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RFU put grassroots rugby in England on ice until January 2021

25 Sep 2020

(Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

Grassroots rugby in England won’t return until January 2021 at the earliest following the latest RFU assessment of the sport. It follows the latest restrictions announced this week by the UK Government to curb the increasing number of coronavirus cases, measures that included the pausing of the pilot system that had seen fans attend two September Premiership games.

An RFU statement on the delay to the start of the 2020/21 grassroots season read: “Under powers delegated by council, the RFU governance committee have made the difficult decision that, with the exception of Premiership, Championship and Premier 15s rugby, no organised RFU or non-RFU Leagues including merit tables, adult or age grade competitions will be played before January 2021 at the earliest.

“With the increased uncertainly caused by Government’s additional restrictions to curb the increase in Covid-19 cases across the country, the decision has been made so that we can provide clubs with some certainty over the next few months.

Can professional clubs in England survive another six months without fans attending their matches?

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Can professional clubs in England survive another six months without fans attending their matches?

“The rugby community can continue to organise non-contact fixtures with other clubs using Ready4Rugby and other touch rugby activity. Limited and restricted contact rugby training can also be continued.

“The RFU continues to be in active dialogue with government about moving to Stage E on the roadmap should we reach this point at any time before Christmas, competitive friendly matches could commence.

A return to competitive play for the community game has been delayed until January 2021 at the earliest.
All the details 👇
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) September 24, 2020

“The adult and age grade competitions groups will be making recommendations to governance on what they can do to ensure that any competitions from January are meaningful, including whether to make changes to the structured season.”

RFU president Jeff Blackett added: “We are very keen to see competitive rugby being played again. However, given the introduction of further restrictions to curb the increase in Covid-19 cases, we will not be able to move to Stage F on the roadmap until a later date.

“This announcement gives clubs clarity over the immediate term to help them with their planning. We will continue to liaise with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Public Health England to accelerate a return to competitive play as soon as it is safe to do so.”

"If we have to go another six to nine months like this, it will be absolutely devastating"
– England's nuclear warning ☢️
https://t.co/TinKcBMZtN
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 24, 2020

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Would have been awesome to have a Bledisloe ANZAC game.

It would suck if they had it in Perth every year though. Gotta get it to Eden park.

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Spew_81 1 hour ago

Hurricanes vs Waratahs takes: The yellow wall in midfield, Tahs backs outshined

Love should get some time at 10. He’s clearly got the ability to be a second playmaker, but primarily at 15. Some time at 10, even just standing at first receiver, will only help his playmaking skills. He set up two tries with good distribution.

He kicks goals well. He could be a second B Barrett. But keep his main position at 15.

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SG 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

England have absolutely no need for him. Tom Willis and Ben Earl are better with a much higher work rate.

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JW 2 hours ago

'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

No full games on the IRU YT channel unfortunately, all on subscription? Looks a fairly good level (1A).

Yes I mean I wouldn’t really know the local ratio of origin here, but certainly as a province with less resources mine has a ratio that veers heavily towards club rep. The club stories are often the best so get probably an imbalanced proportion of coverage to where most players actually come from though.

Those were a couple of Ulster (regional) clubs too, good good. Those clubs/size towns are very much where you find most talent coming from (compared to the big city), so your productivity depends very much on your systems in place for scouting talent. With the more wealthy and popular sport of NRL (hence more info out there) I’ve seen some interesting studies on player origins in this respect, which I think would be a very balanced base of data to draw conclusions from.

Yes I’m wondering how those names as examples compare to the likes of Bryne getting squeezed out for a lack of places. I’m only thinking of effects far down the line as a result of Irelands #1 ranking and increased publicity/interest and how Irelands system will take advantage of them.

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Andrew Nichols 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

Gloucester are in the market for a top-class replacement ..Well why would they then be talking to HS?

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Utiku Old Boy 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

I include Cunningham-South. He was born in England but moved to NZ at 4 yrs and learnt his rugby there. His dad was a schoolboy coach. In recent years, Teimana Harrison was - as was Brad Shields.

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GB 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

Cunningham-South was born in the UK but raised in NZ.

Makes a good point, wouldn't walk into the English set up.

Better to roll his sleeves up and play himself into the ABs

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Spew_81 2 hours ago

Rugby down under could have hit high gear with Anzac Tests

Not sure what the ethical issue is. If it’s going for the money, it’s either do that or NZ rugby slowly dies as all the better players leave. So it’s the more lesser of two evils. Sell out a bit more as a Union, or the players sell out one by one.

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Spew_81 2 hours ago

Rugby down under could have hit high gear with Anzac Tests

Yes, the team was similar. But the two locks made a huge difference. Kaino wasn’t a lock and Tuipolutu has only very recently started playing close to his potential (his work rate was terrible until recently).

The Irish lineout maul wouldn’t have been the weapon it was on that day if Hansen started Whitelock and Retallick (or even two proper locks). Though they wouldn’t have been guaranteed to win.

Doing the new haka when the Irish were mourning a great of theirs didn’t help. The action at the end of that haka has been interpreted negatively and some see it as a but disrespectful.

Still if the All Blacks did their normal haka they wouldn’t have been guaranteed to win.

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Koro Teeps 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

Absolutely no certainty he would make the current English squad. He’s not in the All Black conversation either. Physical, explosive player with ball in hand but sometimes struggles to impose himself fully on all aspects of the game.

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DC 3 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

Who are the Kiwis (plural)? The only one I can think of is Ethan Root.

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Gradier Walter 4 hours ago

Don't get out over your skis on the Highlanders