By Matt Hardy
Premiership Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor has slapped down accusations from Championship clubs that his organisation have ignored their demands over the future of the game, saying “we’ve done everything we can”.
Clubs in the second tier this week launched a sensational attack on the sport’s governing body the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby over an agreement, known as the Professional Game Partnership (PGP) that will act as a constitution for the governance of the game for the rest of the decade.
When asked whether he refutes claims that Premiership Rugby have been a roadblock, Massie-Taylor said: “Yes. We have responded to everything they’ve asked and the stadium standards are a good example of that.
“We have moved and done everything we can to support them. So I do [refute their claims].”
Monday’s statement from Championship clubs stated that the RFU had threatened clubs with expulsion from the professional game if they did not agree to terms of the new PGP, which has been the topic of much debate across English rugby.
The statement also read: “During our long negotiations with the RFU and PRL, there is much that has been agreed, such as the driving of minimum standards, but there are major points that have not been properly addressed and, in some cases, ignored.
“In the interests of the game in England, and for our own sustainability, we challenge the current proposals.”
The RFU denied this.
Massie-Taylor, who joined Premiership Rugby from the RFU, said fans should expect greater detail on the PGP in the coming weeks.
“Working in a league for the last couple of years and trying to align leagues into a common direction, the one thing you can guarantee is to pull collective anger and collective fear together and you need to try and translate that into collective intent,” Massie-Taylor added.
“Ultimately you need to have a healthy two-tiered system. Do we have one at the moment? No.
“It is going to take a long time, we have all be honest about that. You do want to have a system that does yield Premiership ready teams.
“We are in a reality at the moment with the Premiership where you can argue a case strongly around ring-fencing the Premiership to preserve the clubs and allow them to rebuild.
“The fact that we have the play-off, and promotion and relegation, is a fair balance but it needs to come with sporting merit and [the ideal] that the club is a viable business that can survive in the Premiership, or have a good crack.”
