The news is bright: on Friday the University of Worcester Warriors signed a 10-year- agreement with a local business, Cube International, that should secure their future.
It was Cube International that helped tide the women’s club over the period of gnawing uncertainty, involving the expulsion of the men’s section from the Gallagher Premiership.
The effect was to see Warriors retain the vast majority of their squad and produce some heart- warming results.
Andy Moss is the Worcester-based founder of Cube International, which specialises in sports events and retail. He has been central to the negotiations.
The plan is for the current Warriors’ operations director Josh Payne to become managing director. That allows Jo Yapp, the DoR, to focus on onfield activities.
But there are buts
But, the deal goes through only if the club’s application for re-admission to the league is successful. If they aren’t accepted, then we will know it’s a funny old world we live in. And Warriors won’t see the joke. Discussions with the RFU seem likely to stretch ahead across many weeks. This little-by-little approach merely adds to the appalling slowness of the whole operation. We have to wonder how fair this is on the people who count, the players and their support staff.
But, UWW will become a separate entity from the men’s club, though they will still share Sixways Stadium. That at least shows women’s rugby up in a positive light. Cube International is willing to back them rather than the men’s section.
But, this good news has an inevitable downside. If Warriors are accepted, it automatically reduces the number of league places still available to one. It means that of the three remaining clubs within the league’s embrace (DMP Sharks, Sale Sharks and Wasps) only one will survive.
But, that assumes that the company now in charge, Women’s Premier 15 Ltd, is not minded to offer that tenth place to yet another club new to the league. Several are still breathing heavily on the door.
But, three new clubs out of ten would mean a quite astonishing change of course. Any sense of orderly growth would be destroyed. And of course, we are looking at a 10-year-programme. That span of time happens to coincide neatly with Warriors’ new deal.
But, forecasting in the world of professional rugby is a hazardous operation. Cube International have estimated when they and the club may show a profit. It’s all very long-term and their projections must remain vulnerable.
But, if Sale Sharks are not offered that tenth place, what will it tell us about the RFU? Only two years ago they decided Sharks were a fit and proper club to enter the big time, placed in an region in urgent need of representation at the elite level.
But, do we have to assume that this two-stage process the RFU has adopted is the fairest, the most sensible? When it published the names of the eight successful applicants, it must have known that final decisions would not be reached for a very long time. It doesn’t show this methodology up in the best light.
The wait goes on.
But me no buts. But it’s hard not to.
