Cutting the oxygen supply to its grassroots is not the way for rugby union to pay the bills
The Arizona Muskrats v the Paris Musketeers, anyone? Plans have been made for a rebel big-money rugby union league. Photograph: Franco Arland/GettyThe breathless headlines looked exciting. “Global rebel league” and “Rugby revolution” are certainly catchy and guaranteed to attract clicks. As with the Kerry Packer cricket circus in the 1970s and the more recent LIV golf saga, sport’s traditional overlords can periodically be blindsided by wealthy interlopers who claim they can do better.
At which point, for anyone who has seen various other revolutionary gold rush proposals come and go over the years, reality crashes through the saloon doors and takes its usual seat at the bar. There is an overwhelmingly good reason why these schemes never come to fruition and it is this: the people behind them fail to grasp what rugby union is ultimately about.
What about the existing domestic leagues that would end up being cannibalised or terminally trashed? And the thousands of disenfranchised fans it would directly affect? Money might talk in professional golf but rugby is first and foremost a team game.
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