Northern Hemishpere Rugby 2013
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JSRF10
Dick Tooth (41)
The PRL is the umbrella organisation that governs the top tier of English clubs, they are responsible for negotiating player release with the RFU, the Premierships TV rights etc.
I don't think that the Rabo teams will suffer a massive drop in funding, they have a shiny new TV deal with Sky for the next 3 years, with more TV money to come from the reminder of the rights to be sold off to terrestrial channels. The new deal for the Heineken Cup isn't contingent on the French and English clubs taking part so whatever tournament goes ahead I don't that there will be a massive drop in income for the Celtalians.
the plastic paddy
John Solomon (38)
I have a very strong suspicion that the PRL realise their lunatic bluff, holding sweet F A, is about to unravel spectacularly. The talk in the UK is all of compromise etc. Hopefully Wray will chuck his toys when he doesn't get his way and piss off to football where he would be much happier, as would all the rest of us who love the game and don't want to see it prostituted by pricks like him.
the plastic paddy
John Solomon (38)
"STATEMENT MADE ON BEHALF OF THE FOUR WELSH REGIONS BY REGIONAL RUGBY WALES
"Regional Rugby Wales (RRW) on behalf of the four Welsh Regions confirms its full support for the proposed new Rugby Champions Cup Competitions.
“Whilst there remain elements of detail to be confirmed, it is now clear that there are a number of significant advantages to the new competitions in equality of governance, format, qualification and distribution across the individual participating Clubs.
Consequently, RRW looks forward to working with the WRU to support their efforts and positive engagement in striving to ensure our teams are involved in strong, valuable European Clubs Competitions in time for next season.""
The Welsh regions have ratted on the Irish, Scots and Italians. No surprise I suppose that they have bent over, applied some vaseline and offered themselves to their English masters. Can't believe they have sided with a pizza salesman who is intent on emasculation of the game of rugby as we know it. We had better hope that reports that the WRU are in on the deal prove to be false.
The IRFU, SRU and FIR need to come out all guns blazing this morning, making it clear that if the Welsh want to start acting unilaterally then they can feck off if they think they are going to play any more Rabo games this season. Chuck them out of the competition.
Next it should be made clear to the IRB and the RFU that the ceding of control of union to scumbags like Wray will make it impossible for the unions to participate in the RWC in England.
And purely at an Irish level it should be made clear that if anyone of the players thinks they are going to swan off, take the shilling and continue their Irish careers they are seriously deluded. They will be turning their backs on their country and will face that shame for the rest of their lives.
"Regional Rugby Wales (RRW) on behalf of the four Welsh Regions confirms its full support for the proposed new Rugby Champions Cup Competitions.
“Whilst there remain elements of detail to be confirmed, it is now clear that there are a number of significant advantages to the new competitions in equality of governance, format, qualification and distribution across the individual participating Clubs.
Consequently, RRW looks forward to working with the WRU to support their efforts and positive engagement in striving to ensure our teams are involved in strong, valuable European Clubs Competitions in time for next season.""
The Welsh regions have ratted on the Irish, Scots and Italians. No surprise I suppose that they have bent over, applied some vaseline and offered themselves to their English masters. Can't believe they have sided with a pizza salesman who is intent on emasculation of the game of rugby as we know it. We had better hope that reports that the WRU are in on the deal prove to be false.
The IRFU, SRU and FIR need to come out all guns blazing this morning, making it clear that if the Welsh want to start acting unilaterally then they can feck off if they think they are going to play any more Rabo games this season. Chuck them out of the competition.
Next it should be made clear to the IRB and the RFU that the ceding of control of union to scumbags like Wray will make it impossible for the unions to participate in the RWC in England.
And purely at an Irish level it should be made clear that if anyone of the players thinks they are going to swan off, take the shilling and continue their Irish careers they are seriously deluded. They will be turning their backs on their country and will face that shame for the rest of their lives.
JSRF10
Dick Tooth (41)
I was gutted when I read that statement this morning, put me in a horrible mood all day.
I'd love the IRFU, FIR, FFR, SRU and SANZAR to push the nuclear button over this and say there'll be no World Cup if this goes ahead but I think we'll be watching the Super Duper Rugby "Champions" Cup next unfortunately.
I agree on how Ireland need to approach it, anyone who is overseas now is exempt but anyone who goes now isn't eligible for Irish selection. A side point of keeping our best players on the island is that we'll always have 2 or 3 teams who have a chance of winning this competition before they change the rules again because we're winning.
