A leading Premiership club owner has criticised the Rugby Football Union for presiding over a "flawed" system of promotion and relegation which he says is damaging the English game. Worcester's long-time benefactor Cecil Duckworth is calling for urgent reform and has repeated his call for a three-year moratorium on promotion from next season.
Duckworth believes the controversy surrounding London Welsh's promotion bid was entirely avoidable and has warned the image of English rugby is already suffering. "I know the people at Newcastle well but normally if you finish bottom you get relegated," said Duckworth.
"To be saved by this [issue] makes the whole process questionable. And what does it all mean if only one or two sides in the second tier can possibly come up? If you go into a competition in which promotion is the prize and you don't qualify, it's flawed isn't it? Any ordinary person would say this is nonsense yet the RFU has sanctioned it. The whole thing needs to be looked at again."
London Welsh will decide on Thursday morning whether to appeal against the decision of the Rugby Football Union's board to deny them promotion to the Premiership next season, and legal action is another option.
The Exiles will wait until they know whether they have won the Championship – they take a 16-point lead into the second leg of their play-off final against Cornish Pirates at the Kassam Stadium on Wednesday night – before launching any appeal.
But having had recent experience of promotion from the Championship, Duckworth also suspects London Welsh will be in an impossible position even if they win their two-leg final against Cornish Pirates and successfully appeal the decision to exclude them from the Premiership. "What chance have they got of surviving and offering worthwhile opposition in the Premiership if they only get promoted on 30 May and they don't know if they meet the criteria? Newcastle can't plan either because of the uncertainty.
"I've been saying for a long time we should go to 14 clubs and give everyone three years without relegation. The Championship clubs also need a period of time to get their house in order and spend money on improving facilities. At least half of them should have grounds that qualify.
"The Nottinghams and Doncasters are an enthusiastic bunch but are they ever going to be successful Premiership operations? I wouldn't think so, being honest, and you do worry about London Welsh if they win. The public will be sympathetic but can they really, at this late stage, be a credible Premiership side? If there was a moratorium and they had three years to establish themselves, it would probably be different."
The club's chairman, Bleddyn Phillips, is due to meet the RFU on Wednesday to find out exactly why London Welsh were ruled not to have filled the minimum standards criteria for entry into the Premiership. All they were told last week was that there had been various failures, including primacy of tenure.
"Bleddyn is seeking clarification from the RFU but clearly we have to wait until after the second leg of the final before deciding what action to take," said the London Welsh managing director, John Taylor. "We can appeal to an independent panel or we can take it further.
"We have been heartened by the groundswell of opinion that is behind us. It seems to have galvanised everyone and questions are being asked about why something that is good enough for Wasps, Saracens, London Irish and Sale is a criteria breach for a Championship club."
Bristol, on past experience, would have been promoted had they won the Championship even though they are tenants of Bristol Rovers FC. "It is a legacy of the old boys' club," said Taylor. "Exemptions were given to Premiership clubs at the time when the criteria were brought up, but from the beginning of the 2013-14 season, two more clubs will be allowed to groundshare.
"That does not make right what is happening to us. Having Premiership matches at the Kassam Stadium will enhance the competition as it is a superb facility. We will fight our case but first we have to win the Championship and we are taking nothing for granted."
One of the reasons London Welsh failed the primacy of tenure test was that their nominated second ground, Brentford FC's Griffin Park, was more than the stipulated 30 miles away from Oxford. The Exiles' board has been looking at alternatives, including the home of the MK Dons, which is 28 miles from the Kassam.
Duckworth believes the promotion criteria should be changed. "I don't know of any occasion while we've been involved when a team has actually used a reserve ground. A lot of these rules were drawn up to discourage teams like Worcester, Exeter or London Welsh from getting promoted. They wanted, more or less, to ring-fence it by stealth."
He also argues passionately that relegation breeds negative rugby, stunts the development of young English players and comes at a huge cost. "It's a big financial commitment you have to make running a Premiership side. We're not as advanced as football where they have huge parachute payments for several years. In rugby you get only one year. If Wasps had lost their last game of the season, they'd probably have disappeared. As it happens, Newcastle have found a wealthy backer but, if [the previous owner] Dave Thompson had still been there on his own, I think that would have been the end of Newcastle.
"Relegation also encourages a certain negativity. You go out there not to win but to make sure you don't lose. We'd get much more exciting rugby and better development of young players. While it's hanging over you, the threat of relegation is very painful, particularly, if under the existing system, the best Championship team don't necessarily get promoted. Often it is an underdog team with no pressure on them. The people who drew up the format don't seem to realise that."
