Was this the week English rugby changed for ever? It felt like it, and not in the positive way the Rugby Football Union intended. So loud and impassioned has been the criticism of the decision to slash central funding to the Championship by almost half, in effect cutting adrift the second tier of the English club game, it has called into question the RFU’s raison d’être.
No wonder those clubs affected feel let down, not for the first time. If professionalism to all intents killed off several famous old names, this could well have the same result. It also raises some uncomfortable home truths. Can it still be called a functioning pyramid if the apex has been jackhammered away from its base? If the RFU believes its own competition – which it is supposed to be protecting and nurturing – is irredeemably flawed, what does that say about itself as a go-ahead organisation?
Written by Robert Kitson
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2020/feb/14/rfu-championship-rugby-kick-in-teeth-funding under the title “RFU’s crass move a kick in the teeth for those outside rugby’s elite | Robert Kitson”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
