34 thoughts on “Blueprint for a new Northern Hemisphere season structure”

1. For all players knocked out in the groups of the European cup that’s a 4 month lay-off for over half of professional players, up from the 3 months (max, for non-internationals only) we have now. Requirement for sub-cup levels of silverware to keep them in action?

   1. Add to that the over two month long summer international window and you’re starving a lot of players of game time, spending over half the year not actually playing any rugby.

   2. The Six Nations ‘A’ tournament should keep some of them busy over the summer, but agree that there would probably need to be something half-decent for them to play in. That said, they play too much rugby at the moment, so a longer break might do them good.

2. I’d drop the June internationals, lengthen the domestic season to fill the space and swap the 6 Nations and European comp around. That would mean the domestic league and European comp played together, then a international season of 6 nations then autumn internationals.

   And while the 6 nations and internationals are going on I’d run a Euro Plate for the Saxons, Wolfhounds, Romania, Georgia etc as well.

   1. A one off game of the European Cup WInners vs the Super Rugby champions as well please.

      1. The fact that this was prevented from taking place by European Rugby is a reminder that any major change is extremely unlikely.

   2. I think you’d have to move the June Internationals rather than drop them, because of the revenue they deliver.

      I considered having Heineken Cup straight after June Internationals, but thought there might not be enough time after the domestic leagues finish to confirm qualifiers, draws and fixtures.

   3. Don’t think the SANZAR nations would be keen to come up to the NH for AI fixtures; but then we scrap the June fixtures so that they don’t get the revenue that comes with a touring side.

      1. Yep – the only reason SANZAR come up here for the AIs is because we go down there in the summer. They won’t let us stop going over there while they still come over here.

         1. Bit confused what is inferred by this comment Brighty?

            1. I am agreeing with you – we couldn’t stop the summer tours down south, which generate a huge chunk of SANZAR revenues, and then expect them to come up here in the autumn to fill our stadiums. So we can’t scrap one or the other of them. Either both or none.

               1. Ah right; apologies. Read it is a rush yesterday and thought it was sarcastic.

3. I like it in principle, but there are a couple of issues for me.

   Firstly, top players will have 2.5 months between the end of a season and the start of the next. So possibly just 1.5 months rest before kicking off again with pre-season. I think a lack of rest time is a contributory factor to the injury problems we are seeing, and I would therefore advise that any changes should see longer rest periods introduced.

   Secondly, where does the European cup go in Rugby World Cup years? Taking 2015 as an example, you’ve taken up prime RWC time there. Do you postpone it? In which case you’re playing until December. Do you play it early? Then you won’t have time for the international teams to get their players together for long enough. Or do you do a split tournament? Which will lose some of its appeal. Playing before the RWC, you also turn around straight from a league season to a Euro season, and give no time for planning.

   Personally, I would just mimic the Southern Hemisphere exactly. Push the summer tours back to July, and allow a 4 month window for a provincial tournament with franchised entry. In England, I would recommend franchises of 3-5 years so teams aren’t afraid of “relegation”, but don’t get any long term security.

   You have about 10-12 weeks for a pool stage, depending on competition size and format. Quarters, semis and final always on the first, second and third weekend of June. Semi-finals and final always in pre-determined “neutral” locations so people can plan for them. Then it’s the global International season. Tier 2 countries can therefore send their players to play in Super Rugby or European Equivalent (not as catchy a name) and then get their players back for all the International games.

   Bi-lateral series in July – only it doesn’t have to be North Vs South. Countries are free to arrange whatever tours they want. With the fourth week of June and the first week or two of July to prepare, Tier 1 Nations should try to play 1 or 2 Tier 2 Nations before the series starts.

   Six Nations / Rugby Championship in August / September. Finishing around mid-September.

   Bi-lateral series in October. Same deal as before. Play whoever you like, and try to organise a couple of Tier 2 games before you start a 3 test tour.

   A bi-lateral series could include the Lions if there was still the desire to play, but it wouldn’t necessarily have to be every 4 years. It could also take an October tour spot to not interrupt the Home Nations practice.

   In Rugby World Cup years, you don’t arrange Bi-lateral series and have your Championship start earlier (run July/August), then run the World Cup in September/October.

   Domestic competitions to take place during the International season, with a focus on home-grown players and local rivalries.

   Players finish in October and rest November, December and the start of January.

