RFU to take control of 20 England players with ‘hybrid contracts’

[TigerXV]

The death spiral of English club rugby continues, another step towards ending up like county cricket. The sooner the RFU and Prem rugby fails the better in my opinion.

Well that's a cunning plan Baldrick! easy to say but what would you replace them with, at what cost and where would the money come from?

[kpj tiger]

The death spiral of English club rugby continues, another step towards ending up like county cricket. The sooner the RFU and Prem rugby fails the better in my opinion.

Well that's a cunning plan Baldrick! easy to say but what would you replace them with, at what cost and where would the money come from?

The reality is the RFU doesn't actually want club rugby to succeed, at least not without their choosing who succeeds. In my opinion it all started to go wrong with the CVC deal (I know that was prem rugby not the RFU), I'm not saying it was sunshine and rainbows before that but clubs were surviving and in some ways growing. France and about 15 years of the premiership proves we don't need central contracts.

The only way I can see the club game being fixed in this country is the whole house of cards falling down and rebuilding it properly this time rather than letting the cowboys loose. I'm not naive enough to know the chances of that happening and working properly are slim to none but I still think those chances are higher than the current ruling bodies managing to create two professional leagues that can compete with France or even the URC as well as have a good grassroots game.

[voice of the crumbie]

Coming soon to a premiership near you. All 20 hybrid contract players to be at one club with the England coach saying when and how often they play Sound familiar?

No sorry you’ve completely lost me. How does that benefit either club or country. You pick the best 20 players no matter who they play for, though I can’t see the French clubs playing ball

Have you never heard of Leinster?

[tigerburnie]

The death spiral of English club rugby continues, another step towards ending up like county cricket. The sooner the RFU and Prem rugby fails the better in my opinion.

Well that's a cunning plan Baldrick! easy to say but what would you replace them with, at what cost and where would the money come from?

I think professional rugby in England could go to the wall as unsustainable, it is so badly run it cannot possibly attract any decent investment. Jersey seem to have gone under because their investors could not see a product woth investing in, Wasps, Worcester and London Irish all failed to find an investor with some money to spare, it looks like the beginning of the end with the current management structure in the RFU/PRL.

[GB72]

The death spiral of English club rugby continues, another step towards ending up like county cricket. The sooner the RFU and Prem rugby fails the better in my opinion.

Well that's a cunning plan Baldrick! easy to say but what would you replace them with, at what cost and where would the money come from?

I think professional rugby in England could go to the wall as unsustainable, it is so badly run it cannot possibly attract any decent investment. Jersey seem to have gone under because their investors could not see a product woth investing in, Wasps, Worcester and London Irish all failed to find an investor with some money to spare, it looks like the beginning of the end with the current management structure in the RFU/PRL.

This is my concern. I am at a stage where I am not convinced that the league as we know it will last until the end of the season. One or two more club losses and it is all over bar the shouting.

[Rugbygramps]

Coming soon to a premiership near you. All 20 hybrid contract players to be at one club with the England coach saying when and how often they play Sound familiar?

No sorry you’ve completely lost me. How does that benefit either club or country. You pick the best 20 players no matter who they play for, though I can’t see the French clubs playing ball

Have you never heard of Leinster?

Completely different scenario and potential arrangement as I said earlier as much as anything else you have 4 Irish provinces against 10 premiership sides. People need to get this Leinster bee out of their bonnets, and if Ireland don’t win RWC a lot of people are going to be looking at their system

[GB72]

The situation for me is that systems to a large part not relevant to the argument at the moment. There is only one thing that is to me and that is simply money. If you have the money coming in, you can fund academies fully, you can keep and develop your home grown talent, you can look at the luxury of limiting imported players and you can develop a successful club and a successful league and, in turn, a successful international side working in conjunction with the league system. You can negotiate with the RFU from a position of strength rather than going cap in hand.

This has always been and always will be the problem. Until we get more people through the turnstile, more investment and more revenue from media, the game will wither and fade. When even a world cup is building up next to no outside excitement or encouragement (there was more marketing and promotion for the womens football world cup) you have to be worried about the future.

Sadly I cannot see a way of getting that funding and those revenue streams.

[tigerburnie]

Completely different scenario and potential arrangement as I said earlier as much as anything else you have 4 Irish provinces against 10 premiership sides. People need to get this Leinster bee out of their bonnets, and if Ireland don’t win RWC a lot of people are going to be looking at their system

Do you want to try telling that to the Munster or Ulster fans,(Connacht hasn't got a fans forum) they despise the system more than anyone on here does.

