Gallagher Premiership will NOT expand to 14 teams as hoped after Ealing and Doncaster fail to meet criteria for promotion but RFU chief Bill Sweeney insists it would welcome the promotion of Championship clubs to the top-flight
- The RFU agreed the Premiership would add a 14th team for the 2022-23 season
- Last June, it was agreed that the winner of the Championship would join
- Ealing and Doncaster failed to meet the criteria for promotion to the Premiership
- Premiership club’s stadiums must hold a minimum of 10,001 supporters
- Both the Trailfinders Sports Ground and Castle Park hold only around 5,000
- Doncaster currently top the Championship and favourites Ealing sit in third
The Gallagher Premiership will not expand to 14 teams for next season as planned after Championship clubs Ealing and Doncaster failed to meet the minimum standards criteria for promotion.
England’s Rugby Football Union agreed in June last year the Premiership – currently made up of 13 sides – would add to its ranks for the 2022/23 campaign with the winner of the Championship joining, subject to that team ticking the required boxes both on and off the field.
Doncaster – currently leading the Championship – and Ealing both nominated their grounds to be considered for promotion on the basis their team finished top of the table.
Ealing (pictured Craig Hampson) and Doncaster failed to meet the minimum standards criteria for promotion to the Gallagher Premiership
Neither side’s stadiums met the required capacity (pictured the Trailfinders Sports Ground)
One of the RFU’s minimum standards criteria for a Premiership team is that their stadium must hold a minimum of 10,001 supporters. Neither Ealing nor Doncaster have a ground of the required capacity.
Both clubs have stadiums with a capacity of around 5,000 and have therefore been judged to have failed the promotion standards.
The RFU has subsequently barred them from promotion although both clubs have a right of appeal.
Ealing and Doncaster also failed to meet other criteria aside from their stadium issues.
Both clubs’ stadiums (pictured Doncaster’s ground Castle Park) with capacity of around 5,000
Bill Sweeney, RFU chief executive, said: ‘The RFU and PRL (Premiership Rugby Limited) would welcome a Championship club being promoted to create a 14-team Gallagher Premiership.
‘In the past, clubs with home grounds which would not meet the minimum standards criteria have nominated other grounds under a groundshare agreement to provide a bridge between a club developing its own facilities to provide safe, compliant participation in the Premiership.
‘The RFU and PRL would like to support and encourage all Championship clubs to continue to develop their proposals for the expansion and development of their grounds including the submission of formal planning applications.’
The fact the Gallagher Premiership, which is ringfenced from relegation this season, will not have a 14th team joining for 2022/23 will only serve to fuel criticism of the league as a closed shop which only looks after the teams already in it.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said Championship clubs’ bids for promotion are encouraged
Ealing and Doncaster have told the RFU they could seek to expand their grounds in order to meet the necessary criteria for promotion to the Premiership.
But neither has put forward planning permission or the option of a groundshare as yet which leaves them in trouble.
The confirmation from the RFU that no team will be promoted from the Championship pours cold water on the division’s title run-in.
In a thrilling campaign on the field, Ealing had been favourites to top the pile at the start of the season.
But they currently sit third and were beaten at home by leaders Doncaster last weekend.
Cornish Pirates – who famously beat Saracens after their relegation to the Championship for salary cap breaches – sit second.