An Anglo-French plan for a breakaway European rugby union club competition looked in tatters on Thursday after the French clubs announced they would stick with the existing Heineken Cup following talks with the French federation (FFR).
Last week the FFR, along with the unions of Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Italy, but notably not England, said they backed the existing tournament, controlled by European Rugby Cup (ERC).
The FFR have persuaded their clubs to stay under that umbrella rather than joining the English clubs and Welsh regions in their planned “Rugby Champions Cup,” which was due to swing into action next season following the English and French clubs’ decision to have nothing further to do with ERC.
Photo: AFP
“The principle of a transition period of one year, which will allow as of next season the implementation of the new formats of competitions regrouping the best teams of the six countries, has been validated,” the French league said in a statement.
Last month, the four Welsh regional teams announced they were backing the Anglo-French breakaway competition, which involved a new format for both tiers of competition.
Disagreements about the Heineken Cup’s qualification criteria, voting structure, income distribution and future television rights — with newcomers BT Sport coming into conflict with long-standing Heineken Cup partner Sky Sports — were behind the breakaway.
The Celtic unions and ERC continued to meet and an independent mediator was brought in to try to break the logjam.
The English Premiership said it had given notice that it would leave the ERC’s competition, but the Celtic unions continued to talk and, even after the Welsh regions jumped ship, remained confident that the competition would continue into its 20th season next year, albeit with several changes to the format.
Union of Professional Clubs president Marcel Martin said the new format involved a switch from 24 to 20 clubs and that distribution of revenues would be amended as per a mediators’ statement last month.
International Rugby Board chief executive Brett Gosper said on Wednesday that the sport’s governing body was also still confident that a compromise would be reached and was monitoring progress.
“We’re optimistic,” Gosper told reporters at the Twickenham announcement of the 2015 World Cup ticketing policy. “There is still a process in place and we’re hopeful it will end with all the top teams in one competition.”
English and Scottish clubs did not take part in the first Heineken Cup in 1994-1995, English clubs boycotted the 1998-1999 season and there was talk of an Anglo-French boycott in 2007-2008, which did not come to fruition.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS