W**ps confirm premiership final (5 Viewers)

[Mucca Mad Boys]

Doesn’t apply in cricket which is similarly affected by international call ups

Ok? Two separate sports and two separate governing bodies.

The RFU and the Premiership clubs decided the playoffs was the best way to offset the international breaks. That was one of the contexts as to why it was introduced in the first place. That, and a big day out at Twickenham. Now, there is a separate debate as to whether or not the playoffs are fit for purpose given the increasing call for player welfare as the players in England and France (in particular) are playing 30-40 games per season.

 

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[chiefdave]

Have they agreed a new TV deal yet? Last thing I read was nobody was interested so they were thinking of starting their own channel.

Can't see that being anything but an expense. They'd have to come up with content to cover 7 days a week, even if it wasn't 24 hours a day and was full of repeats that's a huge, and expensive, task.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Ok? Two separate sports and two separate governing bodies.

The RFU and the Premiership clubs decided the playoffs was the best way to offset the international breaks. That was one of the contexts as to why it was introduced in the first place. That, and a big day out at Twickenham. Now, there is a separate debate as to whether or not the playoffs are fit for purpose given the increasing call for player welfare as the players in England and France (in particular) are playing 30-40 games per season.

The team that finishes top should be made champions

 

[duffer]

The team that finishes top should be made champions

Yep, that’s my line on it too. Just because it’s become accepted doesn’t actually make it justified, imho.

It’s about making a few more quid at the end of the day, the line about balancing out international call-ups is a bit of a smoke screen to me.

Fundamentally if Premiership rugby says it’s for the good of the game, then what they really mean is that it’s for the good of the clubs in the Premiership.

If they were really all about having meaningful fixtures right up until the end of the season, then they wouldn’t be in such an unseemly hurry to abandon relegation and pull up the ladder on teams like Coventry RFC.*

* For councillors and anyone else a bit new to the game, this is the rugby club established in Coventry in 1874, with Coventry in its name, and that trains and invests in infrastructure in Coventry (and shares said infrastructure with the local community).

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Yep, that’s my line on it too. Just because it’s become accepted doesn’t actually make it justified, imho.

It’s about making a few more quid at the end of the day, the line about balancing out international call-ups is a bit of a smoke screen to me.

Fundamentally if Premiership rugby says it’s for the good of the game, then what they really mean is that it’s for the good of the clubs in the Premiership.

If they were really all about having meaningful fixtures right up until the end of the season, then they wouldn’t be in such an unseemly hurry to abandon relegation and pull up the ladder on teams like Coventry RFC.*

* For councillors and anyone else a bit new to the game, this is the rugby club established in Coventry in 1874, with Coventry in its name, and that trains and invests in infrastructure in Coventry (and shares said infrastructure with the local community).

Good point, a champion playoff but not a relegation one?

 

[Kneeza]

Good point, a champion playoff but not a relegation one?

NEVER a relegation one - from any league.
Last time the rfu foisted that rubbish on clubs, Cov were relegated by a side* that hadn't won a single game all season, yet brought in a shedload of decent overseas players just before the cut-off (they'd been registered earlier in the season on false promises).
The rfu (uncharacteristically) very quickly saw the folly of their ways and canned the system, but too late to prevent Cov's relegation.

*Karma: they now languish in the netherworld, and have no pro playing staff.

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

NEVER a relegation one - from any league.
Last time the rfu foisted that rubbish on clubs, Cov were relegated by a side* that hadn't won a single game all season, yet brought in a shedload of decent overseas players just before the cut-off (they'd been registered earlier in the season on false promises).
The rfu (uncharacteristically) very quickly saw the folly of their ways and canned the system, but too late to prevent Cov's relegation.

*Karma: they now languish in the netherworld, and have no pro playing staff.

It's a good point but then you also have to ask why such a situation would be acceptable at the top end? There can be a lot of money in being champions/promoted compared to finishing second and whether by design as above or just sheer luck with injuries etc someone clearly miles better than everyone else over the course of a season does not end up as Champions or being promoted because of it.

Is it because we've become used to the situation of promotion play-offs in football but not relegation ones which has given it legitimacy? If you argue against one you also have to argue against the other for the same reasons.