Relegation from the Premiership could be mothballed for “three or four seasons” according to the Rugby Football Union following belated confirmation that no club will be demoted this summer, expanding the league to 13 teams for 2021-22.
The RFU council’s vote in favour of a relegation moratorium for this season was widely anticipated amid concerns over Covid-19 cancellations undermining the integrity of the final league table. Newcastle’s game at Northampton is the latest casualty following a number of positive coronavirus tests in the Falcons’ camp.
Arguments about the league’s longer-term shape and the minimum promotion criteria look sure to continue, however, with representatives from the RFU, Premiership Rugby and the Championship due to spend the next four months working on potential season structures from 2021-22. With many clubs struggling financially in the continuing absence of crowds there is a widespread desire for certainty in uniquely challenging times.
As previously reported in the Guardian, the leading clubs could be willing to expand the Premiership to 14 sides for the 2022-23 season, followed by a two-year moratorium on promotion and relegation. Any aspiring side will be required to meet stringent financial and facilities criteria and the small print will be crucial for those who continue to favour a meritocracy over a closed shop.
For now the RFU appears to have been swayed by proposals for additional preparation time for the senior men’s team before the 2023 World Cup at the expense of the enshrined principle of automatic promotion and relegation which has seen the current double European and domestic champions, Exeter Chiefs, rise from the lower leagues to the top table.
Play-offs will be prominent among the proposals judging from an RFU statement expressing a desire to find “a different approach to promotion and relegation from the Gallagher Premiership”. The tone of the RFU’s announcement made clear talks are already well advanced. “It is likely any season structures may also include a further moratorium on promotion and relegation for three or four seasons, after which the structure will be subject to further review,” read the statement. “Those proposals would be subject to a vote of the RFU Council before the end of the 2020/21 season.”
With the Championship due to kick off next week, Saracens and Ealing Trailfinders are strongly favoured to reach the two-leg play-off final in mid June. The burning issues of how best to improve player welfare and enhance the Championship as a nursery for young England players also remain to be resolved. The RFU president, Jeff Blackett, says the union “want to ensure a healthy elite game to support successful winning England teams that generate income to stimulate and preserve the game across all levels.”
