Halliday: No way we can agree RFU deal
The Rugby Paper|December 31, 2023
SIMON Halliday has condemned the threat by RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney to relegate the 11 Championship clubs if they fail to sign up to the "Premiership 2" franchise plans in the PGP deal, as not only outside RFU regulations, but also probably illegal.
NICK CAIN
Halliday: No way we can agree RFU deal

Halliday, who is chairman of the Championship clubs, called into question whether Sweeney's approach, which they consider to be unduly autocratic, is exceeding his role as chief executive.

As the gridlock between the Championship and the RFU intensified going into the new year, Halliday told The Rugby Paper: "We are asking whether it is legal for us in the Championship to be relegated en bloc to the top of the unfunded community league pyramid because we disagree with some RFU administrators about our future." Halliday, who has been chairman of EPCR, an RFU Council member, and part of the RFU's former Club England thinktank, as well as a Grand Slam-winning England centre/wing, added: "The reality is that we have much more rugby union experience of every sort in our ranks than the RFU has in theirs.

This story is from the December 31, 2023 edition of The Rugby Paper.

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This story is from the December 31, 2023 edition of The Rugby Paper.

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