Is the Premiership becoming a farce?

Wednesday May 04 2005
'Ring-fencing could kill the National Leagues'

The Zurich Premiership is heading for the play-offs, but Simon Griffiths of Gloucester & District Referees' Society is no where near the edge of his seat...

Well, it was all set up for probably the most exciting weekend of rugby the world has ever seen.

Every match had something riding on it. Five teams were playing to keep their places in the Zurich Premiership (or Guinness Premiership as it will be), a grand total of six teams were playing for Heineken Cup places with the top five already with places secure, and above all, Wasps travelled to Leicester in a title decider.

Or at least, that's how it should have been...

Premier Rugby have over the past two seasons put pay to such a dog-fight and their actions well and truly put a huge dampener on what could have been a historic weekend of rugby.

Let's start at the bottom - it's usual to start at the top, but I'm different.

There were five of the Premiership's 12 teams, nearly half, all still in with a chance of the drop! What anticipation, after the match at Kingsholm this weekend, most fans stayed put to find out which of the five would make the drop, and this from a crowd whom it didn't effect.

However, Premier Rugby, if they had their way, would ring-fence the Premiership, thus half of the excitement would be gone in an instant.

It is only the hard-work and determination from many in the RFU and the clubs in National One, coupled with 'fan power' that is keeping that trap-door open - for now at least.

Many claim that relegation would be the end of a club, but Northampton survived, Bristol have survived twice, Rotherham bounced straight back up. The £1 million 'parachute' payment wards off bankruptcy, and may even help Quins pay off their new stand!

Also why bother supporting or giving your all for a National One club if there is nothing at the end of it? Ring-fencing could kill the National Leagues.

Moving up a step, given the 'old' system of Heineken Cup qualification, every team but Harlequins had a chance of making it to Europe's number one club competition (pending results in the Heineken and Challenge finals), with all in a position to make it into sixth place.

However, the Wild Card meant that even Quins, the relegated team could have made it into the Heineken Cup next year had they won at The Stoop - quite ridiculous. In essence, the Wild Card is pointless, and in reality, unfair and unsupported.

But now, my real beef. At the top. For two consecutive seasons, Wasps have won the Premiership without actually winning the league!

In 2003 Gloucester finished a full 15 points clear at the top (winning four more matches tan the team in second) - Wasps could have played three extra games, won all of them with bonus points and still not have finished top - but by winning one game, won the silverware, breaking players' and fans' hearts alike.

The following year Wasps again managed their feat of winning without actually winning with a close victory over a Bath side which finished the season with two more victories than them.

It really is quite simple: a league is a league! It is not a knock-out. The Super 12 is often cited as a defence, but unlike the English Premiership is played over about two and a half months in a round-robin format.

No team plays each other twice, so is not a 'true' league. On the other hand, in England, a team slogs away for over half a year to prove themselves as the best, home and away.

This year is an example of another problem with the 'play-offs', Wasps travelled to Welford Road to take on the Leicester Tigers. Three seasons ago it would have been the title decider, winner-takes-all, the biggest game of the season and there would be the Sky cameras there, media from around the world and a packed house.

As it was, there was a packed house to bid farewell to the two legends, Martin Johnson and Neil Back, but the cameras were missing and the media were not particularly interested. Why? All it was deciding was who got a week of rest.

Wasps made a mockery of the league system by not turning up as Leicester thumped them 45-10. If they don't deserve the silverware after that, and the way they recovered after last season, then the game of rugby union is a shambles.

With any luck, as the play-offs/Wild Card trial-period ends and new sponsors enter the fray, there will be a change in attitudes. Guinness could make themselves well and truly the sponsors of the fans.

Were Guinness to insist on the abolition of the play-off system (we already have a knock-out cup) they would gain more favourable advertising and support from the fans than any half-empty Twickenham could.

The Zurich Premiership is heading to the play-offs, but Simon Griffiths of Gloucester & District Referees' Society is no where near the edge of his seat...