Relegate or not to relegate? (From Worcester News)

Relegate or not to relegate?

2:12pm Monday 5th February 2007

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Should there be promotion and relegation to and from the Premiership, which is the question facing English Rugby. Well one of the many, but it seems to be the thorniest if you look around the Rugby fraternity message boards.

I have always said that mediocrity should have it's consequences. This makes for a very short blog so here are some of the arguments for and against relegation and promotion from the playing, fans and buisiness viewpoints.

For Relegation.

Playing.
The Relegation and promotion system breeds ambition in the clubs in the lower leagues and therefore pulls in ambitious players. The teams that are relegated have achieved the least so therefore should be relegated. A bit of a simplistic view but there has to be a route for clubs to better themselves or the whole of Rugby could stagnate if there is no relegation or promotion to and from the Premiership. It’s the difference between a river and a pond. Rivers have flow and provide energy and renewal whereas ponds if not cleared out on a regular basis choke up and stagnate. On a national level, players are forged in the fire of such a competitive league and have more experience of playing under extreme pressure.

Fans,
One of the most exciting games I have ever watched was the last game of the season The Warriors were promoted. If you are not familiar with the scenario, there were 5 clubs in the mix to get relegated and The Warriors played one, Northampton Saints, at Sixways. The game ebbed and flowed of the whole 80 minutes with both sets of fans in excruciating suspense. Even after the final whistle and the Warriors were safe the Saints fans had to wait, what seemed to be an age, to see if they too were staying up. The games, that day, that involved the teams at the bottom were all sell-outs and many fans were without tickets. If there were no relegation surely the games at the end of the season for clubs not involved with the championship or European places would be meaningless for the fans and therefore not point in going.

Business
If the fans don’t come to games then the revenue doesn’t some either. So if the league is ring-fenced, clubs that towards the bottom at the back end of the season, will suffer a loss in revenue as fans stay away from meaningless games in droves.

Against Relegation.

Playing.
Many other Rugby Nations around the world do not have relegation and promotion, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa all participate in the Super 14. Closer to home there is the Celtic League, which has teams from Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The changes to these leagues are the result of changes of franchises or teams going out of business. During the season, most of these leagues will be missing their International players as they are under contact to their Unions, mostly, and this has the effect of bring through young players from the lower leagues feeder clubs. Scott Quinnell came to speak to the Warriors fans at a ‘Talk Rugby; evening and he is convinced that the likes of James Hook have come through into the top level of rugby in Wales so quickly because of this system. Also, if you look at the best International teams, none of the players have to play so many games as in the English set up. The more you play the more likely you are to get injured or suffer burn out. The players need to play fewer games, but if your club is in a relegation scrap, they need you to turn out for them as much as possible. To compound thing, teams in this situation tend not to take risks by playing unproven players, so development of younger talent can be held back until the club gets it’s self out of the relegation scrap.

Fans.
If there were no relegation then clubs would have not fears about the rugby they play. This would result in a far more adventurous game plan and the development of skills in order to achieve that style of play. This is what has happened in Zealand in particular. Any one who knows any thing about rugby knows what the result has been for them!. So the fans get better rugby, more talent coming through and exciting games with lots of points being scored.

Business.
All sport today has to be a viable business. In order to be viable there has to be a stable financial platform. To get that, the last thing a business needs is a huge drop in revenue, which is what happens when a club is relegated. Loss of TV revenue and league revenue accompanied by a big drop in spectators coming to games. So it makes much more business sense for there not to be relegation and promotion.