Almost everyone in English club rugby agrees on one thing. It cannot continue like this. The system, if that's the right word for the teetering pile of Jenga bricks supporting a cash-strapped 10-team Premiership, is broken and a planned eight-year deal between the Rugby Football Union and the club's leading owners is seen as the most important - needed long-term answer.
That's fine, except for one basic detail. As things stand, it doesn't do anything for anyone else. Talk to people in the second-tier championship and there is frustration, defiance and gallows humor in about equal parts after years of dwindling funding and central support. As Mark Lavery, director of rugby at second-placed Ampthill, puts it: "We took all the money out of the foundation, put it in the roof and now we're wondering why the foundation is shaking."
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Not far away in Bedford, the country's longest-serving director of rugby, Mike Rayer, also feels there is a lack of appreciation in certain quarters for the work that Championship clubs (and the national leagues below them) do to develop young players and train coaches. , referees and communities across the country. "No one has really controlled the championship since before Covid," Rayer said. "It's just standing in the corner fighting for itself. There are really good things happening and there are some really good players in the Championship."
But as with local newspapers and provincial cricket, heritage and good intentions are no longer the safe shields they once were. Money is finite and there are more and more mouths to feed. In the eyes of many, including Lavery, the boss of a leading car retailer, the sport requires a solution for the whole game rather than a solution for just a few protected people. "The RFU seems to have a fundamentally different view of the world, based on a closed shop at the top level. For everything else below that, there doesn't seem to be a plan. And yet we want to increase the amount paid to PRL? Talk me through that. It is the economics of the madhouse."
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All of this goes to the heart of the future of English rugby. Rather than aligning itself with a handful of debt-laden Premier League clubs, shouldn't the RFU - check the notes - be a membership organization charged with maintaining the game at all levels? There were further collective talks on Tuesday, but no transformative central funding is yet on the horizon.
In a statement last week, the Championship had already formally rejected the idea of a "Premiership 2" franchise competition, saying it would not be meritocratic and would essentially reduce it to "farm club" status. It means that uncertainty continues. "Premiership 2 indicates an umbilical cord that is not there because they have done a private transaction in which we are not involved," said Simon Halliday, chairman of the championship committee. "We've been told countless times, 'We don't have any money.' Let's rephrase that. They don't want to assign it to us."
All this is in stark contrast to France, where ProD2, the competition below the Top 14, is going from strength to strength. Council-owned stadiums and a more lucrative television deal clearly help, but the difference is still stark. In England, even the top Premier League clubs are trying to renegotiate their Covid loans, while the demise of last year's championship winners Jersey further underlined the precarious nature of rugby's financial landscape.
What should the future look like then? Part of the problem is that there are more different views than a busy Specsavers department. Some clubs are ambitious, others live largely in survival mode. Ampthill are second in the league behind Ealing Trailfinders, but without promotion or relegation, or a home ground that meets minimum standards, what else to aim for? "We went out 18 years ago and said we were going to compete in the championship," says Lavery. "At that time we were at level 7. We have received five promotions in 12 years, but now we have reached a glass ceiling."
Their central funding has also shrunk massively, from £680,000 in their first season to £90,000 once medical costs are paid. Ampthill has a link with Saracens and several England players - Ben Earl, Alex Mitchell, Theo Dan and Freddie Steward - have worn the club's shirt. What they really want, however, is the chance to become the best club Ampthill can be. "It wasn't that long ago that Saracens played in a north London park," says Lavery. "I know because I went there and looked at them."
A healthy player path, where a fixed number of English-speaking academy players get more playing time, must be an important ingredient. In Bedford, it has not escaped Rayer's attention that ex-Blues full-back Rich Lane scored three tries for Bristol against Exeter this month. "There are still ambitious players in and around the Championship who could master it in the Premier League," said Rayer, who has won 21 caps for Wales and has been in charge at Goldington Road for 18 years. "We are also available. Players can stand shoulder to shoulder with the supporters... you see the real human side of the game. That's the great thing about us. But it can't completely become a development competition. We all had to learn the game by playing with good and experienced players. You shouldn't lose sight of that."
Moreover, championship teams are used to being resourceful. "We run a sustainable business... unlike the Premier League we don't lose millions of pounds," says Rayer, who also believes promotion and relegation remain vital for the England senior team. "We have to fight for promotion and relegation. In international rugby it is ultimately about the result. How do you prepare for that if you lose twelve to fifteen games a year and it doesn't matter?"
Lavery agrees. "When you look at the decline in attendance, the decline in participation and the risks associated with playing the sport, we seem to be fixated on something that makes the sport less entertaining because there is no danger." However, Halliday is not considering a reconsideration. "The game, whether you like it or not, needs to understand that the barriers to entry are not going away anytime soon. The only way to close that gap is to help bridge it from the bottom up."
Many still believe that the rejected championship blueprint drawn up by Edward Griffiths more than three years ago contained some good ideas, but Halliday believes a viable structure can eventually emerge. "It's just going to take longer because of the hand we've been dealt. You can't undo the past, but you can learn from it. We all want to find a solution. We want to be the best possible path for the young players of tomorrow. We need to commercialize who we are, which we haven't done for years. And we need to improve our standards.
"I share the RFU's view that we cannot simply continue in the same way. It is an enormous challenge due to the years of underinvestment in this group of clubs. You reap what you sow... I think we will suffer in the coming years because of some of the decisions that have been made. But I don't run the RFU. All I'm trying to do is ensure that our clubs can determine their own destiny. Their value needs to be recognized and I want that respect. Let no one turn around and say that our clubs are not ambitious. They are incredibly ambitious."
