Geech: Fear of relegation breeds negativity
Sir Ian McGeechan believes removing the fear of relegation could revolutionise the game in the English Premiership.
The former Wasps, Bath and British & Irish Lions boss and has been jointly-tasked with leading a performance review of England elite rugby.
Along with former UK Sport performance director Peter Keen, McGeechan - who is also the chairman of Leeds Carnegie - has been commissioned by the RFU to come up with a blueprint to improve English Test rugby.
His ideas on the game at club level will not form part of the review but 'Geech' feels the fear of relegation has contributed to Premiership games being too negative and believes club rugby in England would benefit from following the example of Super Rugby.
"There is an argument, and I know people disagree with me, that if you want rugby to be the best product then you don't have relegation," said McGeechan.
"If you want club rugby to be the best business then you give it time as a business to establish itself.
"It may not be just 12 clubs, if there are 14 or 15 clubs that are set up to be professional in the right way why not make a 15-club league?
"And then say for five years 'this is our business, we want to make it work, coaches - we want an attractive positive game, there's no fear of relegation. There's no kicking the leather off the ball and only playing 20 metres out from your opponents' line'.
"Then there would be no reason not to put the best product out on the field and that is one of the advantages the Super 15 has.
"They can do that without inhibition and you challenge players in a different way.
"The nitty-gritty of the Premiership is that it is a tough competition. Speak to some of the southern hemisphere players and it is the toughest competition you can play in because week in and week out you are working very hard to win games and it is very competitive.
"But are you getting the best product out of that or could it be better?
"Sometimes we have to have a more open mind about it.
"Remove relegation for that period and that gives five years for Championship clubs to get the model right and have the right facilities and infrastructure if they want to be a Premiership club.
"Or if you keep relegation, have the bottom club playing off against the top club in the Championship."
McGeechan and Keen will deliver their recommendations to the RFU before the end of the year. The former Scotland international welcomed the different perspective Keen's involvement brought.
"I can see why British Cycling has got to where it has when you see he was the instigator, and why a number of Olympic sports have delivered when you have someone like him looking at their performance programmes," said McGeechan.
"You have to look at everything in context, team sports are more than just knocking a hundredth of a second off a performance - in cycling or athletics that can mean the difference between a gold medal and being off the podium.
"Our review is looking at a positive way which collectively, within all the constraints and parameters, is the best way of taking the English game forward at the top end."
Comments
rugby_rockstar says...
I'm just pleased to see people in the media accepting that the Aviva blows.
I was amazed to hear Stuart Barnes say the aviva was sub-standard during one of the eurocup matches last weekend but PRL really have alienated alot of people with their euro antics. Also helps that SKY have been kicked in the teeth by PRL and so the the SKY team are not being as so pro-club as they used to be.
Who knows maybe even Stuart Lancaster may get some acknowledgement that it isn't all down to him and that England does need a healthy domestic scene to push on from. I'm sure Robinson, Ashton and Johnson will be rolling their eyes if that ever happens!
Posted 14:39 19th October 2012
APV1 says...
I'm not sure I understand his model...
This bit makes sense and I agree with: "Or if you keep relegation, have the bottom club playing off against the top club in the Championship."
But the other version isn't clear.
Is he suggesting that we have (about) 15 teams in the Premiership for the next 5 years and no relegation? Then, after the 5 years, it's back to 12 and relegation returns..? If so, doesn't that make the final year of the 5 a relegation-battle season, with the bottom 3 going "down"?
And if player fatigue is an issue now, how would adding 3 more teams affect that? Unless, as BackingLeinster suggests, we have conferences.
And who do you choose for your other 3 teams? Leeds, Bristol and Newcastle, as suggested by dilbertov? What about those teams on the ascendency? Leeds and Bristol haven't managed to bounce back, unlike Quins and Saints (for example). So will they cope?
Too many questions at the moment for my befuddled brain to cope with.
Anyone able to clear this up for me?
Cheers!
Posted 14:04 19th October 2012
BackingLeinster says...
Why not take in those clubs in the championship who have good enough grounds, not necessarily premiership standard and create a 16/18 team tournament with two conferences. Give the teams rankings and let the highest team go in to conference A and the next into conference B and so on. League style format for the conferances with the top two from each moving to the playoffs.
Posted 13:04 19th October 2012
crunchfit says...
I remember during the English period of dominance relegation was the major factor which made English clubs so much better than those in the Celtic League. They seem to be slowly changing their minds again.
Posted 11:18 19th October 2012
dilbertov says...
I would have agreed a couple of years back after seasons of Premiership sides yoyo-ing up and down on a regular basis. But now? We've had Exeter come up and stay, quite convincingly, and now London Welsh aren't making too bad a fist of things. Meanwhile in The Championship there are three teams that would have been seen as Prem. regulars: Leeds, Bristol and Newcastle. And when it comes to the seasoned campaigners of The Championship, who's to say that Pirates, Bedford or others won't put together a finance/ground/squad package and follow where Welsh and Exeter have led?
However, if we are to continue with promotion and relegation, we need to have teams playing on a level field. Teams coming up need to have full and immediate access to the same finance as the other Prem. sides they are playing (not having to wait X years or buy out Prem. shares) and relegated sides need budgets trimming drastically - parachute payments are basically anti-competitve. I know that this will mean a big turnover of contracted players on relegation but if it's not done it will mean unfair competition in the lower league.
Posted 11:11 19th October 2012
Waz4before says...
I agree. A closed premiership of somewhere between 15 and 17 sides makes sense.
Posted 09:58 19th October 2012