The traumatic impact of the collapse of three Premier League clubs last season extended beyond the devastating impact on the players, staff and supporters of Worcester, Wasps and London Irish.
Subsequent headlines understandably focused on the fate of those directly involved, but their dramatic demise also left the Rugby Football Union confronted with a less heralded crisis: what to do with the three academies associated with the clubs, with a supply line of talent of approximately 2,000 people in total? young players?
The ultimate aim of the development pathway programmes, which start at the under-14 age group and are incorporated into each of England’s 14 academies, is to first develop players capable of playing for the Premier League side is connected to them, and then to the seniors. national side.
But with only a small elite ever reaching that level, DPPs are also seen as crucial to developing players with the skills and dedication to enjoy their rugby within the community game.
The consequences of the collapse of the three clubs therefore threatened to reach far deeper than the immediate impact on the professional game, leaving the RFU little choice but to intervene and take central control to stem the damage to both the elite and the limit basic players. carrots game.
Regulations under the existing Professional Playing Agreement between the RFU and the clubs ensure that players who have developed within the confines of each academy must progress to the Premier League club that oversees them.
So in the dramatic days following the collapse of each club, the RFU faced the logistical challenge not only of taking control of each academy structure, but also of determining how the players ready to progress to professional contracts would be allocated to Premiership clubs. outside their academies.
‘Some would have missed the opportunity to go to university’
If the collapse of Worcester and Wasps in the first half of last season at least gave the governing body some breathing space to merge their respective academies into a new RFU Midlands academy, jointly supported by Premiership Rugby, last November, then the collapse of London Irish in June left little time to restructure – and limit the impact on the players’ rugby and academic development.
“The most affected were the Under-18s who had signed contracts with Irish and they had to find new clubs,” said Don Barrell, the RFU’s head of performance programs and pathways.
“Then there was the lower sixth school group, the young people under 17, who would like to sign a contract next year. They were prioritized during this period to ensure we truly met their needs.”
Conor O’Shea, the RFU’s executive director of performance, was also involved in discussions with the players and their parents to find solutions.
“Some parents contacted us and we had conversations with them,” O’Shea said. “Because of the time [of Irish’s collapse] some players would have missed the opportunity to go to universities such as Leeds, Manchester or Bristol because they would have stayed in London.
“We had to give them a trajectory for the next year, almost like a gap year. We needed to ensure that the under-18 program was in place immediately and then care was taken for those within the program returning this season. It is an exceptional situation given London Irish’s links with schools in the region. We had to make sure there were the right facilities too and as always with the rugby community people came forward to offer us facilities we could use.”
The RFU could at least draw on their experience of stepping in to take control of the Premiership academy that was run by Yorkshire Carnegie in 2020, and establish a centrally run Yorkshire academy to replace it.
“It allows players to stay, get an education and live on their local patch.”
Where possible, staff were retained to provide continuity in the training and development offering, and parents and players were reassured that they would not be disadvantaged by remaining within their current academy, even if it was no longer associated with a Premiership club.
“We needed to quickly help people understand that they still have every opportunity,” Barrell added. “So we have been working with Premiership Rugby to make some regulatory changes for the players in each of the programs so that they can essentially move to another program when they have finished their time within the academy. If you look at Wasps/Worcester I think we have ten people who have already been contracted if they come out of their top six years after those two patches. The same goes for Yorkshire.”
To prevent illegal ‘robberies’ of the new academies, Premiership clubs must first register their interest with the RFU, and the academy manager will then speak to the player and their parents to ensure the process is transparent.
“When a player reaches year six, we give him the opportunity to look at working with other clubs and make an informed decision,” Barrell said. “It is controlled from the middle and is not underhanded and allows young players to stay, be trained and live in their local areas without any impact.
“I think the only difference is that they have to move somewhere, but they have a lot more choice, compared to someone who stays at that local pitch and has no qualifying criteria to join another Premier League club.
“We’ve had a few movements since January, only a few were people, and I completely understand. I think some parents just want the best for their children and feel like they would be missing out.
“But we’re working as hard as we can and can say that we honestly don’t feel like you will either. You get the same staffing in terms of numbers, and we’ve tried to keep as many of the same staff as possible, so there’s real consistency between the programs as we’ve adopted them. We tried to just move their staff over to a new setup. So in terms of impact it is as low as we can make.”