British clubs, who stand to lose £40,000 each due to the postponement of Saturday's opening round of Heineken European Cup matches due to the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, will receive just £6,000 from the sponsors to help defray the cost of staging fixtures on Sunday. But the two clubs that reach next January's final will earn £115,000 each in prize money, a 400 per cent increase on last season. The rescheduling of games looks certain to cause substantially reduced attendances and a shortfall in revenue.
Heineken, which will invest £3.5 million in the competition overall, has increased the total prize money from £210,000 last season to £600,000 in response to a complaint by several clubs that the financial rewards were too low. The organisers are also considering the introduction of a special prize for player of the tournament, as well as the top try and point scorers.
"It's difficult to strike the right balance on prize money, but it's obvious the investor clubs regard the prize money as very important," said Roger Pickering, the tournament director. He added that the respective unions involved in the tournament would be responsible for distributing the cash. Pickering also forecast that Sky's television coverage would be a major factor in the success of the cup, which will also be transmitted by terrestrial television. The competition will be split into five pools of four teams with all sides playing home and away games before the knockout phase. A total of 70 matches will be staged, an increase of nearly 50 per cent on last season, and there will be a new format for the knock-out stages.
In the semi-finals, the two home teams will be those with the best ranking in the pool stages. The final will take place on January 31st, 1998. If there are no French teams involved, that game will be played at Twickenham. If a French club does reach the final for the third year running, it will be staged on mainland Europe.
Newcastle's Lions wing Tony Underwood could require a knee operation that will keep him out of rugby until mid-October.
Underwood twisted his left knee during Newcastle's victory over Bath 10 days ago and initial hospital scans revealed possible cartilage damage. "I expect to find out more this week," he said. "The specialist wants to see me again, but at present I am still waiting for the swelling to go down."
Keyhole surgery is one possibility that may be considered and a six-week lay-off would see Underwood miss Newcastle's entire European Conference group schedule which features home and away matches against Edinburgh, Biarritz and Perpignan.
Underwood's England and Lions team-mate, club colleague John Bentley, is still recovering from a rib injury, so Jim Naylor and Stuart Legg are expected to fill the wing positions against Biarritz on Sunday.
