World Club Championship......

[kk20gb30]

According to 'The Rugby Paper'(21/6/20) , the brainchild of French Rugby President Bernard Laporte is set to be put before World Rugby this coming week.Slated provisionally for June/July 2022 the competition would feature the Champions from the USA and Japan together with the Premierships top four,the PRO14 top four,the Top14 top 4 and the top six clubs from Super Rugby.
Laporte states his primary aim is to generate further income but believes his plan would garner enough support from Clubs, Television,the public and potential advertisers to make it feasible on a regular basis (four year cycle).
The (front page) report states that the idea is a proposal only , but initial plans and further details should be unveiled very shortly.

Interesting.

[Scott1]

Take my money!

[Tiglon]

I'd love to watch that, but I don't understand how there is room for more matches in the calendar.

[johnthegriff]

So if played after the end of our current season with playoffs and European Finals, I presume there will be no Summer tours arranged. We play 22 Premiership matches plus a semi-final and a final, the French 26 matches plus I think a possible three games for their play-offs, Heineken Cup to the final is 9 matches, on top of that there are 5 matches for the 6 Nations plus usually 3 or 4 Autumn internationals and three on the Summer tour. We are told that players must participate in no more than 31 games a season and also need an eleven week break from the Final match of one season to the first competitive game of the next.
I ask how many extra players will a club need to employ to cope with a new tournament and how many extra weeks do we need in a year to fit it all in? I know some will say it is only once every four years, like the World Cup and like the Lions Tour, I bet it won't be long before someone comes up with an idea for that other year, after all we can't have broken players having a rest every four years when they could be making money for old farts in suits.

[JP14]

Doesn't Laporte (and Beaumont) want this instead of the Heineken Cup though?

[johnthegriff]

So instead of benefiting six/seven Premiership clubs it will only work for four. Instead of short European trips for fans their could be expensive intercontinental trips, and if the new competition is only every four years what happens in the three other years if the European Champions Cup is to be abandoned?
At present all twelve Premiership teams get European action, and the numbers travelling to follow their team abroad really enjoy the trips, not just the game but the social side as well, many of them will be denied those opportunities. I don't see how this proposed plan will make money for all clubs, it may produce money for the Unions, it might even bring in money for the clubs taking part but increase the wage burden on clubs attempting to qualify for this new venture or just increase the gap between the wealthier or Union owned clubs and the others. It maybe good T,V for the stay at home fan but for those that like to attend games it will just make their hobby a lot more expensive.

[mol2]

I would suspect playing matches around the world might not be a simple option until Covid has passed.

[kk20gb30]

In spite of Covid the idea and premiss seemingly raises it head again :

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/global-c ... ean-rugby/