Fuck...
..another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while
It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life
Good Riddance - Green Day
In Sunday's edition of The Rugby Paper, Neil Fissler writes that Ealing is now 'close' to completing its merger with Ospreys, enabling the club to compete in the United Rugby Championship from September of this year.
By rights, Ealing should be already be plying its trade in the English Premiership, but having twice now been denied promotion by the RFU on what appear to the most spurious of grounds (no pun intended), the West London-based side has opted to go down a different route.
It's disappointing and shame on the RFU for forcing the club to make the jump, but I think most supporters in the Championship and below understand why it's raising anchor and wish the club all the best.
The Gallagher Premiership appears nothing less than a closed shop, and it's little wonder when apparently 73% of the PRL is owned by the stakeholder clubs (according to the Premiership Rugby website).
They're hardly going to do anything that will remotely jeopardise their own monopoly, now are they?
Wasps' initial suspension and subsequent relegation to the Championship shows just how protective the PRL is of its members - London Welsh and Richmond both suffered the ignominy of having to start again at the base of the English Rugby pyramid but not so Wasps, even though the precedent had already been set.
The whole thing reeks of nepotism and those outside of the Premiership 'family' are no more than bit players, forced to watch on as the prodigal son, driven out of its home by ineffective management and fiscal ineptitude (to put it mildly) is herded back into the fold with just a mild smack of the wrist and the promise of a further share of the riches. And all this whilst the rest of the Championship is powerless to do anything other than look on as the drama unfolds to reach its inevitable conclusion.
By all accounts the merger isn't going down to well with Ospreys, though.
In order for the it to happen, Ealing will have to sign 'at least 13 players' from Ospreys and, again according to Neil Fissler, Ealing is ready to release players who 'only have an option for next season' in order to facilitate this.
Every cloud though and all that. Forgetting the rights and wrongs of Ealing's decision to jump ship, Trexit (apologies for that one) does offer Coventry one or two interesting possibilities. For starters, there will be some talented Ealing players suddenly made available and unless they're all snapped up by Premiership clubs looking to top up their own squads, ambitious Championship sides, of which Coventry is surely one, could move in a snap up a bargain or two.
If the rumours are correct and the Championship is to be increased to 14 clubs next season, then Wasps plus two from National be might be the preferred option. Again, if rumours are to be believed, a top 8 finish next season could see Coventry in one of the two fully professional leagues the season after and back in with the big boys. And with 3 clubs new to the division (presuming Ealing do leave), then a top 8 finish is made that little bit easier.
It would be a challenge but with 3 new teams in the league anything less would be disappointing given our current form.
At the moment, it's a question of being patient and waiting to see how things unfold. It's all a mess right now, but Cov has to use the situation to its own advantage, however callous that might sound.
For Ealing, this is indeed 'another turning point, a fork stuck in the road', and they'd be totally justified in wishing the RFU 'good riddance'. But it is also a turning point for the other Championship sides, too. If the proposed changes to the structure of the Championship over the next couple of season are to come to fruition, I'm slightly surprised Ealing isn't prepared to sit out one more season and then take its place in the realigned leagues in 2024/25, alongside some of the Premiership sides.
However, having been so poorly treated by the RFU over the last couple of seasons or so, perhaps Ealing Trailfinders no longer wants to be manacled by rugby's governing body and feels it is better off making the break given there appears little in the way of trust on its part.
If Ealing does indeed opt for the URC, I genuinely hope it does well. Ealing's Director of Rugby Ben Ward is one of the good guys in my book, having spent most of career with the club. As a player, he was there when the club went from the sixth tier of the English pyramid all the way up to the Championship, five promotions in 11 seasons. Now at the helm, he has helped turn the club into the top side outside of the Premiership over the last couple of seasons.
Whilst Mike Gooley has bankrolled the club for sure, he has also shown great loyalty to the likes of Ben Ward. Ealing might not get the crowds that Cov or Bedford regularly achieve, but it should have been allowed a place in the Premiership because it was theirs by right.
Fingers crossed the United Rugby Championship provides them with the challenges they are looking for. It's a risky move but perhaps given the RFU's current stance, it's also the right one for them.
Excellent article again Tim
Some thoughts:
Ealing players - IF the merger does go ahead, timing will be critical, most exisiting Champ clubs are likely to have their playing rosters sorted in the next couple of months, can’t imagine many leaving headroom just in case players become available?
Prospects for Cov - IF the RFU and PRL can come to an agreement about D2, there may be a number of other issues which may dictate who can / wants to be in it?
- will clubs still be allowed to have 50% of their match day squads made up of loan players from PRL clubs?
- will there be minimum ground standards for D2?
On both of these Cov are…