Promotion, Relegation, Survival !!

Dear Mr Thomas,

I am sure you have given promotion and relegation from the premiership/Nat. 1 serious thought.   Whilst an avid supporter of Worcester and hope they do not finish bottom of the premiership, I feel however for the first time for some years, the promoted club has surprised everybody and is by no means certain to be relegated.

What concerns me most however is the financial viability of those teams being promoted and relegated in this professional era.

Grass roots rugby is of fundamental importance to the foundations of the game in England. We have seen in the last few years the likes of Richmond, London Irish, and more recently Bristol and Rotherham nearly go out of existence, in the professional era, and perhaps living beyond their means in their desperation to achieve and stay at the higher enchelons of English Rugby.

My natural instinct is to preserve promotion and relegation so that clubs can aspire to the heights of rugby, but there are stark realities in todays game with high finance where I do not wish to see clubs go out of existence, like Wakefield really.

Perhaps the answer is to "ring fence" the premiership, with each premiership side have a junior "partner" which acts as a feeder club in the lower league, such as Bedford for Northampton, Coventry for Leicester, Otley for Leeds and so on

I wish you well in your decision making

The Reply

Many thanks for your email and for your valuable comments on promotion/relegation sent to Howard Thomas. The financial problems that are the result of a club being relegated from the Premiership into National One are great as you say. This is why Premier Rugby believes that to ensure that the best 12 clubs in England play in the Zurich Premiership each season, the best system is a play-off between the team that finishes the season bottom of the Zurich Premiership table and the team that finishes top of National Division One.

A straight-forward automatic promotion/relegation – as is in place currently – which does not involve any test of the quality of rugby each team can play comparatively, is unlikely to be the best method to assess who should play in the Premiership.  The playing standard between the Premiership and National One, is, at present, too big a gulf for the promoted team be likely to survive more than one season – the exception seems to be, as you say, Worcester Warriors who are competing well so far this season.

Each Zurich Premiership club has to invest significant amounts of money to operate successfully as a business – from investments in stadia and training facilities, to playing and coaching staff, plus big marketing initiatives to help build a solid fan base with facilities to match.

At present if a club is then automatically relegated, with no chance to prove playing quality compared to the top National One side, the investments are wasted – from playing and coaching staff, to marketing, hospitality and stadia facilities.

Its also important that the semi-professional game in National Division One is developed into an exciting division in its own right which will attract sponsors, television deals, investors and growth.  At present the financial implications of a club being relegated from the Zurich Premiership to National Division One is approximately a ten fold drop in income.

Once again, many thanks for your email and Howard has taken on board all your comments