I'd love the IRFU, FIR, FFR, SRU and SANZAR to push the nuclear button over this and say there'll be no World Cup if this goes ahead but I think we'll be watching the Super Duper Rugby "Champions" Cup next unfortunately.
I agree on how Ireland need to approach it, anyone who is overseas now is exempt but anyone who goes now isn't eligible for Irish selection. A side point of keeping our best players on the island is that we'll always have 2 or 3 teams who have a chance of winning this competition before they change the rules again because we're winning.
the plastic paddy
John Solomon (38)
Don't think the fat lady is singing quite yet. The WRU have not come out in support of the franchises and it is being reported that this is an attempt by the regions to grab power from the WRU. Lots of welsh supporters seem disappointed with the regions' stance.
Bardon
Peter Fenwicke (45)
I was hoping that FFR's stance would scare the Welsh regions away from a move like this as to my mind they were always the weak link of the Rabo teams, given their not so stellar relationship with the WRU.
I'm not sure expulsion from the Pro12 would be much of a threat, with this development and the existence of the Anglo-Welsh Cup I wouldn't be surprised if the Welsh Regions have ambitions to gain entry to the English Premiership.
Unless what JSRF10 suggests happens I think that momentum will see this new competition take over. It's a shame that there is so little interest in these developments in the SH because the same thing will probably happen to them a few years down the track and none of the NH Unions will stand with their SH counterparts.
This will spell the end of International Rugby as we know it. It will mark the peak of the powers of the national unions and the IRB. We're facing into a future similar to soccer. The big clubs will hoover up all the money that comes into the game and Rugby at grass roots level will wither and die due to a lack of funding.
The national unions will perform little more than an administrative role in relation to the club and regional game and many of us will bemoan the fact that they don't do more. But the reality of the situation will be that they'll dance to the tune of the money men at the big clubs.
Rather than changes to the game emerging from a debate between all the unions. They will be driven by the richest clubs and will be aimed at one thing, making them richer to the detriment of all other clubs.
I hope I never see it in my life time, but we could face a situation in a few years time when players are "injured" for November Internationals in the same way soccer players are "injured" for soccer international friendlies but are perfectly fine to play for the club a few days later.
It's a terrible thing that's happening but it's unfortunately inevitable in a game where the players are professional but the administrators are still distinctly amateur.
I'm not sure expulsion from the Pro12 would be much of a threat, with this development and the existence of the Anglo-Welsh Cup I wouldn't be surprised if the Welsh Regions have ambitions to gain entry to the English Premiership.
Unless what JSRF10 suggests happens I think that momentum will see this new competition take over. It's a shame that there is so little interest in these developments in the SH because the same thing will probably happen to them a few years down the track and none of the NH Unions will stand with their SH counterparts.
This will spell the end of International Rugby as we know it. It will mark the peak of the powers of the national unions and the IRB. We're facing into a future similar to soccer. The big clubs will hoover up all the money that comes into the game and Rugby at grass roots level will wither and die due to a lack of funding.
The national unions will perform little more than an administrative role in relation to the club and regional game and many of us will bemoan the fact that they don't do more. But the reality of the situation will be that they'll dance to the tune of the money men at the big clubs.
Rather than changes to the game emerging from a debate between all the unions. They will be driven by the richest clubs and will be aimed at one thing, making them richer to the detriment of all other clubs.
I hope I never see it in my life time, but we could face a situation in a few years time when players are "injured" for November Internationals in the same way soccer players are "injured" for soccer international friendlies but are perfectly fine to play for the club a few days later.
It's a terrible thing that's happening but it's unfortunately inevitable in a game where the players are professional but the administrators are still distinctly amateur.
the plastic paddy
John Solomon (38)
Rampant:
"I saw my name mentioned on this thread earlier as I tweeted some inside info last night. To expand on that 140 characters:
There was a meeting yesterday between ALL Unions and the PRL/LNR. ERC werent invited.
The meeting lasted all day and finished late last night. Agreement in principle was achieved between ALL parties at the table; concessions were made by ALL. There will be no statement made in public until after ALL parties speak to the ERC; happening today in Dublin.
The main sticking points were the TV deal and control of the tournament. So money and power, what a surprise.
The RRW making that statement yesterday was to try and force Roger Lewis of the WRU to agree to join the RCC; he was already planning on doing so anyway. All four Welsh clubs wont be granted automatic entry, its going to be based on Pro12 placements.
