Cymry Llundain

[Out of the gloom]

Whilst I have some sympathy for London Welsh – the RFU decision is quite baffling in how the rules apply to them but not clubs already in the Premiership – I was relieved at yesterday’s decision.

If we owned the ground a business case could be made. If London Welsh were an Oxfordshire club (e.g. Henley Hawks in the future) then a more sentimental case could also be made.

Perhaps another reason why top flight rugby is less popular is that clubs are moving out of their traditional locations. A brief watch of last night’s game showed that Cornish Pirates promote their Cornish identity and have plans for their own stadium.

Hopefully Cornish Pirates will overturn the result and allow on field performance to determine the future for all concerned.

[slappy]

London Welsh seem to think they have a signed agreement [with Stadco] that would satisfy the criteria. Is it possible the football club have agreed to a rent reduction in return for moving a few games?

Anyway, what sort of rent could London Welsh afford? I don't think they are particularly wealthy. But Premiership crowds could be worth it for the away attendances.

[Snake]

Sorry to be pedantic (but as Welsh is my first language then I will and as this is a board that is inhabited by people who like to be factually correct and I canÔÇÖt help stopping myself) but Wales in English is spelt ÔÇÿCymruÔÇÖ and not Cymry. Any chance you can amend your headline please?

[SmileyMan]

RFU won't allow it anyway, because Newcastle are part of the big boys. Rob Andrew isn't going to sell his club down the river for a bunch of upstarts like the Exiles.

[GodalmingYellow]

Sorry to be pedantic (but as Welsh is my first language then I will and as this is a board that is inhabited by people who like to be factually correct and I can’t help stopping myself) but Wales in English is spelt ‘Cymru’ and not Cymry. Any chance you can amend your headline please?

Absolutely not. Welsh may be your first language, but how is your spelling? The spelling I've used is from the London Welsh website!!

http&#58//www&#46london-welsh&#46co&#46uk

Cymru is Wales, but Cymry is Welsh!!

[GodalmingYellow]

London Welsh seem to think they have a signed agreement [with Stadco] that would satisfy the criteria. Is it possible the football club have agreed to a rent reduction in return for moving a few games?

Anyway, what sort of rent could London Welsh afford? I don't think they are particularly wealthy. But Premiership crowds could be worth it for the away attendances.

I don't think that is possibly Slappy, as primacy of tenure is a requirement of the Football League as well.

[tomoufc]

Its made the national press. It seems the matter's still not finalised, but we should be OK:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/ma ... -promotion

[Myles Francis]

Wales in English is spelt ‘Cymru’ and not Cymry.

I think you'll find that Wales in English is spelt, er, Wales!!

[slappy]

London Welsh seem to think they have a signed agreement [with Stadco] that would satisfy the criteria. Is it possible the football club have agreed to a rent reduction in return for moving a few games?

Anyway, what sort of rent could London Welsh afford? I don't think they are particularly wealthy. But Premiership crowds could be worth it for the away attendances.

I don't think that is possibly Slappy, as primacy of tenure is a requirement of the Football League as well.

The rugby boys now seem to be saying the agreement meets &quotthe minimum standard criteria&quot.
The Saracens move from Watford to Copthall athletics ground (which upset Barnet who wanted to move there) has an interesting annex on the criteria for last season.
http://www.copthall-application.co.uk/B ... teriax.pdf
Perhaps LW have a back up ground. Or they say the rules are simply unfair if they don't apply to all clubs.

[Myles Francis]

Perhaps LW have a back up ground.

Apparently LW nominated Griffin Park as their Standby Ground, but this is more than 30 miles from their Primary Ground (i.e. KasStad), so wouldn't satisfy the criteria.

[slappy]

‘Primacy of Tenure’
Primacy of Tenure shall be deemed to be satisfied where a Club demonstrates that it
can: -
i) schedule its home matches in 2011/12 (other than those at (iii) and (iv) below) on any Friday, Saturday, Sunday and any bank or public holiday during the season, in all such cases with a kick-off time between 12 noon and 8.00pm and on any other day during the season with a kick off time between 6pm and 8pm.
ii) meet the requirements of PRL’s broadcast partner (namely, to be able to allow the broadcast of its home games in 2011/12) on receipt of the requisite notice from the broadcast partner, being 6 weeks notice for matches no later
than 3 months before the end of season or 4 weeks notice for matches within 3 months of the end of the season and
iii) play its home match (if applicable) in Round 22 of the 2011/12 Premiership at any kick-off time on the afternoons of both Saturday and Sunday of the last weekend of the season in order to ensure simultaneous kick off times for all
Round 22 matches and
iv) play its home matches in the end of season play offs, being any Premiership Semi-Final on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in May 2011 and at kick-off times between 12pm and 8pm.

‘Principal Home Ground’
The ground at which the Club will play all 1st XV home games in the 2011/12 season,
save as envisaged by these standards in the case of the Temporary Ground and/or
the Standby Ground.
---------
A’ criteria
1.9 ‘A’ criteria are mandatory criteria for which non compliance by a Club by 31 March 2011 or at any time thereafter will result in a sanction by the PGB with options including, but not limited to:
• a requirement to remedy the Criteria failure within a specified timeframe
• a sanction in accordance with the principles of paragraph 1.13
• points deduction for the 2011/12 season
They might also result in a decision by the RFU not to promote a Club winning the Championship to the Premiership for the 2011/12 season.
------------
Primacy of Tenure is an 'A' criteria, more important than B, C, and D. I don't see how they could guarantee use of the Kasstad in accordance with the above.
My guess is they are arguing that the sanctions are not being consistently applied to Wasps, Saracens, Sale, London Irish, and London Welsh. As it seems there are no sanctions at all for the first four clubs, despite primacy of tenure being 'A' criteria.

[Myles Francis]

The other four comply with the Primacy of Tenure rule because the definition of Principal Home Ground also includes use of a Standby Ground. The Standby Ground has to be within the &quotterritory&quot of the Principal Home Ground and the rules define &quotterritory&quot as being within 30 miles of the Principal Home Ground.

[slappy]

Interesting comment from the Bristol local paper about the Bristol RU club fixtures for next season:-
all fixtures are listed as &quotthe weekend of ...&quot but most tellingly &quotAll of the dates and times of club's home fixtures will be confirmed once it is known when and where Bristol Rovers will be playing at the Memorial Stadium.&quot

I take it to mean that they fully expect to rearrange Saturday games when there is a clash, and that it will be very rare that they have to go to the back-up ground. However, the TV deal the RFU have presumably becomes less valuable, the more clubs that can't arrange their fixtures around TV wishes. As for &quotwhen and where&quot, hopefully the &quotwhere&quot is obvious.

[Snake]

When it was laid the Minchery Farm playing surface was designed to accommodate egg chasers, but I'm not sure if it's had anything like this done to it since the summer of 2001 - http://www.liberty-stadium.com/news_view.php?id=711

[OUFC4eva]

Stad.Co. does not spend money !