Rugby Union: Together we all win

Mark Evans, the Saracens director of rugby, says the RFU and clubs can co-exist

IN THE wake of Bath's gutsy victory in Bordeaux it seems faintly ludicrous that the European Cup is in doubt. Rugby needs more days like that, but the never-ending squabbles which beset the English game are threatening to plunge European rugby into chaos.

From the clubs' perspective the key to success is to stand together rather than allow self- interest to hold sway. Sports throughout the world have prospered when the emphasis has been on collective success rather than the emergence of one or two dominant teams. Look at American football or basketball and you see features such as the draft system and wage-capping, which seek to create a level playing field in which all teams have a chance of success.

Rugby union is a world away from this but there are signs that the English Premiership teams are beginning to speak with a single voice. It was interesting to note that although Andy Robinson and Jon Callard spoke of their desire to defend the Heineken Cup, their enthusiasm was not matched by the Bath chief executive Tony Swift, who was quick to point out that any decision made over European involvement next season would have to be a collective one.

The clubs' needs are pretty straightforward. They have to have a season structured around the domestic league programme - to ensure a steady cash flow and to market the game so that people get into the habit of attending club rugby. Many club administrators have been heavily influenced by the advice given to them by their counterparts in the Premier League -"get you domestic system right first, it all stems from there". Therefore, whole blocks of European fixtures are not acceptable because too many clubs are excluded and have to make do with low-profile Conference fixtures against the likes of Montpellier and Padova.

The greatest irony is that Cliff Brittle announced that the clubs will be allowed to participate only in the "official" competition a week after his right-hand man Fran Cotton presented a vision in which clubs were virtually excluded from it. Under this, Saracens might qualify for Europe as the top London club and then be expected to replaceFrancois Pienaar and Philippe Sella with English- qualified counterparts from Wasps and Harlequins.

It is a ludicrous, even faintly surreal, scenario. Can you imagine the reaction of the Shed at Kingsholm if their beloved "Glaws" were to become an amalgam of West countrymen - with even Bath players turning out in cherry and white hoops. Don't these people understand that English rugby is built upon the tribal loyalties and rivalries that our league competition increasingly produces? The whole idea of regional, provincial or divisional rugby must be ditched immediately and unequivocally. The new breed of owners have not put upwards of pounds 30m into English club rugby to be told that once European competition begins somebody else will run the show.

They do want European rugby. What they don't want is a competition weighted heavily in favour of the poorer, weaker nations. At present, to qualify for the Heineken Cup through the Allied Dunbar Premiership is a challenging task since only four places are available - why should the weaker Scottish districts and Irish provinces be entitled to nearly as many automatic places? Equally, why should the French and English clubs have in effect to subsidise their Celtic cousins when it comes to the sharing out of sponsorship and TV money?

The logistical solution to all this is not even particularly difficult to work out. A structure which includes a Premiership of 14 teams, a domestic cup competition and a European tournament with the group matches played in midweek in the first half of the season and the knock-out stages played in April or May would be an ideal balance. Add in a fairer share of revenue and an acceptance that the days of divisional rugby are over and a resolution is almost in sight.

Unfortunately, the real argument is increasingly not about structure - it is about control and until the national unions realise that they have to work alongside the clubs and not look to set up alternative organisations then any settlement will remain distinctly unlikely and a great opportunity for developing the game will have been wasted.