Prem Rugby needs to switch up its calendar to stop final being banished to fringes
Ollie Phillips argues that on this super weekend for sport in the capital, Prem Rugby could do more to be noticed.
London is on its very best form this weekend: some of the world’s most exciting male tennis players will contest the HSBC Championships semi-finals and final at The Queen’s Club in Baron’s Court; England will look to wrap up their Test match against the Black Caps at the Oval; and Royal Ascot reaches its crescendo just a couple of train stops south in Berkshire with today’s Commonwealth Cup and Coronation Stakes, and tomorrow’s Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes.
But topping the billing for me? The Prem Rugby final between Northampton Saints and Exeter Chiefs at the 82,000-capacity Allianz Stadium. After a rare away win at the semi-final stages, Rob Baxter’s Chiefs will look to beat the table-topping Saints in what could be the West Country club’s final game with Tony Rowe as de facto owner given the potential sale of the club to Black Knight, the consortium which owns Premier League club Bournemouth and features Oscar winner Michael B Jordan.
You have simply got to bow down and applaud London for all of the above. There are few cities that are able to accommodate so many high calibre events, manage to sell them all out and ensure that the city works like clockwork to keep fans happy.
Prem Rugby realities
But when I see the Prem Rugby final relegated to ITV4 – having signed a free-to-air deal with the broadcaster alongside its usual coverage on TNT Sports – to make way for the horse racing south of the capital, and then seeing that the match will be competing on free-to-air with Queen’s on BBC1, I to think that it is time to revisit the question of where the European calendar sits within the wider sporting diaspora.
And the reality is that there’s always a Fifa World Cup, European Championships, Olympics or other multi-sport event on at this time of year so the rugby may end up just falling by the wayside – even if there are 82,000 fans enjoying the unique pantomime that is a Prem Rugby final with all 10 top flight teams, and beyond, represented in the stands (and the bars).
So my radical solution? Take a page out of the book of former World Rugby boss wannabe Agustin Pichot and flip the calendar on its head.
The season
Start the season with a bang with the Six Nations – players will be fit from the off-season and unlikely to come into the tournament undercooked or damn right knackered. Then play domestic Prem (or Top 14/URC) rugby and a new, slimmed down version of Europe – all teams can still play but add competitions and tiers to ensure the top level Investec Champions Cup feels premium – over the summer before concluding the season with an elongated international period, which could be used to develop the international game and would be used for the World Cup window.
The result? The Prem Rugby final clashes with Premier League football but gets the TV leverage because it can be shown live at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. There’s practically nothing in the Morning Wire sporting calendar except potential boxing dates – often late in the evening – and the Solheim Cup – which is behind a paywall and this year taking place in the Netherlands.
It is food for thought, anyway, that on this super weekend where rugby is attracting the biggest crowd amid hot competition it will instead be hidden away while its sporting rivals shine.
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance. Follow Ollie @OlliePhillips11