   1. Mimicking the SH is tricky because there is an extra competition to fit in. Their top players go from Super Rugby to internationals, but in the north they have to play Aviva / Pro12 and the European Cup.

      A Super Rugby type competition with European teams plus SA teams could work, with Aviva / Pro12 played at the same time as Currie Cup / ITM Cup (Aug to Oct), but that would devalue the domestic leagues even further.

      1. My suggestion was to severely cut back the domestic leagues – in terms of importance anyway. I agree with you that that is the only way to make my solution workable but I think something has to give. You have 37 game weeks in your season and I think sports scientists that top players should only be playing 30 as a maximum. So we have to lose a competition or accept that top players won’t be able to play all the time – which in itself devalues competitions they get “rested” for.

         I think 2 x 4/5 match windows + 5 Six Nations games is about right for the International calendar, which leaves you with 15-17 club weekends, which just won’t be enough to fit in two meaningful club competitions.

         Taking England as an example, having a provincial tournament would result in the EPS Players (33 currently) spread across 6 clubs (5-6 each to play in a high level competition with the players who are at Saxons level, a couple of marquee signings and a few younger players who would be on the fringes of the squad. When the domestic season rolls around, the International players (both yours and possibly your marquee signings) will leave and the younger players on the fringes of the European squad will play a more key role domestically, and therefore provide them with more development opportunities. For example, when Leicester had Flood and Ford a couple of years back, Ford would have probably benched in the European competition but then would have been the main man in the domestic competition, as Flood would have been away with England.

         Clubs would be compensated by the unions contributing to EPS players’ wages through central contracts, in place of the current payment system. They would then get unlimited access from July to October, with players able to be sent back to their clubs if the England management want them to get gametime.

4. I think James you are on the ball. Imagine watching top class rugby in the summer! Rugby League have been doing it for decades! I would also suggest that, during the overseas June Internationals, the A teams from each home nation take part in a competition and include say Georgia and Rumania.
   This would unearth hidden talent within the home nations and also give a huge lift to the European
   Nations teams. Having said that , i am afraid that lots of tradition to be overcome , however it could and should be done.

5. If the international fixtures don’t overlap domestic, why do we still need play offs? Wasn’t this partly to offset the impact of top clubs losing their test players during the international windows? This would provide additional rest time for players.

   Also in answer to the gap in play for the Euro knock out stages, perhaps a development cup like the Anglo Welsh cup could be scheduled there.

   1. That might be the party line, Benjit, but in reality the play-offs are mostly for selling out Twickenham and making a shedload of extra cash!

      1. I get the financial aspect, but I think the league becomes a bit of a nonsense without the justification of parity for those hit by international call ups. Couldn’t lost revenue be recouped by having a twice yearly London double header at Twickenham, a northern double header at Old Trafford and a midlands double header at the Ricoh. May also head spread union outside of its traditional Base.

         1. Above the financial aspect; I think it is one of the only times of the year that casual fans show an interest in rugby. That and double header is the only time that friends of mine that aren’t rugby fans care about it.

   2. I think you need the playoffs because of the revenue they deliver.

6. Well, I bloody love it. Set up the petition Hutch, I’ll sign it.

   One small caveat:
   “There should also be a proper competition for the ‘A’ sides from each country to build further depth, and I could see that becoming a very competitive, high-quality tournament in its own right.”

   Completely agree, but I would prioritise establishing a second tier version, with promotion and relegation. Based on current rankings, this tier 2 competition would consist of Georgia, Romania, Spain, Russia, Portugal and Belgium.

   1. Yes, that needs to happen too to help the Tier 2 nations continue to improve.

   2. Could it not make sense to throw the Wolfhounds and Saxons in there too; but just have a rule that stops those two sides from the promoted to the 6 nations?

      1. If no domestic games are taking place as well, can’t you just have a Six Nations A with all 6 teams contributing teams? Isn’t the only reason that Italy/Wales/Scotland/France don’t have an A team is to allow those players to play in the domestic leagues?

         1. Wales stopped our A team because we could no longer afford to run it. In Wales it generates marginal revenue but costs a lot to run. In Ire and Eng their A teams actually draw crowds.

7. Great concept.

   From a club rugby perspective; I wonder if we do away completely with cups and leagues.

   Why not merge the Pro12, Prem and French league into one? Could have two serious competitive leagues of 20 teams each; or even two leagues of 15 with some dropping into a third tier with either D2 French teams, championship teams or other clubs from around Europe.

