European Cup stand-off:The shareholders and the board of European Rugby Cup Ltd (ERC) will meet in Dublin today to discuss proposals for an expanded Heineken European Cup after the uproar caused by the withdrawal of English and French clubs from next season's tournament.
Mark McCafferty, the England Premier Rugby chief executive, believes his proposals will help revive the domestic game in the Celtic nations.
Ireland's Syd Millar, the International Rugby Board (IRB) chairman, said the English and French withdrawal has left the Celtic unions facing financial meltdown and accused the Premiership clubs of wanting the IRB to govern the game solely for their good, and of a lack of respect towards spectators.
But McCafferty argued the contraction of rugby in the Celtic countries in the professional era had hardly worked to the advantage of supporters, tens of thousands of whom had found themselves disenfranchised because the clubs they followed were turned into semi-professional outfits and denied access to the big time.
"We have constantly said that we do not have an issue with the IRB," said McCafferty. "We are not challenging their right to govern the game . . . or saying that the unions should not be in charge of the governance of the Heineken Cup.
"We merely want to be treated as partners and be involved in the taking of decisions in the competitions we play in.
"We want to be involved in the Heineken Cup, but we are not prepared to sign a new agreement to replace the one which ends this season which, in our view, will not drive the tournament forward effectively.
"Supporters are at the core of our stance and the IRB should reflect on the fact that the two countries in the world where the domestic game has grown significantly this decade are France and England.
"I will propose in Dublin that we should be looking to expand the Heineken Cup to 36 teams, rising to 44 in time, split into nine pools, with a last-16 round preceding the quarter-finals. It would mean we would have to find an extra weekend in the season, but such a tournament would lead to an increase in income.
"The aim for the Celtic unions should be to increase the number of their professional sides, and greater revenue from Europe would help them do that . . . We, and the French clubs, want to be in the Heineken Cup next season and be signatories to a long-term accord, but my fear is that Syd Millar's unstatesmanlike remarks will make it harder to find a solution."
Millar has called a meeting of the Six Nations for tomorrow in which unions will be pitted against the English and French clubs, but the English Rugby Football Union (RFU) is anxious to agree a deal with Premier Rugby over elite players and is prepared to revisit the contentious issue of clubs holding shares in ERC, the trigger for the French and English withdrawal.
The RFU met First Division Rugby (FDR) yesterday and will put its clubs in the tournament if Premiership sides remain outside the fold.
"It is vitally important that we keep the competition going next season, which means retaining English involvement," said the RFU's management board chairman, Martyn Thomas.
"I know we would take a financial hit, but the sponsors and broadcasters have been incredibly supportive. I do not think our differences with Premier Rugby are all that wide.
"We have absolutely no intention of going down the road of the Celts and replacing our club system with a regional or a divisional one . . . I think shareholding on ERC should be left to unions individually and we have always been prepared to hand some of ours over to Premier Rugby as long as safeguards are written in."
That would suit Premier Rugby. "We would be happy to sign anything which prevented clubs taking over the tournament and running it for our own ends," said McCafferty.
Thomas and McCafferty hold the key at these meetings, with the former warning: "We want the Premiership to remain in the Heineken Cup, but once we invite FDR, there will be no going back and we would not just dump the first division clubs after one season."
Guardian Service
