yes I saw that... however, I think the clubs may have won the battle but lost the war - there was an ominous quote from an IRFU source in Fangio’s latest, to the effect that this was the IRFU’s attempt to make nice with the clubs and come up with something consensual, and they are now going to go off and cook something up themselves and impose it unilaterally. So it’s watch this space.thecrouch wrote:The proposed structure change has been officially abandoned by the IRFU.
I actually have sympathy with the IRFU here, in that the status quo isn’t quite getting the job done in terms of providing competitive rugby for squad / academy players - and into the bargain it’s an increasing struggle for clubs to fund all-Ireland travel etc, while keeping their noses clean financially and avoiding the temptation to keep up with the Joneses. It’s not sustainable.
My prediction is closed semi-pro league within 5 years, provincial amateur club game with all-Ireland playoffs.
(Interesting that all out civil war is raging, on very similar lines, in Wales, with reductions to premiership club funding and introduction of provincial A sides..)