On and on, the world keeps spinning
On and on, I keep on winning
This is a case of passion over reason
This is a case when your shoes don't need a shine
Gimme some space, man, to practice my profession
I've got the ace, man, and what is yours is mine
National Crime Awareness Week - Sparks
The news, just 11 days ago, that Jersey Reds had decided to enter into administration and had ceased trading with immediate effect seemed to have caught everyone by surprise.
Indeed, Jersey's Head Coach, Rob Webber, said as much in last weekend's The Rugby Paper, 'We were led to believe we were in a position of strength. Financially secure...then we find out overnight that it has all been a lie? From Champions to this...'.
A lie...strong language, indeed.
An emotive response or something a little more sinister, perhaps?
Much of the discussion surrounding Jersey's decision to pull the plug quite rightly centers around the personal plight of those most affected by the club's collapse - the 40 plus players and staff who woke up to find themselves out of work and unpaid for the last month. It's an horrendous situation to be in and one that fully deserves to be highlighted.
Because Jersey's players only have an associate membership with the Rugby Players' Association, unlike those who were employed by Wasps, Worcester and London Irish, it appears that they might not enjoy the same levels of financial support as their Premiership colleagues. Stories of players unable to find the money to travel home or even book a flight to the mainland show just how desperate the situation is.
There is no shortage of sympathy for those involved on an individual basis. They deserve all the support they can get.
However, whilst the potential demise of Jersey Reds is heartbreaking, I don't hold the board in quite the same high regard. Having spent something approaching £2000 on paying for airfares, hotel rooms and matchday tickets in the days after the Championship fixtures were first released, it's a bitter pill to swallow. This was to be a treat for the family - the first time I'd travelled 'abroad' to watch Cov with all my children, let alone with 3 of my grandchildren in tow.
Okay, I still get to go away with them, but the thing that united everyone was the thought of the Saturday afternoon spent at the Stade Santander watching Coventry in a completely (to them) different environment. Without the rugby, the money could have been far better spent taking them away for a whole week somewhere a little closer to home.
And here's the thing.
When I was booking the flights and accommodation, there must have been individuals, presumably amongst the Board, who knew that the club was in a very precarious financial position. The Jersey Government had apparently given the club hundreds of thousands of pounds over the summer to keep the club going whilst sponsors were were being sought, so whilst it might have come out of the blue to the players and coaches, the same certainly wasn't true of those with responsibility for the club's finances.
I do appreciate that publicly announcing concerns about the club's situation back in July could have put the jitters up any business interested in investing/injecting money into the club in the form of sponsorship. However, it does seem a tad irresponsible for Jersey to openly sell tickets well in advance of the game and to allow travelling supporters to purchase flights and accommodation without in some way highlighting the club's plight.
And what of its own supporters when they were buying their season tickets ...?
Is this part of the lie to which Rob Webber made reference?
It might be naïve of me, it probably is, but that's how it seems.
I'm in a fortunate position of being able to take the financial hit, hard as it is. It's money that I can ill afford to lose, but at least I do get to go to Jersey with my family and enjoy a long weekend with them. There are those away supporters (and not just from Cov), however, for whom the cost of traveling to the Channel Isles means a good deal of scrimping and saving over the previous few months...they've certainly had a bum deal and I haven't read or heard any apology from the club referencing them. Clubs often like to talk about those involved in the game being part of the 'rugby family', yet I've seen little from Jersey Reds in the way of any affinity being shown towards those outside of the club.
Don't get me wrong, whatever the extent of the inconvenience experienced by supporters, both home and travelling, it pales into insignificance when compared to the suffering currently being experienced by those employed by Jersey Reds, in whatever capacity. Lives have been turned upside down and I, and all supporters of the game, can only wish them well and trust the outlook is better than it appears from afar.
Only today the Jersey Government has announced it won't be giving any further funding to the club, so it's hard to see a future for the Reds, other than a return to the bottom of the pyramid leagues or worse.
This post is, I guess, simply an opportunity for me to vent my spleen a little, whilst acknowledging that my personal experience is no more than a nuisance by comparison to those whose lives are most affected by the club's decision to cease trading.
Nothing but a bit of collateral damage.
Since my first trip to Jersey to watch Cov in 2017 (?), a pre-season friendly, I've only missed one game there. It's always the first game I look out for when the fixtures are announced and Sue understands that it's the one weekend in the year when rugby takes priority over other commitments. October's game was to have been the first game Josh, my grandson, had watched Cov outside of England so I'm gutted for him.
Hats off to Cov, though, for announcing that the squad will still be traveling to the island on the 21st and that in the event the game doesn't take place, there will still be an opportunity for supporters to spend time with the squad.
It's a really nice touch from a club that in recent times has become far more 'fan-centric', in part due to the great relationship the Supporters Club now enjoys with club itself. To be honest, I'll struggle a bit with a 'meet and greet' session given my tendency to be acutely uncomfortable on those sorts of occasions and will probably decline the offer, but for those at ease when mingling with the players and coaches, it will be a consolation of sorts and by opening any training session up to supporters, Cov is showing just how much it recognises the part played its fans.
Great PR, that.
Also in last weekend's RPA, on the inside cover, was an article that focused primarily on comments made by our own Alex Rae (how his, and Coventry's, media profiles have strengthened in the past few months!). Post-Jersey's problems, AR has labelled the RFU's funding of the Championship as 'criminal' and believes that the £500,00 reduction in the annual payment to each club since Covid is to be further reduced after a deal done with the Premiership behind closed doors.
If there's one positive to come out of Jersey's current problems, it's that perhaps the funding crisis might now come to a head. Despite the RFU's refusal to acknowledge the worth of the Championship either in word or deed, AR maintains, 'it's a credit to everyone involved in the Championship that its competitive, with good coaches, players physios and analysts - it's a breeding ground'.
And not for the first time, in a comment made by a senior representative of the Championship elsewhere in the RPA, there's a hint that the Championship might yet go its own way if the RFU remains so intransigent, 'The collapse of Jersey Reds reflected a lack of faith in the RFU leadership because there has been no commitment from its governing body. It must bring closer the day when the Championship clubs determine their own destiny - whether that is within the RFU, or outside it'.
Amen to that.
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