Mike Tindall the ex England and Gloucester center is leading a consortium hoping to form a break away rebel league. The intentions are fine, but the format is all wrong and I cannot see this working. This idea has absolutely nothing going for it and one would have to be slightly delusional to think this will work.
I was watching a rugby podcast last night and during the show they mentioned Rugby 360 and this was the first time I had heard this mentioned. This is a new breakaway world league similar to Liv Golf and Kerry Packer cricket and thought it best to try get my head around this concept.
There is no question the sport of rugby needs new money injected into the sport and to grow it's fan base yet after reading what has been proposed why was I not exactly excited? The entire concept is wrong and very little makes sense. The money is coming form various investors with the teams being licensed out of Dubai.
The proposal is to have a break away league in the international window so players would be in their free time which if we are honest is too short. Contracted players do not have free time and cannot just play for other teams and need to be signed off and released, good luck getting permission. Players do not need more rugby, they need to take a proper break because adding to the workload is actually quite dangerous. Rugby is different from most sports as it is a proper contact sport and cannot be compared to the likes of football which is not that physical these days. Rugby on the other hand has increased the physical side of things through the physically fine tuning of players bodies resulting in the impacts and collisions being more intense. players are advised to reduce their work loads in order to eek out a career so adding extra matches for a few bucks is not the answer.
The launch of the league is expected to start in April to September 2027 and will consist of 12 teams based in international cities around the world. The problem right from the start is this is a World Cup year so the players they attract will not be the top stars. International players who are on the fringes or are in the world cup squads will not be tempted due to fear of injury. When you consider 12 teams playing in a league format you would need a squad of 30 players per team which is a total of 360 players.
The questions I have is what players will they attract and this is the problem as they will sign up players in the twilight of their careers or those who are not contracted by clubs yet. World Cup squads will have up to 35 players involved in the World Cup and if you take the top 10 international sides in the world that removes all the top stars.
Another threat to the entire concept is players signing up to this new 360 Rugby competition could be removed from being eligible from playing for their international teams. New Zealand, Australia and England would not allow their contracted players to play and I dare say South Africa and France would also be dead against this. This is why I say this concept is for the fringe players
who have missed out on international rugby or players retiring. If you are a young player trying to break through you would be reluctant to join this league as you need to stick with your club showing loyalty and commitment.
The other question is how are these teams going to train if they are based in Miami, New York, London, Lisbon etc as teams need to train together for many months and cannot just come together for a few days. Players have been told they do not have to move so how is the training going to happen?
I can see the 2027 competition being a complete failure with only 2028 being slightly better as those retiring from international rugby signing up to make a quick buck once the World Cup is over. I just do not see how this new break away league is going to help the sport of rugby and I see this as being more detrimental and there is no positives.
Investment is required in the sport in the current format with local leagues and clubs needing financial assistance and not by taking their players away for 3 or 5 months every year. A new league in the current format could work using the international window if the rugby season in the Northern and Southern hemisphere were aligned as this window that has been proposed is the Northern hemisphere window so the top players in the world from South Africa and New Zealand are not available.
There is talk of bringing in Rugby League players which again makes things messy and asks the questions which players and how much money is being offered? This entire concept sounds like a car crash and I have serious doubts regarding the entire concept. There is enough rugby being played already with the English Prem league struggling financially. This is not the answer and I expect instead of making things better will have a negative impact.