How the Celtic League could be truly Celtic
Roar Guru By rugbyfuture, 29 Jan 2010 rugbyfuture is a Roar Guru
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The Magners League could be considered the best rugby competition in Europe currently. This is mostly due to the success of the Welsh and Irish teams in the H cup.
It is the smallest top flight competition in Europe, however, next to the Italian Top 10.
Originally the competition consisted of 15 teams, mostly from Wales. Wales then consolidated teams, due to financial constraints, and reduced to four teams. Scotland similarly had to dump two teams along the way – Border and Caledonia.
Ireland have created and sustained four teams based on the traditional provinces.
Now as they look to expansion of the competition, two Italian teams are supposed to join (with some doubt coming in recently) and the WRU have had a long term strategic plan for North Wales for a few years. This would mean Wales would have five teams, Ireland four and Scotland two, with possibly two Italian teams.
Scotland, however, are also looking to readmit two teams once finances are realigned and reach a point of parity and following that profit. This could mean the readmission of the Border Reivers and Caledonia Reds. All of this adds up to thirteen teams, minus the Italians.
This is certainly an odd number. But what can they do: financial constraints and a probable need to keep it as “Celtic” as possible.
There are two forgotten Celtic nations, however: Brittany, in the north west of France, and Cornwall, in the south west of England. Both could play a part here (its sounding very Super 15-ish).
The Cornish pirates are the top flight team in the Cornwall region.
They have been trying to gain entry into the premiership for a few years now and have a large following in the region. There are regular rumours of building a suitable premiership stadium and continued growth through mergers and acquisitions with other clubs from other codes.
With proper development, and a good strategic plan, a change in direction could be achieved, making it possible for entry into a possible 15 team Celtic league.
This would be good for the cultural links, the English rugby community, and the Magners league, spreading popularity south and getting the RFU partially involved.
A 15th team has two options for this scenario, although one probably has little viability.
The Isle of Man has a long history in rugby, but does not have full sustainability in terms of population and popularity. But it could prove a good offering.
The most viable option, though, is a team based in Brittany, France.
This area, although in the north of France, and lacking a Top 14 team, has hosted rugby before (RWC) and has a growing following, as well as being in the Celtic League of Nations.
This is the most promising place if there was to be a fifteenth Celtic League rugby nation.
Of course, this scenario would be a long way off, with the Welsh only recently recovering financially and the Scots still in a bad situation. But if expansion was to ever take place, I see this as the direction it could, and should, take.
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January 30th 2010 @ 12:24pm
Viscount Crouchback said | January 30th 2010 @ 12:24pm | Report comment
That’s not remotely accurate. The biggest GP clubs ARE under constant threat of relegation. Maybe not in a particular season, but absolutely over the course of several seasons. For instance, both Northampton and Quins – two of the biggest clubs in England by any measure – have been relegated in the past five years. Bath have come perilously close. The GP, because of the salary cap, is about 1,000 times more equal and competitive than the soccer Premiership. It’s daft to make any comparison between the two.
But yes, you’re right about the constant qualification for the HC. It’s a nonsense that the Scottish, Newport and Ulster receive entry year after year while quality English clubs – this year including Wasps, Sarries and Newcastle – kick their heels on the sidelines.
January 31st 2010 @ 1:10am
pothale said | January 31st 2010 @ 1:10am | Report comment
I didn’t know that VC. I stand corrected on the Saints and Quins.
I’d agree about Wasps and Saracens. Newcastle? Have they not been inhabiting the nether regions of the GP for some time?
I think Edinburgh are pulling their socks up, but we’ll see how the season goes with the play-offs introduced this year – that has made the league more competitive. Lineen, McGahan, Cheika, and the two Scottish coaches seem to have points to prove.
February 1st 2010 @ 11:40am
Matt said | February 1st 2010 @ 11:40am | Report comment
If anything, the relegation of Quins and Saints was good for them? Both got a much needed shock and revolutionised their setups. Both bounced back VERY strongly from the drop and it galvanised their support bases and lead to a clearing of the rubbish and a more focused drive. Maybe the threat of relegation should be seen as a means of improving the performance of GP clubs, rather than a hindrance…
I do like Potale’s idea of a Top 6 ML qualifying system for the HC. The ML teams rely of Euro qulification to get the fans through the gates, but maybe if the fans were shown that the ML mattered to the teams then they’d show up for most matches. This would be especially important once teams qualified for Europe.
The Italians must be resigned to their own domestic competition now. They now need a miracle to take them to the next competitive level because it isn’t going to happen anytime soon under the current situation. It is possible that in 2023 the World Cup (which will be European bound after Japan 2019) might be awarded to Italy. This would offer the Italians the opportunity to capatilise on the massive publicity and money of the WC and to establish a more widespread Premiership of their own.
February 5th 2010 @ 5:28am
Jannerboyuk said | February 5th 2010 @ 5:28am | Report comment
I cant see any clubs in the ML agreeing to a top european qualification. How would it be in their interest? The HC is the be all and end all of club life, nobody really gives a toss who wins the ML.
February 5th 2010 @ 5:37am
Jannerboyuk said | February 5th 2010 @ 5:37am | Report comment
Its worth remembering that its in effect a strange version of relegation. I can only think of rotherham getting relegated and not coming straight back up, mostly with a 100% record. Following plymouth albion from a distance it gets frustrating when we were beating almost everybody in a very competitive league except whoever had just been relegated. Exeter chiefs are in the same boat right now – like us they have built a nice new stadium, built up crowds from nothing to around 4k but the chances of promotion feels zero. Watching teams like saracens, wasps, london irish getting 7k quite often is annoying when either a cornish side, plymouth or exeter would be getting much better regular crowds (leaving the wembley experiment to the side for a moment).
February 1st 2010 @ 10:16pm
Thomond Park said | February 1st 2010 @ 10:16pm | Report comment
The Italians won’t be joining they didn’t want to stump up with the money and their two proposed teams were going to be based in small towns which doesn’t benefit Italian Rugby
February 19th 2010 @ 5:22am
Lankelly RFC said | February 19th 2010 @ 5:22am | Report comment
As a Pirates fan this would be what I would want, I have talked to countless fellow fans and the vast majority favor this also .
In Cornwall we also have 2 other very sucsessfull clubs Redruth and Cornish all Blacks who play in NAT 1 or the old NAT 2 .It would be wonderful to hope that these 2 clubs who bring on so much Cornish talent could be allowed to be feeder clubs to the Pirates .
To see teams like Ospreys ,munster Glasgow and the like playing in Cornwall would be a dream.
In the past we have produced a host of internationals and there is currently a lot of talented players who are Cornish , eligable under IRB rules to be classed as Cornish , or born else wherebut were raised from childern in Cornwall.
Phil Vicery , Jason Hobson , Darren Dawiduik , Luke Charteris, Hugh Vyvyen, Dan Ward Smith ,