Roger Lewis is pretty annoyed that the RRW made the statement as that has spoilt his hand at the ERC meeting today. There are still a lot of negotiations to be had in Dublin as although the English and French clubs have served notice, the Welsh have not. The ERC will not be invited to govern or be part of the RCC.
The IRFU are in, as are SRU. We will still have a proper European competition next season. Why boycott? There will still be an Irish team in the final."
This was posted by some fella called Rampant over on MF, whether he is rampantly naive or rampantly stupid time will tell. I would love to know what concessions PRL have made, they have been bluffing all the way through this nonsense and actually have the sum total of feck all of substance aside from some loose commitments from the Welsh traitors. I will not be spending my money going to any of the Welsh regions again anyway.
"I saw my name mentioned on this thread earlier as I tweeted some inside info last night. To expand on that 140 characters:
There was a meeting yesterday between ALL Unions and the PRL/LNR. ERC werent invited.
The meeting lasted all day and finished late last night. Agreement in principle was achieved between ALL parties at the table; concessions were made by ALL. There will be no statement made in public until after ALL parties speak to the ERC; happening today in Dublin.
The main sticking points were the TV deal and control of the tournament. So money and power, what a surprise.
The RRW making that statement yesterday was to try and force Roger Lewis of the WRU to agree to join the RCC; he was already planning on doing so anyway. All four Welsh clubs wont be granted automatic entry, its going to be based on Pro12 placements.
Roger Lewis is pretty annoyed that the RRW made the statement as that has spoilt his hand at the ERC meeting today. There are still a lot of negotiations to be had in Dublin as although the English and French clubs have served notice, the Welsh have not. The ERC will not be invited to govern or be part of the RCC.
The IRFU are in, as are SRU. We will still have a proper European competition next season. Why boycott? There will still be an Irish team in the final."
This was posted by some fella called Rampant over on MF, whether he is rampantly naive or rampantly stupid time will tell. I would love to know what concessions PRL have made, they have been bluffing all the way through this nonsense and actually have the sum total of feck all of substance aside from some loose commitments from the Welsh traitors. I will not be spending my money going to any of the Welsh regions again anyway.
Bardon
Peter Fenwicke (45)
I would definitely say that guy is seriously naive if he thinks that this will have no effect on Irish rugby. The English and French teams want more money, that means that someone has to get less money i.e. the Pro12 teams.
If the PRL have done a deal with the Welsh regions it will probably involve the Welsh regions still getting less money than the English or French but more than the other Pro12 teams. If they does happen you can be sure the extra money won't come from the English or French cut. The 30 pieces of silver will be from money that would have gone to Irish, Scottish and Italian teams.
This is going to leave the likes of the IRFU, who's finances make John O'Neill look like a shoe-in for the Noble prize of economics, with even less money. The obvious way for them to make up this shortfall is to only play other Tier 1 nations, outside of World Cups. This will in turn make life harder for Tier 2 nations to develop.
Whatever they do they won't make up the shortfall as I don't believe that BT have a bottomless pit of money for all. They're taking a big risk going up against Sky TV and they're throwing money around now to get a product to sell.
But both Setanta and ITV tried that in years past and both went bankrupt. What happens if the same happens to BT's TV division? Clubs are going to go to the wall because they'll have spent money they expected to receive up front. The vast majority of that money will be on every increasing player wages, so they'll have no real assets to show for it.
Then when clubs are regions are on the brink of folding who will they expect to come in and bail them out? The Unions they have depowered and impoverished.
If the PRL have done a deal with the Welsh regions it will probably involve the Welsh regions still getting less money than the English or French but more than the other Pro12 teams. If they does happen you can be sure the extra money won't come from the English or French cut. The 30 pieces of silver will be from money that would have gone to Irish, Scottish and Italian teams.
This is going to leave the likes of the IRFU, who's finances make John O'Neill look like a shoe-in for the Noble prize of economics, with even less money. The obvious way for them to make up this shortfall is to only play other Tier 1 nations, outside of World Cups. This will in turn make life harder for Tier 2 nations to develop.
Whatever they do they won't make up the shortfall as I don't believe that BT have a bottomless pit of money for all. They're taking a big risk going up against Sky TV and they're throwing money around now to get a product to sell.
But both Setanta and ITV tried that in years past and both went bankrupt. What happens if the same happens to BT's TV division? Clubs are going to go to the wall because they'll have spent money they expected to receive up front. The vast majority of that money will be on every increasing player wages, so they'll have no real assets to show for it.
