Rugby Football Union bosses have been accused of betraying and misleading the game by former England players who have been instrumental in negotiating the future of rugby under the Premiership. Simon Halliday, the England captain who won the 1992 Five Nations Grand Slam, also called for a review of the “serious” failings of some RFU chiefs.
Mr Halliday was European Professional Club Rugby Chairman for seven years until 2021, and has recently been representing Championship clubs seeking greater funding and firm guarantees from the RFU regarding promotion and relegation. In a scathing letter sent to RFU chairman Tom Ilbe, observerHe claimed existing Tier 2 clubs were “stalled, misled and misinformed” and warned that recent poor governance in England was “threatening the game”.
In particular, Mr Halliday broke a promise that RFU bosses would discuss further relaxing the Premiership's minimum standard standards at a council meeting in mid-June to make promotion to the top tier more viable for teams. claimed to have done so. “With the help of our own legal advisors…we have made it clear that several issues are not agreed upon and require further discussion,” Halliday wrote. “This has been approved by the RFU executive and I have written evidence and the evidence of our lawyers. Since then we have been stalled, misled and misinformed and have no right to the game. There is no sign of a more progressive approach to this fundamental part.”
A two-leg play-off between the top teams in the Championship and the bottom teams in the Premiership was welcomed as a means of maintaining promotion and relegation. However, with key adjustments to the small sector, teams without an existing ground with a capacity of more than 10,000 will now be granted prior planning permission and financial support to ensure stadium expansion works are carried out within four years. This means that virtually all Championship clubs will be in the top nine. – Placed at Doncaster and unable to rise.
Mr Halliday, who resigned as chairman of the Championship board in August, told Ilbe that he had until December 1, the deadline to apply for a facilities audit, to issue a statement making it clear that promotions and relegations were null and void. He urged them to either do so or conduct an immediate review. .
“No club may be able to achieve sustained promotion,” Halliday wrote. “How is this acceptable? It is the RFU who are expected to watch the entire match. If anything, you are alienating the very club for which you are responsible.”
The letter also states that efforts by the Tier 2 Board to negotiate fair and reasonable standards regarding ground capacity were circumvented by decisions made at Pro Gaming Board meetings where a quorum was allegedly not present. It is also claimed that Halliday believed that “the legality of what happened is clearly in question” and said the RFU had placed Championship-hoping clubs in an “unacceptable position”. “Your managing director has failed in significant ways in managing this process,” he told Irbe.
“Recent actions by the RFU legal team [about] Obfuscating and protecting an apparently contradictory status quo [RFU] Board decision. This threatens our country's game given its seriousness. Additionally, Bill Sweeney and [RFU] Despite numerous requests, he called on executives to have a good faith conversation about the disparity in funding between promoted clubs and existing Premiership clubs. ”
After newsletter promotion
The RFU has already come under criticism on a number of fronts, with significant year-end financial losses due to be reported soon, and the national team has lost seven of the last nine Tests. There are also fears that Twickenham's financial situation could derail the Rugby Players' Union's plans to extend much-needed welfare support to Tier 2 players.
In response, the RFU stressed that a new Tier 2 Board with an independent chair has been established. “All matters related to Rugby's second tier are raised and managed through this board,” the spokesperson said. “Board members are working together to deliver a reimagined Tier 2 starting next season.”
