It was not an edifying spectacle to say the least Rotherham report a 150 per cent rise, although 150 per cent of not very much works out at only 500 sales.Only London Irish and Saracens are in a downturn situation, but attendances at both the Madejski Stadium and Vicarage Road will multiply the moment these teams appear in danger of hitting a winning streak.Eight years into professionalism, the club game is in ruder health than anyone could have imagined when Cliff Brittle was trying to uninvent the wheel with his small-minded alarmism. Expect Northampton and Sale to ask the most serious questions of the Londoners, with Leicester looming like a Midlands storm-cloud come the spring.By far the most satisfying of recent developments is the growth in spectator interest, which underpins the Premiership's frequent presentation of rugby as a boom sport. Despite the protestations of Warren Gatland and Lawrence Dallaglio, who quite reasonably pointed out that they were not responsible for the rules, there was a hollowness at the heart of their success last season, not least because Gloucester had performed rather well in 1,760 minutes of Premiership rugby between September and May before performing fantastically badly in the last 80 Wasps look stronger this time, Gloucester weaker. These teams, with Leeds and Rotherham, have a bottom-half look to them.At the top end, Wasps would love nothing better than to finish top of the heap in the regular season before securing a second successive title on Grand Final day. Bath and Saracens will field substantially new sides - both have made changes on the coaching front, too - while Harlequins have lost "name" players in Keith Wood and Dan Luger, not to mention Alex Codling, Ben Gollings and Viliame Satala. It was not an edifying spectacle, to say the least.So what can we expect this time, in a tournament twisted out of shape by the demands of the World Cup? London Irish look vulnerable again, having shed a number of hardened professionals and recruited precious few in their stead. Newcastle, who had just lavished umpteen millions on their Kingston Park ground, were under threat, as were Harlequins and Saracens, two of the Premiership's big-time concerns. Then there were London Irish and Bath, both of them still in trapdoor country on the last day. Had Bath finished bottom, they would have merged with Bristol and denied two rugby communities of long standing the right to their own futures. I think you'll see the issue resurface as the season progresses, especially if a major club, and, maybe, the entire fabric of professional rugby in a region of England, is seen to be at risk."Last season, any number of major clubs were up to their eyebrows in quicksand as the post-Six Nations run-in began. It is about giving those in the shop window of the sport the chance to develop their businesses to the benefit of everyone, spectators and participants alike. There will not be the safety net of a semi-bankrupt Bristol to catch the big faller this time.As one club financier put it yesterday: "Automatic relegation is in place for the next five years, but that does not mean there is no discussion to be had and no argument to be won This is about stability, competitive as well as commercial.
We don't want sides to introduce young English players for the best of reasons and then buy in a fistful of rock-star names from overseas the moment the kids start struggling. Actually, I believe Rotherham have a very good opportunity to make a mark this year. It seems to me that the timing of their promotion is perfect for them."If Thomas is right - and Rotherham have recruited strongly during the summer, thanks in large part to the fall-out of domestic re-organisation in Wales - the second scenario, far more alarming from the Premiership's point of view, will come into play. While all 11 survivors from last season have invested heavily in various improvement schemes and consider themselves major sporting concerns, one of them will have to go. To all intents and purposes, they were relegated by Christmas.Should history repeat itself, the surviving Premiership clubs will shrug their shoulders in the direction of Twickenham in a told-you-so kind of way."It is all about maintaining standards and the competitive integrity of the tournament," said Howard Thomas, the chief executive of Premier Rugby. "The last thing we want is the yo-yo effect, where a club is promoted from National Division One and immediately finds it cannot compete. On that occasion, they won only two games all season, scored a mere 335 points - more than 100 less than their closest rivals in general incompetence - at an average of 15 per match, and conceded 813, very nearly 200 more than Sale, whose defence that term resembled one of England's leakier reservoirs. The first has Rotherham, granted a place among the ?te after two years of dark manoeuvrings and black farce, falling off the back of the Premiership peloton as completely as they did in 2000-01, their only previous campaign in the top echelon. The hard-liners among the relegation abolitionists, led by Nigel Wray of Saracens, will resuscitate the argument in the new year, just as they have done throughout the professional era. And this time, they will expect to present an unusually powerful case, for events over the next nine months could easily play into their hands.There are two conceivable scenarios. When push came to shove, Baron decided that any move towards a ring-fenced Premiership amounted to political suicide and opted to stay alive.End of story, then? Um, not quite. |
 |
 |