Then when clubs are regions are on the brink of folding who will they expect to come in and bail them out? The Unions they have depowered and impoverished.
the plastic paddy
John Solomon (38)
Still no word out of the meeting. For those who are interested, this thread might be of interest,
http://www.munsterfans.com/threads/...en-Cup-In-Doubt/page101?p=1288145#post1288145
http://www.munsterfans.com/threads/...en-Cup-In-Doubt/page101?p=1288145#post1288145
JSRF10
Dick Tooth (41)
Some trickles of what the competition will look like seem to be coming through, the qualification structure will be 8 Rabo, 6 PRL, 6 French with the governance being two votes per country how these votes are weighted I have no idea. Seems to me that it will be the Heineken Cup Mrk II but with the governing body no longer based in Dublin it will be based in another tax haven and a new broadcaster.
Highlander35
Andrew Slack (58)
RFU should just bite the bullet, kill the clubs, and create Provinces. Only way to solve this shit.
Bardon
Peter Fenwicke (45)
The Welsh Rugby Union has proposed central contracts for Welsh star players playing for the regions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24647172
It's not the tough stance people were hoping for. But maybe it will tackle the main reason the Welsh Regions backed the English and French clubs stance.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24647172
It's not the tough stance people were hoping for. But maybe it will tackle the main reason the Welsh Regions backed the English and French clubs stance.
Bardon
Peter Fenwicke (45)
Ireland squad for our November internationals against Samoa, Australia and New Zealand.
Backs: Isaac Boss (Leinster), Tommy Bowe (Ulster), Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster), Keith Earls (Munster), Robbie Henshaw (Connacht), Paddy Jackson (Ulster), David Kearney (Leinster), Rob Kearney (Leinster), Ian Madigan (Leinster), Luke Marshall (Ulster), Fergus McFadden (Leinster), Conor Murray (Munster), Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Jonathan Sexton (Racing Metro 92)
Forwards: Stephen Archer (Munster), Rory Best (Ulster), James Coughlan (Munster), Tom Court (Ulster), Sean Cronin (Leinster), Declan Fitzpatrick (Ulster), Cian Healy (Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster), Chris Henry (Ulster), Mike McCarthy (Leinster), Jack McGrath (Leinster), Kevin McLaughlin (Leinster), Sean O'Brien (Leinster), Paul O'Connell (Munster), Peter O'Mahony (Munster), Mike Ross (Leinster), Mike Sherry (Munster), Devin Toner (Leinster), Dan Tuohy (Ulster)
Dave Kearney (brother of Rob), James Coughlan & Jack McGrath are all in line for potentially their 1st cap against Samoa.
Backs: Isaac Boss (Leinster), Tommy Bowe (Ulster), Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster), Keith Earls (Munster), Robbie Henshaw (Connacht), Paddy Jackson (Ulster), David Kearney (Leinster), Rob Kearney (Leinster), Ian Madigan (Leinster), Luke Marshall (Ulster), Fergus McFadden (Leinster), Conor Murray (Munster), Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Jonathan Sexton (Racing Metro 92)
Forwards: Stephen Archer (Munster), Rory Best (Ulster), James Coughlan (Munster), Tom Court (Ulster), Sean Cronin (Leinster), Declan Fitzpatrick (Ulster), Cian Healy (Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster), Chris Henry (Ulster), Mike McCarthy (Leinster), Jack McGrath (Leinster), Kevin McLaughlin (Leinster), Sean O'Brien (Leinster), Paul O'Connell (Munster), Peter O'Mahony (Munster), Mike Ross (Leinster), Mike Sherry (Munster), Devin Toner (Leinster), Dan Tuohy (Ulster)
Dave Kearney (brother of Rob), James Coughlan & Jack McGrath are all in line for potentially their 1st cap against Samoa.
FingalRaven
Frank Nicholson (4)
White Smoke at last!
http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/news/25300.php#.UmlAaHCOQ6U
No mention of control or TV rights which is really what this is all about.
FingalRaven
Frank Nicholson (4)
Mike Phillips also got the bullet from Bayonne suspended, earlier reports said he was sacked.
http://www.espn.co.uk/france/rugby/story/203613.html
http://www.espn.co.uk/france/rugby/story/203613.html
JSRF10
Dick Tooth (41)
Or competition governance either, I suspect that the PRL and French clubs will want a bigger slice of the voting rights.
I don't get why we need the 7th place French or English teams in the competition. What are Bath, London Irish, Bayonne or Grenoble going to add quality wise?
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