I'm surprised by £30m offer to community game

THE unexpected offer of a £30 million payout to the community game for the next four years to help mend the financial problems, caused when the RFU unexpectedly withdrew grassroots funding a few years back, sounds great.

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The funding was taken away as a result of the Rugby World Cup costs, and the lack of autumn fixtures meant the RFU didn't have enough funds to pay the Premiership the agreed Professional Game Agreement (PGA) contracted sum.

I must admit that I am surprised at RFU CEO Bill Sweeney offering this so soon after the current signing of the new and increased Professional Game Partnership (PGP) and the new Team England Rugby (TER) player funding agreements, given that there has been no indication that this was going to happen.

This raises the question: is this another attempt to try and offset any potential outcome of the SGM before it happens?

Having said that, the announcement of around £30 million a year 'investment' in the community game works out at about £15,000 per club per year which when compared to the just over £3 million for each of the Premiership clubs does seems a small amount, given the increase in costs for travel, land management etc.

It could possibly be that the grassroots clubs may not even get this, with the money instead being used by the RFU to re-employ a number of Rugby Development Officers in an attempt to regrow the community game at school and clubs.

That part of the game has seen a dramatic decline in player and volunteer numbers over the past few years from a position where most clubs had around six senior teams but now can barely field two.