Championship

Ealing and Doncaster see promotion ambitions stifled by temporary muddle as stadium capacity remains sticking point.

The only way to become a better rugby player is on the pitch and we believe this [cup] competition will give us a focus, the Premiership and the Championship are behind us.” All the while the RFU works on plans for a hybrid cup competition between Premiership second teams and Championship clubs for the 2023-24 season. These clubs have already been operating with one hand tied behind their back and it is to the immense credit of all Championship teams that they remain afloat after the devastating combination of swingeing funding cuts by the RFU and the Covid-19 pandemic. The idea that an aspiring Championship club may be allowed to develop in the Premiership, having earned the right to be there, is anathema to the top-flight clubs whose ambitions sound a lot like a move to a franchise system. The Rugby Football Union ruled last month that Ealing and Doncaster – the only two clubs to apply to be eligible for promotion – had failed the minimum standards criteria. The main sticking point is stadium capacity which, according to the MSC, must be 10,001 – neither Ealing nor Doncaster come particularly close but as the RFU acknowledged recently, the minimum for Premier League football grounds is 5,000 and both aspiring clubs could meet that.