RFU To Block Premiership Expansion

The Rugby Football Union has stated that it would block any plans to expand the Guinness Premiership from 12 to 14 clubs.

Premier Rugby, the organisation that oversees the top-flight clubs, said earlier this week that expansion was a possibility in ‘two or three years’.

However an RFU spokesman said the decision would need approval from the governing body, backing that it would be unlikely to give.

The RFU also restated that relegation from the top flight is protected until 2016 – a view backed by Premier Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty who insisted its plans did not include any form of stopping relegation or promotion and ring-fencing the Premiership.

At present, the bottom team at the end of the 22-game regular season is relegated and replaced by the team that wins the second-tier Championship.

Premier Rugby is looking to substantially increase the size of its TV deal when it negotiates a new contract in 2013. If successful, this additional revenue could pave the way for two more clubs.

But there seems little desire at the RFU to sanction such an increase.

An official statement read: ‘Making a change of this nature is not a decision for PRL and its broadcasters to make – it would require RFU approval and that is unlikely to be forthcoming at the current time.

‘The concept of relegation and promotion is legally enshrined in the eight-year agreement between PRL, its clubs and the RFU which lasts through until 2016.’