| Subject: That old promotion saga.... |
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Kimbo
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Date Posted: 19:42:05 03/20/03 Thu
...rumbles on:
Paul Rees
Wednesday March 19, 2003
The Guardian
The hopes of Premiership club owners that the top division might be ring-fenced are set to be dashed within the next couple of weeks when the Office of Fair Trading publishes its investigation into professional club rugby in England.
The thrust of the OFT inquiry, launched last year after the first division champions Rotherham were denied promotion, is whether the Premiership clubs have been acting as a cartel, and the report is expected to rip holes in the eligibility criteria for membership of the top flight drawn up by Twickenham and the clubs last year.
The majority of the owners believe relegation is an impediment to investment and they would like access blocked to the first division clubs, which is why the criteria were so rigid.
Rotherham had to remain in the first division after failing to meet all the criteria and the most contentious of the stipulations - that clubs promoted to the Premiership must have primacy of tenancy at the grounds they play at - is expected to be cited by the OFT as an unfair and restrictive demand given that four of the Premiership clubs currently play at football stadiums.
Removal of that tenancy clause would be a significant breakthrough for the first division clubs, most of whom do not have grounds of Premiership standard - a capacity of at least 10,000 is demanded - and would, if promoted, have to lease a ground, as do Saracens, Wasps, London Irish and Bristol, who maintained their membership of the top tier because the criteria were not retrospective.
Those Premiership clubs who do not currently have a capacity of 10,000, such as Bath who are 1,800 short, have been given two years to make improvements. Bath are drawing up plans to raise theirs to 9,970 within the time frame.
The deadline for meeting the criteria this season is March 31 but only Rotherham, the current first division leaders, and Worcester are in contention for promotion, which is automatic, subject to the champions meeting the eligibility demands.
The race is likely to be decided on April 12 when Rotherham visit Worcester with both clubs adamant they will meet the criteria. "We have no doubt about it," said the Rotherham chief executive Jim Kilfoyle. "If we win the first division we will be in the Premiership.
The Worcester coach John Brain is angry that the first division season will be over before the Rugby Football Union decrees whether the champions will be promoted.
"It is ridiculous that we do not know if the top club will be going up," he said. "We are not likely to until June 30 and there is still speculation that the Premiership will be expanded. It is outrageously frustrating."
The RFU is currently considering the issue of promotion and relegation with two options on the table: whether to continue with one-up, one-down or to revert to a play-off between the bottom club in the Premiership and the first division champions.
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