m that rugby nets at present.
But the two most powerful men in New Zealand rugby, NZRU chief executive Steve Tew and Players Association boss Rob Nichol, have both given emphatic indications they did not support the rebel Australian proposal. Both have emphasised the importance of having South African involvement in the round-robin competition.
“We value playing South African teams in the round-robin, and think it’s really important we have that level of competition and experience. We’d be very nervous about not having the ability to play South African teams,” Nichol said.
New Zealand’s players have thrown qualified support behind the latest preferred model presented which is an 18-team competition spread over a slightly decreased time period.
“From our perspective if you’re considering introducing new teams it’s the best one that’s been brought out so far,” Nichol said. “Having said that, there’s an awful lot of water to go under the bridge and a lot of boxes to tick.”
Nichol’s chief concern is the involvement of a team from Argentina. “It’s not that we don’t want to see them in Super Rugby, but a lot of things need to be considered, not the least of which is this the best thing to do for Argentina rugby.”
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Tew confirmed yesterday he stood by his comments made earlier that the NZRU regarded South Africa as an intrinsic part of Super Rugby.
He said the “significant” broadcast income provided through SuperSport was a part of that, but not the sole driver.
“Everyone we talk to in coaching and high performance believe our young athletes need to play South African teams before they start to play test matches. So we think they’re vitally important from a rugby perspective too.
“We’re doing our best to make sure this competition continues to involve South Africa,” he said.
With a June 30 deadline fast approaching, it’s likely the current “preferred model” will be the one agreed upon. That has 18 teams playing a 15-game season in an “innovative” conference format, with travel by South African teams significantly reduced.
“We fully respect the Australian players want to work closely with the ARU to achieve what they think is in the best interests of Australian rugby, but unfortunately they might just be a little late,” Nichol said.
The players boss does urge “go-to options” should the proposed format not meet broadcasters’ requirements. “If you have to fall back to a 15 or 16-team competition you need to know what that’s going to look like.”
– © Fairfax NZ News
The news of the European tournament being finalized just pushed him off the edge
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