Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney’s ultimatum regarding Premiership 2 has been branded “unacceptable” by Championship clubs, who have warned the England squad would suffer significantly if forced into community play.
Championship clubs continue to unite against the governing body’s vision to introduce a franchise-based Premiership 2, potentially including a revamped Wasps. Clubs’ main objections center around the lack of detail on promotion to the Premier League, player development plans, management and finance; This could be halved in the new Premiership 2. The 2025/26 season closes in February.
Sweeney insisted last month that if not enough clubs signed up “you go back to the status quo and you lose that opportunity”. But Simon Halliday, chairman of the Championship clubs, has called on the RFU Council and Sport England to prevent them from being exiled to the community game.
“What Bill said before Christmas is unacceptable,” Halliday said. “It’s just a binary situation. Why does this have to be the outcome? So that needs to be challenged, and I think the majority of the vote expects us to challenge that. I think the result can be easily found and we collectively wish to find this solution. “We don’t want that to be imposed on us, especially when there isn’t a whole-game solution.”
Telegram Sports It understands the RFU has made direct appeals to a number of National 1 clubs, including Berkshire’s Rams and Darlington Mowden Park, to join Premiership 2. Despite numerous meetings at Twickenham, Championship clubs believe their views are consistently ignored Alistair Bow, the clubs’ vice-chairman and chairman of flood-hit Nottingham, directly accused Sweeney of disrespecting them at a meeting in August.
“They are distorting that day to fit their own agenda,” Bow said. “It gets extremely frustrating, especially when the general manager sits there and spends all his time on his phone. “We do our best to participate, but it’s very difficult when there are some people who clearly don’t want to participate.”
Financing at the heart of the problem
The RFU will commit to providing £4 million for the proposed Premiership 2, according to plans shared with the championship. However, £1.4 million will be retained by the RFU for central initiatives such as marketing, while £1 million will be allocated to player development, leaving just £1.6 million for the 11 clubs. Minus the estimated £600,000 for insurance, which would give each team around £80-90,000, which is less than the £160,000 they currently receive in central funding. Championship clubs will also need to pay to meet the new minimum standards to get into Premiership 2.
“So technically the new phase two competition is 50 percent less funded than where we are today,” Bow said. “We need to get rid of the myth that everything we do is about finance. We have invested around £200 million in this league from team owners since the championship was founded. We want to protect this £200 million. We are happy to continue investing, but we also want others to come and invest with us. At the moment the RFU are by far among the smallest investors in the league.”
Championship clubs present a united front against the RFU’s advances. Conor O’Shea, the RFU’s director of performance, accepts that Premiership 2 will be a critical role for young English players, but as Sweeney acknowledges, they will not be able to form Premiership 2 without a significant proportion of clubs leaving.
With the RFU pulling the strings, the Championship appear to have little clout in the negotiations, but former Leicester chief executive Simon Cohen, who now advises the Championship, argues the second tier is essential to giving game time to the next generation of English players.
“If you’re talking about leverage, there will be 37 players in the Premiership plus 12 passes, so they will reduce their squad significantly,” Cohen said. “England lack good players and depth in some positions. If you’re right in what they say, all they want is the best possible England team, then they need Championship clubs to deliver that. To develop those players they need game time and in the right environment and They need that playing time in the right context because you’re not going to produce them in an academy system that goes 37 plus 12.
The RFU remains hopeful that Championship clubs will continue to apply for Premiership 2. A spokesman said: “The RFU has been advising Championship clubs for over a year. We have researched and produced a commercial strategy and provided clubs with approved funding at least at current levels for the 24/25 season and proposed increased funding from the 25/26 season onwards. “We will continue to consult with Championship clubs and hope they choose to be part of a more successful and sustainable second professional tier.”