USA to host Premiership games

[BaggyTrousers]

. I'm guessing that with our support and infrastructure Ulster will continue to play towards the higher end of European rugby, but not sure that will be the case for Italian/Scottish sides if we make a ballix of the Heiney to favour the elite cash-rich sides. That will be a damned shame, and I'm not sure I will be able to forgive them!

Very well put Ayepod, I like that sentiment.

[Jackie Brown]

It's all about the money!

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[rocky]

Not entirely sure about that, Jackie. I think it's mainly about the money, yes, but I also think the English are extremely jealous of the success of the Celtic clubs in general and the Irish in particular, compared to their own marked lack of success over the last decade. Remember, they are English (even though most of their players aren't) and therefore entitled to be the best. They can put up with the French winning sometimes because the French are almost English since William the Conk made the mistake of invading a superior country but never, never, those bog-trotting, uneducated, talentless barbarians from across the Irish Sea. This is all about fracking us and the Scots and Italians are just collateral damage - a shame but an unavoidable consequence.
How's that for a one-eyed viewpoint?

[Rooster]

Not entirely sure about that, Jackie. I think it's mainly about the money, yes, but I also think the English are extremely jealous of the success of the Celtic clubs in general and the Irish in particular, compared to their own marked lack of success over the last decade. Remember, they are English (even though most of their players aren't) and therefore entitled to be the best. They can put up with the French winning sometimes because the French are almost English since William the Conk made the mistake of invading a superior country but never, never, those bog-trotting, uneducated, talentless barbarians from across the Irish Sea. This is all about fracking us and the Scots and Italians are just collateral damage - a shame but an unavoidable consequence.
How's that for a one-eyed viewpoint?

Not one eyed at all rocky, just plain fact and truth

[tigerburnie]

Well as Norniron is in GB(well some bits of it), perhaps if it all goes mammaries up Ulster could join the English leagues......
Not that I'd be trying to divide opinion of course................perish the thought.......

[tigerburnie]

TigerB - tv deals aside, what do you the English club fan want to see changed in the Heineken? Is it more money for your clubs, Rabo teams having to qualify, or something else?

I'm not against the Rabo teams having a different form of qualification, but I am extremely concerned about creating a small number of cash-rich teams having their own party and a big two fingers up to the rest. I'm guessing that with our support and infrastructure Ulster will continue to play towards the higher end of European rugby, but not sure that will be the case for Italian/Scottish sides if we make a ballix of the Heiney to favour the elite cash-rich sides. That will be a damned shame, and I'm not sure I will be able to forgive them!

To be honest I don't think any of us know what is being asked now. My understanding was that the original moan from the PRL clubs was we felt we were diadvantaged by the fact that the Rabo sides didn't have to qualify and were able to rest players before the Heineken games. They said as we have relegation our games were more demanding on the first team. Now some of that was probably bollix, but that was my understanding. Then after the notice went in to quit we heard that the French wanted less teams, so the Heineken didn't clash with their end of season games(I guess we have the same problem there), then the money hungry raised their noses over the parapit and I've sort of lost the will to be bothered.
I had hoped a multi tiered competition with promotion and relegation in the ERC comps would bring the game on to the next level. Then maybe a multi tiered 6 nations, also with relegation. Whether that is what the clubs are asking for , I don't know. Living in Scotland now, I am aware that the game is in good shape at club level, with some good competative leagues, but the two pro sides are not gaining enough support to keep going for long. Profesionalism is not looking to be working very well for the game up here and it seems both the IRFU and the WRFU are struggling financially too. It would not be in the interests of the game if you end up like the Scottish football system was, where you had the old firm and a load of nearly teams. I know there's always the pride issue, I see that at Murrayfield in the Calcutta cup, but it's no good in the long term, just beating the English, even though it does make your day/week/year.

[Rooster]

Well as Norniron is in GB(well some bits of it), perhaps if it all goes mammaries up Ulster could join the English leagues......

Nah we are the mainland of the British Isles not the offshore island to the East called GB, wonder is that Girls Brigade now as not much Great left now

[BR]

Speak for yourself Rooster - I live on an island off the south coast of Rathlin.

[rumncoke]

Tiger

If the Irish and Welsh are in trouble then so are the French and English if it wasn't for the Sugar Daddy types willing to pi$h money against the wall.

