Blog: Changing The Championship

It was a banner year for Canadians in the English Championship.  There were only six canucks in the ranks of English rugby's second division during the 2010/11 season; however, unlike past years, each of them made serious contributions to their teams and started on a regular basis. Sean Michael Stephen, Aaron Carpenter, James Pritchard and Phil Mackenzie were arguably the top players for each of their clubs, and Canada's development program is beginning to win back some of its reputation as a result. The Championship was beginning to become known for the number of professionals it employed from rugby's second tier nations; Tongans, Samoans, and Canadians, among others.

But that may no longer be the case.

The problem is a difficult one for Canadians.  In theory the Championship's clubs are independent entities, each club is free to sign whomever it likes and manage their own affairs, free from the interference of the England's Rugby Football Union.  Over the past few years, many Canadians have managed to win themselves a spot on Championship clubs through their talents; some holding British passports, some without.  However, because the R.F.U. has an interest in developing talent for the Premiership, and ultimately England's national teams, it allots the staggering sum of 300,000 pounds to every one of the Championship's twelve teams.

A recent R.F.U. decision has placed a new limit on the number of English qualified players a club must have under contract in order to receive the annual funding. English qualified players are defined as athletes who could potentially play for the English national team, not simply players who hold a British passport. Beginning next season, each club will need to field an average of 14 English qualified players in their match day rosters, in order to receive R.F.U. support;  the number of players rises to 15 in the following year and finally to 16 in 2013/14. That leaves only six possible positions on each of the Championship's twelve clubs for non-English players. Canada's athletes will still be eligible to compete for one of these positions, but will need to outshine athletes from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Argentina, Samoa, Tonga and other nations to do so.

In short, the Championship is about to become a far more difficult place for Canadian athletes to search out overseas careers.  One can only hope that the next generation of elite rugby talent in this country is up to the task.

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