Wasps better off with URC - Sharp
COVENTRY chairman Jon Sharp is convinced that Wasps’ future, if it has one, lies in the United Rugby Championship, not the RFU Championship.
Wasps said in a statement earlier this week that they had secured “sustainable finance” and a suitable home stadium, adding: “All we are waiting for is a competition to join that will allow us to compete at the highest level – and one that shares our values.”
Sharp says that the existing Championship clubs made it very clear to the RFU at a meeting a few weeks ago that Wasps, or another franchise-style team, would not be welcome in the second-tier without having earned their place on merit.
“Looking at it as a non-partisan person, I read the statement and it said, okay, we’ve funding, we’ve now got a stadium, please send us some money. I thought that was a bit odd. Without knowing more details about the stadium and the funding, I don’t think I would be pledging any money, personally,” Sharp said.
“The more intriguing part of the statement is there at the end – the club is looking at the importance of joining a competition that aligns with its values and aspirations. I think that suggests they are looking at the URC. One of the things we very clearly said to the RFU when we went down there mob-handed a few weeks ago is that we all believe in meritocracy and we do not accept the concept of a franchise where anyone can be shoe-horned into this league without getting there by promotion.
“We further said, as we always do, that promotion at both ends of the Championship is sacrosanct. To change that would undermine all the principles of what English rugby stands for.
“The RFU got that message very clearly and the statement they in turn put out went on to say they will now be looking at a new model for the Championship and will be working with the Championship clubs to achieve that.
“The RFU statement has given Wasps the clue that no we are not going to allow you to be shoehorned back into the Championship even if you meet the Minimum Operating Standards so my guess, and I am pretty certain about this, is that they talking to the URC and they are looking at that route as their way back into the hightours, er echelons of the game, knowing that the URC do actually want English clubs involved.”
Wasps’ ill-fated move to Coventry never sat well with the city’s true premier club who spent a decade trying to stay relevant to sponsors and media when a Premiership juggernaut was on their doorstep.
Putting the hard facts to one side and talking from an emotional standpoint, Sharp believes it would be morally wrong to allow the former English and European champions to take to the field again until their £95 million debts are repaid in full.
“They are a great rugby club with great history and you can’t take that away from them, it is just a shame certain people took them in the wrong direction,” he said.
“Speaking as somebody with a partisan view in this instance, being from Coventry, I just find it difficult on a moral level that they should be allowed to restart without first paying off their creditors, and they left an awful lot of creditors in Coventry, and were £100million in debt. How can you be allowed to start again without paying that off first?”
Coventry weathered the presence of Wasps in their city but, as Sharp says, “not without cost”. Under his stewardship they have come through the other side and the facilities and the community reach of the club continue to grow alongside attendances, which now average around 3,500.
Around the game there is much talk of owner fatigue setting in, and in last week’s TRP we reported that Steve Boden, 41, had left his position as Doncaster Knights’ DoR because he couldn’t reconcile with himself why he was still labouring away in a league going nowhere fast.
“It is not a cheap process and some people say why on earth do you bother but it is my city, I love the game and we use the club to put so much back into the community,” Sharp added. “It is my view that rugby is a brilliant sport with the values it has to get kids help and get them doing some fitness and learn about teamwork and all those kind of things and Coventry is a brilliant vehicle for it.
“I go back to when I was first started as chairman, we had two-to-three parttime community staff and now we have six full-time community staff plus heaven knows how many volunteers.
“I am very proud of it and we will continue as long as we can while recognising there are uncertainties. There is a lot of accountability at the RFU’s doorstep even if they are shifting slightly.”
Sharp, meanwhile, has shot down rumours that Championship clubs could get triple their money (£500,000) under the new Premiership 2 deal.
“I’d be delighted if we got half a million, I don’t think we will get anything like that. They (the RFU) don’t have the money to play with; they made it very clear that they are strapped although we keep on hearing this mantra they have plenty of reserves.
“Maybe they have some cash reserves but their P&L situation is desperate. So while there may be some movement, I certainly don’t think it is going to be anything like half a million per club.”