England’s Premiership clubs confirmed on Thursday they would not take part in next season’s European Cup.
Representatives of all 12 Premiership clubs met in London following last week’s dramatic decision by France’s Top 14 sides to pull out of the proposed Anglo-French breakaway Rugby Champions Cup, after pressure from the French Rugby Federation (FFR).
“The English clubs have unanimously re-confirmed their position,” said a statement issued by Premiership Rugby League (PRL), the umbrella group for England’s leading teams, following Thursday’s meeting. “Having served notice in June 2012, they will not participate in any competitions run by ERC [European Rugby Cup] from [the] 2014/15 season.”
The league said they were “pursuing other options” not involving ERC, who also run the second-tier European Challenge Cup.
“ERC does not structurally recognise the role of the leagues and clubs in driving the success of club competitions, under the overall governance of [national] Unions,” the league’s statement added.
“The ERC voting structure is controlled by Unions even though the majority of commercial value is created by the independent clubs which represent 75 percent of the participants. Proposals put forward to address a new structure within a Rugby Champions Cup were agreed by a majority of the unions in October, alongside meritocratic competition formats and equitable financial distributions. However, these have not been accepted by all,” it said.
“The English clubs have worked exhaustively over the last 18 months to propose solutions to the issues with the current European competitions and to provide a sustainable platform to grow the game in the various countries. The English clubs are now pursuing other options,” the statement added.
Just what those other options might be are still a matter for debate.
Welsh clubs were supportive of the breakaway plan, but they too have come under pressure from their national union.
Last week it appeared the Ligue National de Rugby, which represents France’s Top 14 clubs, were trying to retain some leverage over ERC when Ligue National de Rugby president Paul Goze said: “French clubs can get involved in competitions run by the ERC [in 2014-2015] on condition that all the deals are signed and that the competition will be staged with clubs from England.”
There have been reports in the British press suggesting the league have put out feelers to South African provinces about a new competition.
An expanded Premiership that includes Welsh or second-tier English Championship teams is another possibility.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs. Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who on Monday claimed their first National League East title in 13 years. Coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the
RSS