The International Championship or, as it is now called, the Five Nations Championship, has graced the rugby calandar since 1883. It has in that great span of time established a unique place in the annals of the game. The social and the sporting aspects have become entwined and the endeavour on the field, total. It has, of course, been marked by countless great matches, and performances by teams and individuals that have been touched by the legend of accomplishment.
Up to a few years ago it was all about glory, now it is also about money and the days of amateurism can never be recovered. Some of us, many of us, regret that. Yet it would be demonstrably wrong to suggest that the series has lost its appeal. It would be equally irresponsible not to see some danger cones that could put this great and ancient series in peril.
It was on the brink just over 12 months ago. There were those who stood firm and were not prepared to take Murdoch's millions at the cost of a basic principle and the breach of a long-standing agreement. We would do well to remember that and be vigilant in the face of some disturbing trends as we look forward, yet again, to the start of the championship this afternoon. The championship has long been, and continues to be, fundamental to the game in these islands and France. Italy will assuredly shortly join the fold to give it added variety.
If events in the series that starts today follow their expected course, then the title will be won by the team that emerges from Stade de France, where France take on England this afternoon, with a win.
At Lansdowne Road, Ireland and Scotland will renew a rivalry first fashioned 121 years ago. In contrast to the Paris match, there is a belief that the winners at Lansdowne Road will do no more than avoid the ignominy of a wooden spoon.
But through the years, part of the appeal of this great competition has been that it does not always follow a predictable course. There has always been the impulse, the desire and the heroics of the outsiders to cut down and conqueror. How often have we seen that happen? How often, too, the Irish and the Scots have been at the heart of major upsets.
Nor does one have to go back too far to illustrate the point. Shades of Lansdowne Road on a blessed afternoon in 1993, when "ubeatable" England got beaten 17-3 and were played off the Park. Twelve months later and an even more famous and most improbable victory was carved out at Twickenham. We have memories, too, of England's trip to Murrayfield in 1990, when the only issue was supposed to be by how many points they would beat Scotland to claim a Grand Slam. But it was the Flower of Scotland that bloomed and the red rose bore a withered look as Scotland won 13-7.
Those are just a few of the upsets of the modern era that demonstrate what the human spirit can inspire. They are the memorable occasions when the ordinary and the adequate are transformed into the excellent.
But we are now in a different era and the game is played in a different, more demanding and contentious environment. These are the days when clubs in England control so many players from this and other countries. We live in times when those clubs are no longer run by their members and committees elected from those members. They are now controlled by their owners, too many of whom prefer the diktat to the negotiating table and too many of whom seem set on a path of confrontation that will not only make a shambles of competitive balance, but also lead to economic anaemia.
Well the Scots and the Irish have more reason than most to understand the serious resonances of the current trend as the spirit and ethics of what used to be a game played for fun, recreation and enjoyment has been transformed into a business. That business is run by too many whose hopes of fulfilment centre on money as they siphon off the talent from this country and elsewhere in pursuit of their objectives. Therein lies the reason for the profound anxiety in countries like Ireland and Scotland, not the alleged under-investment by the Rugby Unions of those nations. When your best assets pass outside your control, you are not so much hostage to fortune as prisoners of a bigger battalion. There are those who will say that such comments on current trends are those of a generation out of date, to which I say, let them. I for one do not - and never will - subscribe to a trend marked by the clamour for power by self-appointed conglomerates who seek to disrupt competitions like the Heineken European Cup and whose activities are marked by wretched excess and motivated by selfinterest. We are told that is in the name of progress.
The clubs, here and elsewhere, who put time, effort and money into the development of the players got nothing for them, nor did their unions. Yet on occasions when their home unions want these players for international purposes, they are subjected to threats and players are put under pressure as we saw just a short time ago.
The accusations come about being unfair and unreasonable from the million-pound men with the one-pound principles. Fairness and objectivity is not in their make-up.
Truth always lies within a certain compass. The unions of Ireland, Scotland and Wales are faced with a great challenge. They must get their own players back into their domestic game to strengthen their sides in European competition and at club level. They need to ensure their players are not exhausted half-way through a season and burned out long before they are 30. They need to have their national teams train when and where they like and arrange their international fixtures free from the threats of people such as Donald Kerr and Sir John Hall.
The English Rugby Union faces stern and ongoing challenges from within. Week in and week out, we see the demands and the threats and disruption and the daily acceleration of a game going out of control with callous indifference to the long-term consequences. What are those consequences? They are many, like building sites on club grounds that were acquired on the hard work, dedication and financial input of generations of people.
Sadly, the days when dignity sustained authority in the game in England have been sacrificed on the altar of the professional game. Players are being paid to play the game, players are earning their living from the game and that must be accepted. But we are getting very sobering evidence about those with specific agendas. The European Cup today, will it be the Five Nations Championship tomorrow?
