London Welsh to be relegated?

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biffer
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by biffer »

I don't see Welsh winning at Bath, so if Sale were to beat L'Oirish this weekend, I reckon that's it pretty much done.

So long as Newcastle come up, I don't mind. Now I'm back in Edinburgh it's difficult for me to get to games, but a wee trip to the toon is easy.
kingneptuneii
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by kingneptuneii »

oh for the Love of... now MPs are getting involved, and why does it alway's seem tht we get dragged into the Mire?

Gareth Thomas MP has raised the issue that Tigers weren't docked points when Tuilagi was "effectively an illegal immigrant before his status was sorted out"

(for the record. Man got his Visa in July 2010, and made his prem debut on 05/09/10 against stains from the bench)
Never mind the ball, get on with the game!!
Jay C
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by Jay C »

Not seen that quote kingneptuneii, but here's more quotes from the same guy in the Torygraph (& Copsey too):

There is a clear bias in how funding is distributed against teams promoted to the Premiership," Gareth Thomas (Labour MP for Harrow West) said. "For a newly promoted club the difference in funding is equivalent to being forced to play matches with one hand tied behind your back. It is remarkable that London Welsh have been as competitive as they have been.

"It is high time this iniquitous state of affairs was put right. Rugby should be a fair contest with clubs battling it out on a level playing field. I have written to the Office of Fair Trading asking for it to request an investigation by the Competition Commission."

Thomas claims that London Welsh receive only £1.4 million from central funds while established founder members of the Premiership such as Bath, Leicester and others receive funds of the order of £3.5 million.


And :

LW Chief Executive Copsey claims that the RFU was at fault in not spotting the indiscretion and should have acted sooner themselves.

“Their whole process lacked common sense,” Copsey said. “We should be judged by the standards of the RFU. They were not very sharp at all. At one time, they had a lot more evidence than we did and they should have suspended the registration in the first place. We have not ruled out going to CAS. The key all along has been in finding justice. The punishment should fit the crime. And that should be a no-points deduction.”


Firstly MPs should keep their noses out - especially this issue, where his grasp of the facts is completely inadequate and his half truths do little favour to any party involved. The Prem is a business arrangement and the clubs have a right to protect their investment (frankly quite weird, but them's the rules). Plus the differential is not as big (apparently) as he makes out.

Secondly, Copsey threatening to go to CAS is frankly ridiculous (hats off to jg, though, who saw this one coming!) and trying to divert blame onto the RFU is just smoke and mirrors IMO.

I cheered Exeter on in their survival quest when they came up - but I have little respect left for LW I'm afraid.... :smt009
jgriffin
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by jgriffin »

Of course MPs sticking their nose in has no precedent, has it Manu?

MPs have the right to raise any issue under Commons privilege, and long shall it be so. Doesn't mean he's right, but he has the right to do so and if correct in his legal standing, have it investigated. If incorrect it'll not bother him cos many MPs have little conscience and big egos. :smt005
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Jay C
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by Jay C »

Quote from the papers this week (that I missed as it was not headline news, surprisingly) :

London Welsh chief executive Tony Copsey says the club do not intend to launch any further appeal against their five-point penalty and £15,000 fine for fielding scrum-half Tyson Keats for 10 games in the Premiership while he was ineligible.

“That is not going to happen,” said Copsey, whose side face Northampton at Oxford’s Kassam Stadium on Sunday. “We have considered our position. It has gone as far as we are going with it.”


Finally some common sense from the man. Now they can focus on the rugby again, but I fear it is too late for them to stay up ....
amazing tiger
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by amazing tiger »

yeah definetly going to get relegated with sale winning against gloucester . also there next games are hard saints at home. they also need to win every game but they do deserve to go down they have won less games than sale and irish and havent played good rugby.
WhitecapTiger
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by WhitecapTiger »

Relegated now. Loss to Saints and 12 points adrift with a maximum of 10 to play for.
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kpb
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by kpb »

Hugely disappointed for them. Wishing them all the best.
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jgriffin
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by jgriffin »

I suspect it will take them several years to regroup. A shattering affair.
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CitizenSmiff
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by CitizenSmiff »

Turns out they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble and some not inconsiderable lawyers fees by accepting the RFU judgement last year, it may well be that a famous old club has been forever ruined by a pretty disastrous 8 months. I wonder if they kept the keys to Old Deer Park handy.
tigerburnie
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by tigerburnie »

If I were a wealthy Welshman I would see this club as a fair place to put my money,lot of players would be happy to play in the Premiership rather than the Rabo I would have thought.I don't think staying in a football ground is a long term solution though,unless it were on the Welsh borders.
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Grimlish
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by Grimlish »

CitizenSmiff wrote:
Turns out they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble and some not inconsiderable lawyers fees by accepting the RFU judgement last year, it may well be that a famous old club has been forever ruined by a pretty disastrous 8 months. I wonder if they kept the keys to Old Deer Park handy.
Does anyone know what terms they had on use of the Kasam stadium this season eg did they have a 'get out of jail free' card (ie free to withdraw from the contract) for if they were relegated? Were they still using the Old Deer Park for other purposes (training, development games etc)
Jay C
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by Jay C »

Grimlish wrote:Does anyone know what terms they had on use of the Kasam stadium this season eg did they have a 'get out of jail free' card (ie free to withdraw from the contract) for if they were relegated? Were they still using the Old Deer Park for other purposes (training, development games etc)
According to the Grauniad :
"London Welsh will decide in the coming weeks whether to remain at the Kassam Stadium, where attendances have been the lowest in the Premiership, or return to Old Deer Park. In the heady days of November, when they were well clear of the relegation zone, they had talked about buying the ground in Oxford but their stay there now looks like being a short one.

"To have an Oxford-based Championship club would require in the first place an appropriate venue and an appropriate pricing or cost arrangement," said the London Welsh chairman, Bleddyn Phillips. "We are not obligated to stay at the Kassam and the present rental charges would be prohibitive. We are considering all options."


So it would appear - as they have lost £4m in two years and lost their biggest investor this week, plus they will only get £1m in parachute payments next season - that they need to seriously work on their finances and the Kassam will be too big a burden for them to stay....
jgriffin
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by jgriffin »

I hope they don't tumble rapidly down the divisions, or even have to go bankrupt and start all over again.
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Stupid
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Re: London Welsh to be relegated?

Post by Stupid »

tigerburnie wrote:If I were a wealthy Welshman I would see this club as a fair place to put my money,lot of players would be happy to play in the Premiership rather than the Rabo I would have thought.I don't think staying in a football ground is a long term solution though,unless it were on the Welsh borders.
Agree with that. I also wonder whether they'd be able to drop the London bit altogether and become Welsh Welsh. Even if they are based somewhere on this side of the border would there be anything stopping them hosting some of their games in Cardiff? I suspect they'd get better crowds there than Oxford.
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