IRFU to explain blueprint for clubs

News: Today the IRFU officially unveil a blueprint for the future of Irish club rugby.

It will be a contentious document, coming in the wake of an abbreviated statement last Friday night that confirmed from the season after next pre-Christmas club fare would centre on provincial leagues and these would serve as a qualification process for an All-Ireland League structure over the second half of the season.

The abiding views of the clubs are understandably subjective and would vary according to the division in which they find themselves. This evening the Second/Third Division Clubs Association will meet to discuss the proposal, while tomorrow night the First Division Clubs Association will convene in Dublin to thrash out a consensus.

At present, especially among the elite in the club scene, attitudes vacillate between downright anger at the proposed new structure to a more passive policy of awaiting the union's explanation of the blueprint. The IRFU's decision is based on what they claim was a consultative process made by virtue of a strategic review document.

Packie Derham, director of rugby at Cork Constitution, the Division One pacesetters, is adamant the current structure could be maintained and the IRFU's plea that the structure change is inspired by financial obligations is misleading. "The financial justification for the changes doesn't hold water, and that's using their figures."

He points out the cost of running 126 professional players - a huge number on a pro-rata basis when compared to playing numbers in countries like New Zealand, England, Wales and Scotland - costs the union about €25.5 million.

Non-national and non-Irish qualified players make up a little over 30 in number and an estimate of their salaries would be about €6.5 million.

He contends if the IRFU apportion some of those resources to the club structure then the need for change would be redundant.

"There is a Chinese proverb that 'you eat the egg not the chicken.' If you eat the chicken then there are no more eggs." The chicken in this case represents the clubs.

He maintains the clubs have been again asked to bear the brunt of union cutbacks, a situation they have suffered over the last three seasons. They have twice bitten the bullet but may not be prepared to do so again.

Running the first team in a Division One club requires an investment of about €100,000 and IRFU funding wouldn't cover half that cost. There is the vexed issue of academies and the fact underage players nurtured by clubs are not available to play club rugby.

St Mary's College branch representative John Doddy, admits: "We are keeping a relatively open mind until we see what exactly the IRFU has in mind."

He suggests a decision must be made on the status of the club game and there must be a level playing field for all clubs.

For clubs to continue to operate, teams on a semi-professional footing will require subsidies from the union and if they are not forthcoming it would be better that all payments are banned, at least suggesting a level playing field.

For Lansdowne's Joe Leddin, the return of meaningful derbies in a provincial league would at least generate more revenue as well as reviving the social side of the club game. It is also about the greater good of all clubs, an issue that threatens to drown in self-interest.

The club issue goes far deeper than the proposed restructuring. It's about the manner in which the IRFU discharges its duty to its constituents, the rank and file of the clubs. It's about how they have managed the finances and how best to spend the revenue generated.

The IRFU will today explain their blueprint but of greater import will be the views of the two clubs' associations and what they are prepared to do to redress any grievances.

It shouldn't be about what they don't want but what they do; a consensus to drive the club game forward.