A modest proposal www.rugbyworld.com/featured/europe-we-have-the-answer/

So crazy, it just might work!?!?!? Or just totally nuts?

Doing that for the profile. He wants to be "edgy"...

anyone here that Indo mouthpiece David Kelly on Tubridy this morning, lamenting about what Rugby would be like without a Heineken Cup. His exact words were 'I mean who wants to watch Connacht versus the Dragons'.

That's interesting that they're threatening court action. A tacit acknowledgement of the requirement for IRB approval that Rossie mentioned earlier.

Also the statement that an exclusive Anglo French competition is more lucrative might be true from McCafferty's English perspective, but as regards the French situation, it's an outright lie. The big draws for crowds and more importantly TV are Leinster and Munster. The French could give a f**k about Saffracens.

The increasing stridency of the English could be a sign that things are going quite badly for them. If the Celtic nations have agreed to the French demands for restructuring and the only issue at hand is the English TV deal, you have to ask do BT Sport have an out-clause if European fixtures are not delivered?

Mcclafferty is at it again first thing this morning. It must be great to have your own pet journo on speed dial

Its on score.ie but the gist is that Anglo French tournament is now the preferred option run over 9 weekends(so no change on no of rounds). He says exclusive Anglo French comp is more lucrative but Celtic applicants would be considered favourably for good of rugby
He implies court action if RFU, irb or anyone else gets in way

It is brinkmanship, of course it is but the lnr normally don't add their voice to it. I would imagine the ffr have been caught off guard on this as otherwise why would Mr lux say what he said a couple of days ago. This is a direct challenge to the FFR and very interesting indeed.
Its not as simple as just starting a new comp either. They need irb permission and that won't be easy as the unions control that

rossie wrote: Aparantly on lnr site though.

yes it is but they are by no means one and the same. This will test the contention that FFR supports the HEC and that the LNR cannot do anything without FFR approval. I hope that this is gamesmanship of the highest level ahead of tomorrows meeting.

Aparantly on lnr site though.

2 different threads going on here. Perhaps somebody can merge them.

Just checked the FFR website. No comment there on todays announcements. I suspect heated phonecalls ongoing tonight between FFR and LNR representatives.

Posted on the ESPN site this evening

Premiership Rugby has announced talks regarding the future of the Heineken Cup "have now ended" and has put in place plans for a new tournament for the 2014-15 season which features English and French sides.

This season's battle for European club rugby supremacy looks set to be the last with the row over the future structure of the competition and revenue distribution seemingly at an impasse. The leading English clubs and their French counterparts have previously vowed to quit both the Heineken Cup and the second tier Amlin Challenge Cup after this season if their proposals for a re-vamp are not accepted. On Tuesday, Premiership Rugby has said these discussions "have now ended".

The English and French clubs wanted to see the Heineken Cup reduced from a 24 to a 20-team competition, and also a change to the qualification criteria that they insisted favoured the PRO12 by guaranteeing places to the Scottish and Italian sides regardless of their league position at the end of the season and to three out of the four Welsh and Irish teams.

The intensity of the row increased following the Premiership club's decision to incorporate European games in their recently-signed £152 million broadcast rights deal with BT. European Rugby Cup Ltd, the organisers of both the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup competitions, have a long-term broadcast partnership with Sky Sports that they recently extended.

A succession of meetings over the last year between European rugby's stakeholders have failed to break the deadlock and Tuesday's announcement from PRL seems to signal the end of the Heineken Cup as we know it.

PRL has announced that it will now work alongside French clubs to form a new tournament for the 2014-15 season which will be "open to teams from other countries". It remains to be seen if the clubs from the PRO12 buy into this new competition.

"Despite numerous meetings between the stakeholders over the last year, the last of which was in May, discussions have been unsuccessful and the clubs can only conclude that negotiations on any new European agreement have now ended," the statement from PRL read.

"The English and French clubs have proposed the formation of two new, stronger competitions of 20 teams each, based on the principles of qualification on merit from each league, the inclusion of teams from all six existing countries and the expansion into new markets. These proposals could form the basis of future competitions.

"However, given the importance and urgency of the current position, and the reconfirmation that the French clubs will not participate in any competition unless it includes the English clubs, the clubs have now asked Premiership Rugby to take immediate action to put in place a competition for 2014/15 to include the French and English clubs but which will also be open to teams from other countries."


Following PRL's statement, the ERC said all the stakeholders will meet in Dublin on Wednesday to "review the consultation process to date". The ERC did concede, however, there "is a shared sense of frustration among ERC's stakeholders at the lack of progress towards a new Accord".

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

I still think that the stuart barnes/ sky sports idea is the best ive heard so far.
It involves the top 8 teams in all 3 competitions(each union in pro12 guarenteed 1 spot) qualifying for the tournament in its current format.
This could be tailored to fit a 20 team format if thats necessary. The split would then.be 6 from t14 and AP and 8 from.pro12. Imo any less than 8 teams from pro12 is unacceptable.

Under this proposal there are no extra spots for the lge that wins amlin or hec. Only tbe actual winning team qualifies if not already qualified from lge position. In this situation the last qualified team from their leage drops down to amlin. In pro12 the 1 team per union still applies in this circumstance.

One compromise solution that gained support at Wednesday’s meeting of the English club owners was for the Pro12 clubs to be guaranteed seven places, with the Aviva Premiership and French Top 14 receiving six automatic places each

An extra place for either the English or French clubs would then be decided by a series of play-off games, involving the clubs finishing seventh-10th in the respective leagues.

that wouldnt be to bad, would make for a good battle for 7th spot, would keep us, treviso, cardiff and edinburgh on our toes

Those stats and the money the French clubs in particular are spending on wages and signings makes their demands for more ERC money even more laughable.

Only 11,000 more than when we hosted them in the semis of the Amlin when we were getting average crowds of barely 2,000.

Pathetic.

"The Champions League in football is not run by the FA, the German Football Association and the French Federation. It would be interesting to see what it would look like if it was."

This is the "UEFA Champions League" he's talking about.
Isn't that run by UEFA??
Of which the FA, the German Football Association and the French Federation are all members.

20,000 for Toulon Saracens? That is miserable.