   The European League. Format can be the same, league followed by play offs. Could even have super rugby rules ensuring a team from each region gets a team in the play offs for commercial interest.

   It means we won’t need a league season plus a European cup.

   Schedule could be:
   Feb-March: Six Nations
   April-July: European League
   July: Euro League play offs
   Augus/Sept: Summer Tours to SH
   Octobober/Nov: Autumn Internationals

8. Also, just a point here:

   Does this tournament not devalue domestic rugby to the point that is harmful? Look at Super Rugby – taking a brief glance, the average attendance per match in Super Rugby is only slightly higher than the average in the English Premiership. At least 6 Premiership teams (Bath, Gloucester, Leicester, Northampton, Harlequins, Wasps, and normally Exeter) are consistently getting over 10,000 fans per match which is really good and I’m just worried that if the domestic seasons are devalued in any way (Franchising, a European league, reducing the number of clubs, no relegation, etc) is asking for trouble, since far less people will be involved in rugby at a local club level.

   After all, what is the purpose of rugby? Is it really our international team doing really well? Because honestly why not just focus in getting as many people involved in rugby as possible? The clubs seem to be doing a good job of that right now – rather than scrapping the book altogether like some people are commenting about, how about just streamlining the clubs into being as efficient as possible in providing the best players for the national team? With that in mind, I do really like the suggestion in the article, it seems like a very good system.

   1. Not “Does this tournament”; should be “Do some of these suggestions”

   2. Not much wrong with the club level except that they should dis-incentivise having foreign imports via either max quotas or salary cap benefits.

      Why is it that each club is allowed 1 (increasing to 2) players outside the salary cap provided they are foreign. Surely the players outside cap should be English to encourage development and help retain English talent

      Grassroots changes from age group level to size group level would be more beneficial, improving players core skills, than season restructuring.

   3. I think if you look at your goal of increasing participating; there is one sure fire way of doing that; having your national team do well.

      In any sport, participation goes up when national teams are in the media and being successful.

   4. I don’t think you can have both (full on club rugby and full on international rugby) properly Mike and have a managed season that works for players and fans.

      In Wales we cope with the clashes by our top players playing very little club rugby. Not ideal.

      In England/France they cope by flogging the players at clubs and letting the international team go hang e.g. Prem final overlapping Eng summer tours.

      As has already been said the Super 15 is great on tele, great at producing players, but isn’t as big a draw for fans at the stadiums themselves.

      Why does it work in football?

      a – they don’t have a European cup every year
      b – they have less “friendlies” and those really are friendlies
      c – rugby is harder on the body than football

      Unfortunately this rearranged season, in my opinion, only works if we go super 15 model (it’s all about getting players to the top of the pyramid) or football model (grow the clubs, let the international game go hang). I see no way to manage the assets (the players and the fans*) to achieve both.

      * by the fans I mean that if someone attends all of Wales’ home matches in a year it dwarfs the price of a club season ticket – so most people do an either/or. That’s before the details of Wales/Pro12 matches occuring at almost the same times 3 or 4 times a year.

9. On the specifics of the Autumn Ints have attended Autumn Internationals at the Millenium for years , i think in the current format they have had their day. They have lost their “buzz” Unlike the 6 nations which retains excitement and interest. A more competitive league /cup format needs to be introduced even if its played over two seasons. I would propose 4 fixtures per autumn thats a league of 8 fixtures (2 years) ok the South Hem may well come out on top initially…but as this world cup shows NH need to compete and maybe a league system would begin to close the gap yet further. To confirm 8 teams from NH 6nations plus Georgia , Rumania (?) 8 teams from SH Championship plus Samoa , Fiji , Tonga Japan …
   Got to try something in my opinion

10. I like the idea of a radical overhaul, I’m not sure as written here it would work, too many high intensity matches, (e.g. potentially up to 9 internationals in 10 week followed by European rugby) in succession.

    First thing I would fix is 6N. This is the annual show piece event for NH rugby, this is where you want the players at their peak and the spectacle at it’s best. Slugging it out in winter means NH matches are not generally played at the same pace in terms of speed of movement of the ball as the rugby championship. I’d hold the 6N in May/June, evening kicks offs, no club comps in parallel, start the domestic season earlier but no games for international players for the first 4 weeks

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