The problem the French have is that Club success has been achieved but at the cost of their own players since their most successful teams are full of Johnny foreigners . And the English clubs are not far behind them.

[waggonsroll]

Ah but you fail to mention that a lot of these Johnny Foreigners are then morphed into True Englishmen so they can play for England!

[BaggyTrousers]

Well as Norniron is in GB(well some bits of it), perhaps if it all goes mammaries up Ulster could join the English leagues......
Not that I'd be trying to divide opinion of course................perish the thought.......

FFS TB you will be starting the annual "Flegs & Anfums" debate if you aren't careful. Strictly speaking of course, you are in error, there are as many as zero parts of NI in GB, we are merely the unwanted part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Norn Iron and all the wee neds out aiming split bricks & petroleum bombs at the PSNI merely celerating their rights not to be British but to be British subjects - the poor man's Brit if you will, Brit yellow pack, the economy Brit, the British House Wine to your own status of Britannicus Gran Reserva, the Lidl "imitation" Twix rather that the Mars Twix, the well rid out ould Shankill slapper rather than Her Fragrant Loveliness HMQ.

Confused yet?

As for Ulster in the English Leagues, as the Rev Doctor Iain Elvis Paisley might say "Naver, Naver, Naver"

[davejohnston]

To be fair I think Irish Rugby is pretty healthy at provincial level, geographically the teams are well located so there is a dense (bad choice of words?) enough population to support the teams. With the recent success there is a good enough footfall through the turnstiles; even our poor cousins in Connacht, seen to be attracting better crowds (partly as a result of the HC games?).

I think loosing the HC will be a big blow. The pro 12 is every bit as competitive and as engaging as the AP, but the European games are a step up and we want to see Ulster continue beating the best in England and France.

The French might want to prioritise their own league, but surely playing with yourself gets boring eventually, and the fans will want to job back into bed with the rest of Europe.

I do prefer the idea of expanding the HC instead of shrinking it, with more tiers to support the developing sides.

[tigerburnie]

Ireland have a head start as you already have your identity with your provinces, the Welsh and Scots tried to "invent" sides by joining rivals together. Classic example the Border Reivers, the border towns are fierce rivals, they only agree when it's the national side.
Ireland also doesn't have such a distraction from soccer. I know you have you tribal games like killing each other with lumps of wood, but there seemed to be some general understanding of rugby when I was last there. I'm confident that the game is in reasonable shape in Ireland, but not so sure about Scotland or Wales. The Italians seem to warming to the game more and more, not huge crowds, but their enthusiasm is to be admired.
The English are slowly getting their act together, but few sides are self supporting, clubs like Sorries and Wasps need to get a fan base soon or they might vanish under a weight of debt. I have to say there is a misconception about some of the PRL sides, some are doing well both on and off the field, the game is still growing and the likes of Exeter and London Welsh prove you can break into the clique that the old school ties keep trying to protect.

[davejohnston]

The story continues...

"The organisation in charge of the Aviva Premiership is to hold talks with USA Rugby concerning the possibility of an England top-flight game being played in America.

Leicester Tigers' chairman Peter Tom suggested a fortnight ago that talks are underway between Premiership Rugby and their American counterparts. And the news has been confirmed by PRL's CEO Mark McCafferty who will meet with USA Rugby boss Nigel Melville next month to talk through the logistics of taking a game across the Atlantic.

"We are looking to extend our ties with American rugby and open up the US market commercially," McCafferty told the Rugby Paper. "We have had a lot of approaches and a lot of discussions from people who want us to play Premiership matches out there.

"They can see the prospect of getting anything from 50,000 to 70,000 into their stadia. It's quite a step at the moment but I don't rule it out for the future. How quickly it will happen it's difficult to tell. With the right investment it could happen sooner than later. The US is definitely an area we would like to target."

Talks have reportedly taken place with American sides in Washington, Miami, Cleveland and Boston and Melville says the USA will only be interested if it is a top game rather than a pre-season match.

"There's been talk about a pre-season game in the US between two Premiership teams as a warm-up but Americans aren't interested in friendlies," Melville said. "Any game would have to be a real game. The biggest challenge will be finding the right time and the right venue.

"Some baseball stadia will fit a rugby pitch but they are in-season throughout the summer."

http://www.espn.co.uk/premiership-2013- ... 95849.html

[Setanta]

You'd think they would want the Yanks to see a decent rugby match if they're serious about spreading the sport!