Revealed: The road forward for European club rugby
Given the genuinely imminent threat that the professional game faced heading into 2014, the news that a workable formula for European rugby has now been agreed on and will be signed off this week will come as music to the ears of all parties concerned — not least the vast support base that buttresses the game across Europe.
While there may be some residual fallout from the brinkmanship, threats and tardy negotiations that brought professional rugby to the precipice of disaster, it’s time to move on and capitalise on the tangible benefits that the root and branch overhaul of the European game has produced.
The bottom line is that there will be a European cup next season with all six nations represented and, of equal importance for the game in this country, there will also be a Pro 12 tournament with all constituent members on board. Given that, at one stage, the Welsh were ready to abandon ship and join forces with the English, and the Italians were also considering pulling out in favour of setting up their own domestic league, where would that have left our four provincial teams? Even the Scots got themselves in an awkward position with both Edinburgh and Glasgow having BT Sport as their shirt sponsors.
So what exactly do we have now? According to Rupert Pratt, the managing director of the sport and entertainment agency Generate, the new European championship is going to become the most lucrative in world club rugby. One of the key issues vexing the English Premiership clubs was that the commercial returns from the Heineken Cup were nowhere near what they deemed it should have been. They were also looking for a bigger slice of the commercial revenues generated, given their audience share.
That has now been acceded to, with an even split of revenues between the three domestic leagues, the Aviva Premiership, Rabo Direct Pro 12 and French Top 14. Heretofore that split was 52% in favour of the Rabo with the remaining 48% shared between the English and French. The latter two, however, have guaranteed a minimum €20m share of revenue to the Pro 12 which is more than it currently receives.
The revised European Cup promises to be even more competitive in that it will be reduced to 20 teams even though with five pools of four teams proposed, there will be three best runners-up slots for quarter-finals as opposed to the two available now.
With seven teams qualifying direct from the Pro 12 and a guaranteed participation for at least one Italian and one Scottish side, the scramble for places in the top half of our domestic league is set to become far more intense. That has to be a good thing.
We are seeing evidence of that already with basement sides Treviso and Zebre competing far more vigorously for league points, if last weekend’s contests against Munster and Leinster are anything to go by. With just two points separating them, they are now in a direct battle to secure that sole Italian slot in the premier European competition for next season.
With Glasgow 18 points ahead of Edinburgh in the table at present, they are certain to represent Scottish interests. However, the downside for the four Irish provinces is that it leaves only five European places up for grabs between us and the four Welsh regional sides. That said, Connacht are currently seventh in the Rabo and only four points behind Scarlets (who they meet on Sunday), raising the possibility of four Irish sides and only one Welsh team making next season’s revamped competition.
The purpose of reducing the new tournament to 20 teams is to boost the quality of the second tier tournament, the current equivalent of the Amlin. The only remaining issue to be resolved is the broadcast rights given that two separate contracts are currently in place for European rugby with Sky and BT Sports. This will be resolved with a share model similar to what we have in football’s Champions League at present.
Overall, given that this battle for control between the respective unions and the clubs in France and England was always going to happen, we may ultimately be left with stronger tournaments at both domestic and European level. The potential for increased financial revenues look even more promising with the only caveat being the danger that clubs in England and France don’t get so strong financially that they start hoovering up all of the best players.
The Pro 12 needs to be more competitive anyway for, while it is great for Irish rugby to have three teams consistently in the top four, harder games and more competition right to the completion of the league will only serve to accelerate the development of our younger players.
Most satisfying of all is the fact that the professional game in Europe should now have a solid base to work from, on the proviso that the stakeholders which now include the respective rugby unions of the Six Nations, the PRL in England, the LNR in France and the newly formed RRW, representing regional rugby in Wales, find common ground to work together for the betterment of the game.
That is a dangerous presumption and offers the greatest grounds for concern, as for the first time since the game went professional the clubs — through the power base of their domestic league representatives — hold the administrative power base over the governing rugby unions.
That is a significant shift from the rugby union power base on the board of the ERC who were charged with running both the Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cups since inception.
Unfortunately, with the new tournament set to be governed out of Switzerland, it spells the demise of the Dublin-based organisation.
Two teams who will definitely be part of the proposed new European adventure do battle at the Aviva on Saturday but you can be sure their sole focus will be on domestic matters. As has tended to be the case in recent times, Munster’s need is greater.
Parking all the rubbish spouted about the make-up of the Irish team — do you really think a national coach would jeopardise his prospects of winning by favouring players from his former team — Munster need to top the Pro 12 in order to secure a vital home semi-final and potential final for financial reasons as much as anything else.
By shifting this game to the Aviva, Munster will once again be contributing to Leinster’s financial coffers as they will net somewhere between €800k and €1m by transferring the game from the RDS.
As for the debate surrounding the make-up of the national team, there is only one answer. Munster must start beating Leinster on a regular basis and regain their ability to win silverware. It is only natural a national coach finding his way at that level will trust the players he knows best. That will change in time as he becomes more familiar with the attributes others bring to the table.
The easiest way to affect that change is by performing and outplaying the player occupying the jersey you covet. Joe Schmidt is such a perfectionist he will be thrilled to see more competition for places and more players operating in a manner that suits the way he wants Ireland to play. For the first time in years, he might even welcome a Munster win in this fixture with more players putting their hands up for selection. That is the type of headache any coach welcomes.
