Halliday's collective ultimatum

Halliday: We need to see radical changes

- NICK CAIN

NEW Championship chairman Simon Halliday says the survival of many of the clubs in the second-tier professional league depends on the RFU/Premiership agreeing to urgent radical change. 

The former 23-cap England and Bath centre was confirmed as the new chairman of the English second tier following its AGM at Twickenham on Wednesday.

His election, in place of Doncaster’s Steve Lloyd, is groundbreaking because it has brought the previously fragmented Championship clubs together as a united front demanding crucial reforms to the way the game in England is structured and governed.

Halliday, who is Strategic Adviser at Ealing Trailfinders – who were denied promotion to the Premiership by a ground criteria ruling in 2022, and blocked again this year (before finishing 2nd) – is joined at the Championship top table by new vice-chairman, Nottingham’s Alistair Bow.

Halliday said in an exclusive interview with The Rugby Paper that the existence of many Championship clubs is at stake following the swingeing RFU cut in annual funding to £150,000 in 2020.

He argues that it is imperative that the current wrangling over the future shape of the English club game with the RFU/Premiership – especially the new Premiership 1 & 2 structure and its funding and pathway/academy systems – is resolved rapidly.