Why expansion - not expulsion - is the way forward for the Premiership

After Owen Slot of The Times revealed on Tuesday that the Aviva Premiership could soon be ring-fenced, and promotion and relegation ended as soon as next year, a strong response has been provoked.

There are positives and negatives around such a move and both fans and prominent members of the media have condemned the plans, but there is the prospect of added security for the incumbent members and the benefits that would potentially bring.

The most potent argument against ring-fencing centres around the denying of clubs outside the Premiership the holy grail of top tier, fully-professional rugby. The best case study of this being the impressive journey undertaken by Exeter Chiefs in recent years.

Exeter rose through the English league system, building a strong fanbase and impressive infrastructure, and have since cemented themselves in the Premiership, lifting their maiden title last season.

It has been a wonderful story, but Exeter are an extraordinary exception, rather than the general rule.

With an owner willing to patiently bankroll that growth and playing in the south-west, where there is a less competition from high-level football teams for supporters, Exeter have been able to make big strides in a relatively brief period of time.

Unfortunately, that is not something that is true of many other sides in the English league system below the Premiership level.

If the current 12 Premiership clubs, plus Bristol, are deemed to be in an echelon of their own and so far removed from the Championship sides to warrant ring-fencing, then why exclude one of those teams for a period of five years, when that calibre of club is clearly in such short supply?

The answer is not for the Premiership to close the door and end the ambition of clubs in the lower divisions, it is to expand to a 14-team format.

Not only would expansion open up more opportunities for clubs eager to grow and join the elite, but it would also create added security for the current teams in the Premiership. No longer would you need to be the 11^th best team in the competition to avoid the drop, being the 13^th best team would be good enough for survival.

This could be accomplished by either splitting the 14-team competition into two conferences of seven, as the Guinness PRO14 has done, or by keeping one central league with a 26-game schedule and scrapping the Anglo-Welsh Cup, which is an awkward in-between competition that is currently struggling for identity.

The 14^th team, as stands, would look to be Ealing, whose rise through the national leagues surpasses even that of Exeter in its quickness and scope, and who also have a wealthy benefactor who can support the club as it grows. Playing in London means there is plenty of competition from football for spectators, but it also means access to a population of roughly nine million people.

They are an ambitious club with big plans in west London and to deny them a shot at the Premiership would be cruel, to say the least.

Yorkshire Carnegie and Coventry are two further clubs that have the potential to be powerhouses in the right circumstances, with Yorkshire having much of the infrastructure off the field in place and are a regular producer of England internationals, whilst Coventry, having just waltzed to promotion in National League 1, are well funded and capable of being a force in the Championship next season.

They are not alone, either, with Bedford Blues, Cornish Pirates, Darlington Mowden Park and Plymouth Albion all among the teams that have the potential to grow significantly, whether that be due to their location, player pathway, stadium situation or ownership.

Sides in the lower leagues struggle enough with minimal funding from the RFU and Premiership clubs hoovering up their best players each summer, so to close off the prospect of reaching the Premiership, even for a five-year period, is unhelpful short-termism, as well as contrary to the way in which English sport has thrived since the end of the Second World War.

If the Premiership is ring-fenced, do you really think the 12 clubs encompassed within would vote to re-introduce promotion and relegation five years later? Pandora’s box will have been opened and they will not be keen to give up the security that they have worked so long and hard to try and achieve.

There is a gulf between the Premiership and the Championship and it is not one which will easily be lessened, with minimal interest in the Championship from TV broadcasters and poor attendances across the board. It’s a long-term project which requires much more involvement and investment from the RFU, but the product itself –  the actual rugby played by the 12 sides in the competition – is extremely appetising.

If the hope of having a fully-professional, healthy and financially sustainable Championship is pie in the sky for now – and the remit of the RFU, not the Premiership – then for the Premiership, ensuring as many clubs with potential to grow are brought along for the ride should be the priority.

Expansion and retaining promotion and relegation would be the ideal scenario here, but if the decision is made to ring-fence, at least expand the competition to 14 teams and increase not only the player pool for the RFU and the England team, but also the commercial interest in the competition, with two extra teams and the fans, players and benefactors that they may bring with them.

Rugby will forever be in football’s shadow in England and there is no escaping that, but there is scope for smart and sustainable growth, and expansion of the Premiership is, for now, the best way of achieving that.