Promotion and relegation from the top-flight Premiership is to be scrapped from next season.
A “criteria-based expansion and demotion model” will take its place following an “overwhelming” vote on Friday in favour of a new set-up by the council of England’s RFU.
The Premiership will look to expand from 10 teams to 12 teams by 2030, with a further increase possible if clubs meet criteria on and off the field.
This could mean teams such as Wasps, Worcester and London Irish – who all went bust in the 2022-23 season – return to the top flight in the future.
“We recognise that moving away from a traditional system of automatic promotion and relegation represents a significant change,” said RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney. “However, it is equally clear that the professional game must evolve if it is to thrive.
“The previous structure was not delivering the financial stability, investment confidence or wider system benefits the game now requires.”
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At present, promotion and relegation to and from the Premiership is theoretically possible via a playoff is with the top-placed side in the Championship.
But the Ealing Trailfinders, consistently the best team in the second tier, have failed to meet the existing standards – especially around stadium size – meaning promotion and relegation has been effectively suspended for several seasons already.
A team has not been relegated from the Premiership since Saracens in 2020 after they suffered a points deduction for breaching salary-cap regulations.
Saracens would later become the most recent team to earn promotion to the top tier after returning in 2021.
The financial strain of trying to get into the Premiership – and the potentially huge costs of relegation – have long been cited as a reasons for scrapping the current set-up.
A joint statement issued on Friday by the RFU, Premiership Rugby, second-tier Championship Rugby, Premiership Women’s Rugby and the Rugby Players’ Association, said “a landmark agreement” was “overwhelmingly approved by an RFU council vote today”.
“It is being introduced in recognition that the previous system was not delivering financial sustainability, discouraging long-term investment and failing to generate meaningful benefits for the wider rugby ecosystem.”.
Premiership clubs included in the top flight will have to operate a team in Premiership Women’s Rugby or fund a meaningful regional women’s development plan, or face fines for non-compliance.
– AFP
Photo: Patrick Khachfe/Getty Images
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