[ourla]

The reality is the RFU doesn't actually want club rugby to succeed, at least not without their choosing who succeeds.

You first need to make your mind up which of these two you think is true?

Then, you need to explain how it benefits the RFU if club rugby fails or which teams they want to succeed and why?

The only way I can see the club game being fixed in this country is the whole house of cards falling down and rebuilding it properly this time rather than letting the cowboys loose.

Pray tell what "properly" means and who you are expecting to do it (given you think the RFU is incapable and club owners are "cowboys")?

[Rugbygramps]

Completely different scenario and potential arrangement as I said earlier as much as anything else you have 4 Irish provinces against 10 premiership sides. People need to get this Leinster bee out of their bonnets, and if Ireland don’t win RWC a lot of people are going to be looking at their system

Do you want to try telling that to the Munster or Ulster fans,(Connacht hasn't got a fans forum) they despise the system more than anyone on here does.

Can only go on what I see and results which are Munster winning the URC last season.
And of course fans on fans forum aren’t one eyed in any way shape or form..

Don’t really want to get off topic this is about RFU hybrid contracts and despise them or not the professional club game in this country is going to struggle without them

[tigerburnie]

The main topic on this forum and others is whether the season tickets offer value for money, especially with less home games now in a 10 team league, do you think having player availability and selection compromised that we may see less of our English internationals will make that better value?

[GB72]

The main topic on this forum and others is whether the season tickets offer value for money, especially with less home games now in a 10 team league, do you think having player availability and selection compromised that we may see less of our English internationals will make that better value?

It depends. I would look at how many of the 20 are Tigers, whether the extra funding comes to us and allows more than adequate cover based on our knowing that Player A will be away for much of the season etc. Lot of variables.

I would look at it another way. Let us say Player A is on a hybrid contract and away for much of the season. We recruit Player B who is having an absolute stormer of a season. Why on earth would we then want to parachute Player A back into the side when they come back from international duty. Would it cause squad resentment if these players just swan up to play the big matches.

All things to think about.

[Rugbygramps]

The main topic on this forum and others is whether the season tickets offer value for money, especially with less home games now in a 10 team league, do you think having player availability and selection compromised that we may see less of our English internationals will make that better value?

I think again this is the argument of player welfare along with the ability of the National team to perform, as against Tigers being most important in all things, and that isn’t meant as a criticism.
To answer your question Tigers have assembled a squad that at the moment is without its World Cup stars. Given that this will only affect English players, do I think a the squad that is currently available plus Montoya, Wiese Reffell Pollard Kata, will provide value for a money, a team worth supporting, and capable of winning things, yes I do also tied into the fact that any hybrid contract players will be in at least half the games that are played.
If all fans are concerned about is value for money then it might be worth them looking into a PRTV annual pass or upgrading their tv package to include TNT sports as both options would be less than the cost of a season ticket

[Rugbygramps]

The main topic on this forum and others is whether the season tickets offer value for money, especially with less home games now in a 10 team league, do you think having player availability and selection compromised that we may see less of our English internationals will make that better value?

It depends. I would look at how many of the 20 are Tigers, whether the extra funding comes to us and allows more than adequate cover based on our knowing that Player A will be away for much of the season etc. Lot of variables.

I would look at it another way. Let us say Player A is on a hybrid contract and away for much of the season. We recruit Player B who is having an absolute stormer of a season. Why on earth would we then want to parachute Player A back into the side when they come back from international duty. Would it cause squad resentment if these players just swan up to play the big matches.

All things to think about.

I would suggest that there some examples of that in the current squad
Powell/Youngs
Shilcock/Steward

[tigerburnie]

I am looking from the outside, living in NE Scotland now, I will not be having a season ticket, so I tend to look at it from a different angle, I certainly don't have any axe to grind, but it seems some do. Due to health issues I will not be able to travel to Leicester, probably for the whole season, so I am just an armchair fan this coming season, so all I will see is the quality of the games on the computer. As a life long Tigers fan my sole concern is the club being a viable organisation that is competing at the top. Jones and the RFU have completely killed any interest I had in the National team, I have watched zero matches in this world cup, I have instead been watching National league and Championship Cup rugby and I am thoroughly enjoying this fare, not too sure all of the sponsors would be happy with financing a team that is shorn of it's key players for even more games than have been. Will the tv companies stump up more money to the PRL clubs for less games with less glamorous ties with the top 20 players in the country missing for a considerable chunk of the season?