Premiership ring-fencing 'would kill English rugby', says Doncaster Knights boss

Doncaster Knights head coach Steve Boden. Photo: Tony Johnson

Several commentators have suggested that the RFU’s decision to slash central funding for Championship clubs could be a pre-cursor to ring-fencing.

A plan drawn up by former Saracens chief executive Edward Griffiths to completely overhaul and rebrand the Championship has also proposed a four-year pause on promotion and relegation to and from the top flight from 2021 to 2025.

Premiership promotion push 'doesn't make any sense' for Doncaster Knights

Boden was asked during a recent interview with The Rugby Paper whether the constant talk of ring-fencing annoyed him.

"Yes, it does,” he replied. “I can see all aspects of the arguments from Premiership clubs saying they can’t plan or recruit properly, but the bugbear I’ve got is when they do come down they have £3m-plus more than anyone else in the Championship so if you can’t recruit properly or back yourself to beat somebody in a two-legged final, then there’s probably something wrong with your organisation or rugby programme.

“I also thought play-offs in the Championship were absolutely fantastic for the competition and the excitement they generated was brilliant but that was scrapped.

"It’s only my opinion but if you ring-fence the Premiership, I think you’ll see a lot more one-sided games like we’ve seen over the last couple of months.

“I’m a rugby nause and normally I’ll watch every game going but when you’re seeing teams lose by 40-50 points, I can’t watch that.

"I think you’d get a lot more games like that where results didn’t really matter because with no relegation teams can put out whatever side they like.

"You’ll simply see more mismatches and there’ll be no spectacle at all.

"They say more young lads will be getting games, but you can achieve that just as well by being more stringent on the EQP situation – that would definitely promote young English guys.

"For me, ring-fencing would kill English rugby and it’ll eventually kill the talent pool as well because it will be hard to maintain credibility and viability in the Championship.

“Every club should be able to dream and people need to remember that the two teams who’ve won in Europe this year – Exeter and Bristol – spent a lot of time in the Championship.”